Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-12-20

copper coins to the poor haif-naked mestizo to be carried upon the latters,
 back over a street crossing h wet weather
 for fear of soiling his patent leather boots imported from Paris The very street cars carry different classes of the great
 human family and woe betide the ragged
 ploughmdn or messenger who tries to ride
 no matter if he pays full fare, upon car
 occupied by class above him. he is un-
 mercifully ejected. Poor, unfortunate
 beings! said this lady, it will be long
 time before they attain their rights as
 human beings; years upon years before | they will be admitted upon the first step | on the social scale.
 Yet are these people happy.
 It would take too much of your space
 were I at this time to undertake dissec- tion of their inner life, their religious be-
 lief and their religions. We will go into
 the country where full three fourths of
 Mexico's population spend their lives as
 field hands Qabradores,} herders (vaquer-
 os, orchardists and gardeners (huerteros)
 A visit to a well appointed plantation
 (hacienda) will give us an idea Of the
 manner of life upon all or nearly all
 others, although the industries practlced
 upon them vary materially according to
 soil occupied and crops planted. Upon SOIQ6 Iloc6 WILL De urge uOluS Oi
 sugar cane and consequently some ma
 chinery, old or new, for the manufacture of sugar; upon others we will meet with
 extensive tracts of the Agave plant in g
 high state of cultivation with view of making cordage and mattresses of the flores, paper from the pulp of the long leaves, pulXue and mescal from the inner part. Further south again we will come
 across great fields of coffee, cotton and in
 some parts rice On our immediate southern border the orange has become a
 staple article of export and being of very
 superior quality is highly prized. I'm
 mense tracts of wheat can be seen all over
 the state of Sonora wherever irrigation
 can be obtained and this also Is an Al
 article, while nearly every hacienda boasts
 of several thousand acres of grazing i ground upon which horses, mules and
 horned cattle are reared. The proprietor
 of large hacienda is very seldom residing
 uponit He lives generally in the capital
 or in Europe where his children are for
 the most part educated; but he has man
 called the mayordomo who steers the ship;
 he appoints the herders and gives them
 chief or 'caporal;" he shows the field
 hands their daily tasks; he keeps the
 grist mill agoing and sends the horse on his weary round with the ''trapiche"
 (sugar-cane grinder.) He issues the
 weekly rations consisting of 20 pounds of
 corn or 16 of wheat and pounds of
 beans with little salt to each man; he
 keeps small store where the hands can
 obtain for their monthly cash allowance
 of $6-their other needs. Although the
 constitution of 1870 has abolished the
 peon law by virtue of which a runaway laborer indebted to his employer could
 be brought back by force and punished at the whipping post, the force of habit is such that run-aways are rare and if they oc- } cur the old manner of enforcing obedience
 is adhered to, the whipping perhaps be- ing omitted or else administered in an oc- cult manner Married or at least cohabit- ing laborers are preferred; they are con- : sidered more steady and less prone to desertion on account Of the incumbrance although they are very apt to become
 heavily indebted to the haciendero; but this latter circumstance meets with no ob Jection, as the more man owes at the [ store the faster he Is considered held tc the place. At sunrise large bell rings and assemblies all the men on the oper ground before the main building; here 3 the mayordomo makes his details .anG sends each squad under it's respective leader to it's task, such as go to work al : some distance taking their midday mea ] with them. During the day the mayor l domo mounts his horse whose trappingl e are as rule plentifully adorned witt ,, silver buckles, rosettes. etc., and visits tht t different working parties; at s1n-down al r work stops. The evenings pass quick, s in conversation, song and dance; an olC I guitar or two are always on hand; reeC l flutes and fiddles are manufactured ol 1 bl O1 hn tn l1n g drum. Although the Mexican of ever, s degree and caste is very patriotic yet i I would be a most difficult task to find in 0 crowd of three hundred of these fiel, II hands only four who knew the verses o 1 a patriotic song. Their songs are all, al e most without exception, love ditties ant
 frequently alasl of a very slippery nature @ they themselves call them ''cancione @ coloradas" or red songs which remind e one almost forcibly of the scarlet woman Is of thesplafns in former times. The les 7. said tsleeat the r<7fality of such com n munity the better, for the poor Mexican } much given to living in concubinage, un a til the inevitable result appears in tn $ shape of an offspring or two. Then tn 's mother will use every endeavor to induc } the husband have the marriage ceremon T performed at the first opportunity, by tn l there are perhaps from 30 to 40 couple IT equally in need of the padres holy rite 'r and probably an even larger number ( d babies awaiting baptism, the mayordom T. is interviewed, day is appointed for tn IS wholesale marriage ceremony and baI n tism and priest notified. The prepal r. ations are begun for grand feast which z it Is summer time will be celebrated in th $ open air on some creek under the shade ( r. a group of cottonwood trees, if in winte l. in the largest empty granary or othe r. store-house The family of the proprietc y if present, or in their absence the mayo te domo, contribute with liberal han n, of the good things produced upo 1T the place; the fatted calves are killed O. more than one turkey and numeroJ W other small fowls are decapitated; corn er issued in unusual abundance keeping tt CT the ''metates" (hand mills) going day an n night; red pepper pods are split deprive es of their seeds and veins and the orchestl Id begin to prepare and string anew the ie instruments. The women and girls ope 'e rawhide trunks and receptacles of bal y l1et work containing their fnery Whi Id a washing, starching, ironing, mendin, ar stitching and plaiting sweeping l. floors; cleaning of scanty furniture. I'll fy great day comes and with 1t the serval ge of the church: whole day or more
 a spent in confessions; the padre is in I ,ll- hurry; he is in clover; nothing is tc en good, too juicy for him; not woman bl ,y has hidden away in an old buckskin ba to or perhaps ill her very amulet hangir iIg from the neck coin of some sort. Al le solution freely given, gladly received; or CT after one the couples stand up before u Id improvised altar or perhaps the altar lg family chapel and are made man and wifi 1d for better, for worse, in poverty al e. wealth until--they quarrel and SC he arate Next comes the babies who in a gh dition to the name of Jose or Maria T or ceive the name of the Saints of who ne particular day they were born. The Go e. fathers and God-mothers shake hant ne and embrace as do also the witnesses y bridesmaids and bride-grooms of u as married couples, They have by virt1 or- of their office becomes "compadres" al " 'comadres." One half of the whole SC as tlement has become bound to the other hf oe in the friendly and affectionate relatio n- of compadre-ship. The small fry tn
 can walk or crawl betake themselves h. o0roo oao1lt cY1ot 1ubaro 4haxr oo,,nt fI,5