St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-03
our BORDER MEyICANS.
Characteristics of the Happy Peasants
of The Southwest.
RIDERS AND DANCERS.
Labradores and Rancher0s---A Greaser
Bail by Night in a
JaGal.

from the Gulf of California to Corpus
Christi. on the Texas coast, is found a
type of being that is almost an anomaly
even among our own Cosmopolitan
classes. The border Mexican, or
sgreaser," has no nation, yet he is DIS
tfnctly local. He is the evolution OF that
arid and sun-kissed belt characterized
by flora and fauna as acrimonious and
as shaggy as himself, and best eXem-
plified by the cactus, the coyote and the
burro. You cannot accuse nature OF
making a mistake in his creation, for
he Is an adaptation that rises supe-
rior to adversely. You will find
him picturesque and. when better
known, not all bad. This Mexican is
far below the national representative.
yet he is not the degraded peon OF serf
of the land. He is rather what he peon
has become in the two generations he
has enjoyed the freedom of our govern
ment. if not wiser, at least less servile.
He is generally admitted to be the re-
suit of fusion for some centuries of
the Spaniard with that mild type Of
Sem-ciyiliZed Indian of the CorteZ con-
quests, but is nearer the Spanlard,
whose beautiful language, further
softened into dialect, he still retains.
This may be due to !aZiness, but is more
probably from the liquid movement OF
Indian speech peculiar to some Of the
Southern tribes, as shown by the pres
ent language of the PimaS and Marlco-
pas OF Southern Arizona.
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These MeXicans are the happiest of
contented creatures, and though poverty
is their universal heritage they have no
wants. Jean jacques Rousseau must
hQUn hQln similar np1 C1nf class
in Italy when he wrote so truthfully,
that, He only is free who wants moth
ing beyond what he can get and does
harmleSSly as he pleaseS." There are
two classes of Mexican peasants, the
Iabradores and the Rancheros. The
former are the milder, simpler people.
found sprinkled among the small can
yons and valleys on little pIats Of bottom
land adjacent and irrigated by simple or
community bitches called acequals,
which, lead from the streams, winding
along tie bank in a gradual way till the
streams lower level will permit them
finally to wander over the bottom. They
bridge no arroyaS, build no dams, arches
or culverts, and use only natures level,
water. to give the grade required for
their canals. In engineering ability
they are as far behind the AZtecs. who
once inhabited this valley, as are the
present Egyptians behind their ances-
tors under MeneS.
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a plot of few acres supports an en-
tire family of dozen, exclusive of dogs
as many more. First crop of me-
ZONES and cebada (meiOns and barley;
later a crop of frejoles and calabaZas
(MeXican beans and pumpkins). A lit
tie pepper and onions and their commits
sary is complete. The rancheros have
more or less cattle, ponies, sheep or
goats, are less local in their tastes and
are more hardy. so that it is among
them that is sometimes found that out
law element that has made the ''Greas-
err the synonym for bandit, and has
stamped the race as thieying and
treacherOus. This character is partly
the result of traditional Sentiment-a
spirit of adventurous resistance
to tyranny. On the Mexican side
man who evades their outrageous
taxes and customs is hero; one killed
in an attempt to do so, martyr. The
government only is the robber. The
men are fine horSemen, of the finn, yet
easy, border seat, always using that IN
strument of torture, the bocada, or
Spanish bit, in the control of their
ponies. Many are expert in tossing the
RATA. and some handle a revolver well.
s Pueblo scene is very characteristic.
Adobe buildings, matched roofs. arbors
beneath which are the stone jars left
unglaZed for cooling water, and the
stone hand-mill for grinding the corn
for corn cakes, called "tOrtillas." The
conservatism Of this people would COM
pare with that of India. The agricult-
ural methods are those described in the
Bible. Hay is cut with hoe, sometimes
hand-knife or sickle; bough whose
forks embrace the proper angle is their
pillow, and their oxen are yoked by lash
ing pole to the base OF their horns.
~
A fiesta is usually celebrated by a
''baile" or dance. If 1t be fall and the
night air be cool you will find this hor
inside ''Jacal." Everything has beer
removed from the house but a row Of
''sillas" (chairs and boxes, placed
around the sides of the room, which is
lighted by few beds of glowing Goals
placed at intervals on the freshly-sWept
hard-packed earth floor, by few can
dies cemented TO brackets or protecting
adobe bricks by their own wax, and by
the star-beamS that sift through the
matched roof and ceiling. The coal:
serve also as stove and free light fol
cigarettes. The music will be giver
from an orchestra composed of a couple
one or more harps. There are no hOl
cards, but the habitue can tell you il
advance what the programme will be-
WaltZes alternating with the Mexican
redoWa or three-step, la galopa, polka
and maybe Western square dance Oh
two.
There are no Directoire or Empire
gowns, or corsage bouquets: none of the
4 81 -. i
tilla. This is folded diagonally
doubled edge front, placed over tn,
head: the longer end falling forward il
carried loosely over the bosom as higl
as the throat and crosses the other fOlC
on the left shoulder, leaving only al
oval of face visible from brow to chin
The women retain a Spanish fondnes
for black, and also the Indian love o
bright colors. The men are Indifferent
TO dress except so far as to have broaC
light felt sOmbrero and a scarf, Cor sash
OF bright-cOlOred wOolor silk about TIL,
waist. TO Mexican girl dancing is in
stinct. Their accumulation is so perfect
their movements so yielding and full o
muscular grace, that to waltz with on,
on an earth floor, where the friction i
something frightful, is not impossible
Let those who decry dancing as vic
of civilization, an unnatural pleasure
erected for sensation, come and lear
of these poetic savages the rythm of mo
ton. For they are poetic; there is
perfume of romance in the songs founC
in the poorest 'jacal;" a sensuous soft
ness that our language cannot render
lrecall once being at ''baiIe," wher
in the interval between the dances
asked one of the young ladies to give u
Mexican song, which she did to an az
compartment on the guitar. 1t was ex
quisitely soft, though l could only cate
enough of the Spanish to know that it
theme was love. When the piece wa
finished she wanted us to return tn
courtesy by a song in English. w
fastened to avow, with the usual frank
ness in such cases, that we could no
sing, but the girl evidently did not be
lieve US, and would sing no more for u
in spite of entreaty.
The ladies are served from the sam
glass, taking the merest sip, a clare
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