The record-union., 1891-11-21

I
/ interval between the civil ceremony and
the church ceremony, which lasted, per-
! hapS, q week, she remained at her home
and he remained at his, and. though he
was her legal husband, he did not even
| dare to visit her.
| There is little home life in Mexico.
! There IS no word in the language which
expresses our idea of home. The Mexican
/ house has no freside nor base burner
/ stove around which the family gathers,
and the elements among the Anglo.Sax-
onS and the Germans. They are more
ike the French and the Italians than US,
and Mexican morality is said TO be con-
siderably looser than ours. Among the
lower classes it is notorious, and among
| the higher classes, while marriages stick,
there is a fair proportion of both sexes
| who have their SWeetheaFtS outside of
their own families. One of our mission
aries IN ZacatecaS told me that SlXty-fve
| per cent. of the children of his part of
the country were illegitimate, and the
/ percentage in Mexico City was undoubt-
| edly as large. Girls are so secluded be-
fore marriage that they do not learn how
to take care of themselves. and after mar
riage they do as they please. OF course
the majority OF women are good in Mex
leo, as they are the world over, but their
ideas of life and virtue are more those of
French girl than ours. Americans who
have Mexican wives tell me that they
make good helpmates. They are eco
nomical and very fond of their children.
The most OF them smoke after marriage,
| though they have not been permitted to
do so IN public before and they take care
OF their houses IN the true Mexican way.
MEXICAN ETIQUETTE.
Mexican social customs are much diff
| ferent from ours. At every railroad sta
ton | have stopped [ have seen grown
men rush into each others arms and press
! fhnIE oh. \.
| most frantically and pat each other on
| the shoulder. l see women embracing
and rubbing their cheeks one against the
other. They throw kisses at one another
as they part and they have a way OF put
! ting their foretingerS and thumb to their
! lips and throwing a whole handful OF
| kisses at once, which is very pretty when
the lips are like ripe cherries and the
! girls are young. When you call upon
! Mexican family the lady does not rise to
receive you, and the strangers here make
the first calls. The people you call upon
drop their work the moment you come
in, and they are full of polite expressions
They always refer to their house as yours,
and an invitation | got yesterday re-
! quested me to come to see a Mexican at
| my house, at some street, the name of
| which L had never heard before. The
Mexicans give few dinner parties, and
/ teas and luncheOnS are usually confined
to the family. Every woman Of the bet
ter classes, however, wants to have her
! box at the opera and her carriage, and
| you can see all Mexico City every after
noon driving on the Paseo You know
that half of the carriages are not paid for,
| but you enjoy the sight all the same. The
Mexican woman is fond of dress, but she
! does not waste much time on her morn
| ing toilet. After a breakfast of a cup of
chocolate and roll she puts on a Mother
Hubbard and pair Of slippers and loafs
about until dinner or the second break
| fast, which comes at noon. Idon't think.
as rule, that she is the best housekeeper
in the world, and she is by no means
| averSe to paint and powder. [ see dark
faces covered with flour in every crowd /
| enter, and there are many red cheeks
| made so by other means than those of
| nature. 1t used to be that only the man
! tilla was used as a head-dress. This is
! scarf of white or black lace, and it is used
! as a head-dress and shawl combined
/ You see thousands Of them in Mexico
! City, and they are still the common
head-dress here, but at the capital Paris
j fashions are coming in, and ugly Paris
| bonnets and hats are taking its place.
/ These Mexican girls wear their hair low
| on the forehead, and / am told that the
! bang" came from Mexico. They dress
it up in sort of Greek knot on the back
! of the head, and sometimes let it hang in
| long braids down their back. They are
especially proud of their hands and feet
They have beautiful hands-soft, plump
and finely formed. but they ruin their
feet by putting them into tight, little
shoes with heels in the middle of the sole,
after the most approved Paris fashion.
These shoes make the Mexican walk a
lnincing one, and the result is you find
but few good walkers among them.
HOUSEKEEPING.
housekeeping is carried on here in a
much different style than with us. 1t is
necessary to have about three times as
many servants, and the servants are as
particular about the work which they do
as if they belonged to the castles Of India.
Your cook will never make the bed, nor
Will the chambermaidg go into the Kitchen
| II YOU can get her to wait upon the table
you will do well, and your cook would
| leave you II you would ask her to do the
washing. The cooking is all done with
charcoal, and the kitchen has little
ledge of bricks built into the wall, with
number of holes sunk into the side of it,
and with others meeting these let into its
! top.
The holes at the top are for the fire, and
! the side holes furnish the draught and
form a receptacle for tie ashes. You
| light your charcoal at the top and fan
away at the front, and thus keep the Goals
! burning. There IS not a bit of iron about
| the stove, and the cooking utensils are of
clay. In this city of 100000 people don't
| suppose that there is single iron cooking
stove, and | doubt whether there is an
! iron pot, pan or skillet. Water is boiled
soups are made, meats are fried, and, in
| fact, frSt-clasS dinner is gotten up on
/ charcoal by means of pans OF red clay of
! the color of bricks, and these pots and
pans range in size from butter plate to
dish-pan, and from an egg-cup to an APP
! ple-butter kettle. Many Of the stoves
have half a dozen openings, and in these
a half dozen charcoal fires will be burn
/ ing. 1T is possible to cook only on the
| fire, and there has to be a fire for each
| dish, II the cook wishes to have a number
! OF dishes at the same time. The Iturbide
| Hotel, which is the biggest hotel in Mex
leo, does all it's cooking this way, and
such thing as our big cooking ranges
would be curiosity. The Mexican cook
usually has a great number Of friends.
She keeps her family with her in the
Kitchen, and a man can rely upon keep
ing sort of an Aztec clearinghouse
when he enters into his contract with his
/ cook.
The other rooms of the house are quite
as queer as the kitchen. The houses are
you know, all built around court which
serves as stable for the horse and the
place for keeping the carriage, or which
| may be a beautiful garden. There are
often galleries running around this court,
upon which the second story rooms open,
and IN some houses you will find a foun-
tain playing in it. The rooms are frescoed
instead of papered and their floors are
all of tiles or bricks instead of boards. If
they are brick the brick is painted, and
you will find but little carpet upon them,
only strip in front of the bed perhaps,
or running along in front of a sofa. You
would be interested in the dining room,
1 which has a floor of the same kind and