The record-union., 1891-11-21
THE WOMEN OF MEXICO.
Love and Marriage in the Land of
Montezuma.
The Athens of Mexico and It's Pretty
Girls-Courtship and the Bear Act
Home Lffe-Mexican kitchens and
Bed-Rooms-Rules of Etiquette.

Guadalajara is the Athens of Mexico.
| 1t is the art center of the republic, and
! though it is little known in the United
States the city contains 100, 900 inhabitants,
and has one of the finest theaters on the
American continent. 1t is one of the old
est cities of Mexico. and until a year or
two ago it was several hundred miles
from a railroad. It's city OF wealth and
culture. 1t has the finest-looking men
and the prettiest girls of our sister repub-
/ lie, and there is no better place than here
for the study of the senorita in all her
caprices and all her beauty. The women
! Of Eastern Mexico have round, plump
faces. Their noses are inclined to thick
ness, and their compilations are often
sallow. The girls here have features of a
| Greek cast, and even in the markets and
among the peddlers about the plaza you
find faces that might have served as mod
| els for PraXiteles. Their hair is usually
of a raven blackness, and it grows so
luxuriantly that the average girl has
! locks which reach below her waist. The
| Mexican woman is very particular about
! her hair. She washes it several times q
week and goes from the public bath with
| it streaming down her shoulders ana over
| /
their hair hanging in this way in any
Mexican city, and the custom is as COM
mon among the rich as among the poor.
! The eyes of the Guadalajara girls are
large, dark, liquid and full of soul. They
are frank and honest, but by no means
! bold, and the maidens have all the mod
esty and coyness for which the Mexican
! girls are noted.
| Mexican girls have none the freedom
| of our American maidens. Until within
a year or SO the daugher of a Mexican
gentleman never thought of going out on
the street alone, and you see few girls
riding or walking about without their
mothers, their aunts or some ugly old
woman in a black shawl who acts as
chaperon or duenna. The foreign resi-
dents of Mexico City have taught more
! freedom, but the girls still stick TO their
| duennaS, and none of them are allowed
to receive gentlemen callers. They are
| backward in their presence, and they have
neither unknown correspondents nor
! boarding house fiirtations. The girls are
| brought up at home and a favorite pet
name for them is chickens. Young girls
are called pollitas, or little chickens, and
| old girls are familiarly called pollas. or
grown chickens. 1t is needless to say
| that the Mexican dude, as a rule, prefers
| the pollitas. The men have their nick
names as well as the girls, and they are
known as galloS or gallinos, and this,
strange to say, is Mexican expression
meaning young or old roosters. This.
! however, is not so much different from
our own custom, for do we not contempt
uously apply the name ''old rooster" to
the man we think but little of, and is not
one of our most endearing terms for girls
| that of the duck?
MEXICAN COURTsHIP.
The senorita natures much earlier than
her American sister. She is as old at Is
as our girls are al Is, and the law pro-
yides that she may be married at IA. At
% she begins to verge at old maidenhood
and at so she Is paSsee. Mexican women
age very rapidly. Wives are old and fat
at 35, and l see but few women with gray
| hair. Mexican marriages are often ar
ranged by the parents, and a Mexican
courtship is hollow mockery as far as the
young man is concerned. His love has
| TO be case of love at first sight, and
when he sees the girl whom he wishes
to marry he lets her know his love by
putting on his best go-to-meeting Sunday
leather breeches, with line of silver
buttons down their legs, his $50 felt hat
with rim as big as butter bowl, and
| his swell coat, and takes his stand in
front of the maiden's window. Here for
hours he looks and sighs, varying his po-
sition by now and then strutting up and
down the sidewalk, never letting his eyes
turn away from the window. He does
| this day after day and night after night
until the family take notice of his devo-
| ton and inquire into his bank account
and his character. If they approve of
! the match the maiden shortly appears at
! the window, and as love grows hot she
comes out and fans herself on the second
story balcony. This, however, is never
! before the young man has been tantalized
! by week or so OF walking up and down
! before the window, and he has to continue
| iE vail I1o for ba
! gets inside the house. This walking and
| posing and signing is known here by the
| phrase playing the bear" and this bear
act has to be done by every beau. The
worst of the matter is the lost time that
fellow has to spend before he can know
decidedly as to whether he is going to
make any impression whatever. Once
| begun it has TO be kept up day after day,
| whether It rains or shines, and a beau
who would be scared out by Il thunder
| storm would be sure TO lose his sweetheart
AS the acquaintance goes on the beau may
! bring on his guitar, or, if he is not a mu-
sician, he may hire a band. The girl, if
she falls in love, may drop him q rose or
SO, on she may smile upon him, or finally
| when he has worn his heels into his
ankles, he may be invited to call. This
! indicates that the family like him. They
like him so well that they stay in the
/ room during his calls, and if he invites
the girl to go any place with him he has
to take her sisters, her cousins and her
| aunts with him. If lie still persevereS he
! is given chance TO see the girl alone for
an hour or so, and he knows that this
means that it is time for him to propose.
If he does not propose the girl tells him
that he must ask mamma or papa, and
upon doing this he finds that their condi-
tions are decidedly practical ones. The
question Of dollars and cents enters into
it, and the young fellow has TO pay all the
bills. He buys her wedding outfit and
wardrobe. and gives her dresses and jew
els. She does the selecting and sends the
bill to him. If the young man is very
, much in love he may leave his bride carte
blanche, but if he is at all practical man
he will fix a limit beyond which the bills
must not go. The groom is expected to
furnish the home, il the young couple 90
| into an establishment of their own, and
if not he is expected to go into his wife's
family and live with them.
HOW THEY MARRY.
After man has gone through the bear
| business, has wasted his substance in
taking his future wifes relatives to par
| ties and has gone through the inane Gus
tom of visiting her in the presence Of her
family he finds that he still has some
| thing to do before he can get married
Divorce is less common in Mexico than
| with US, and there is little chance for a
fraudulent wedding. Two months before
the wedding an announcement of it must
be registered at the cathedral, and the
priest must register it in the Civil Court.
Outside the court door the names of the
couple must be put upon a bulletin and
kept there for twenty days preceding the
wedding, and there has to be wedding
before the priest and then one before the
Judge. AT this last ceremony there must
be six witnesses, and one of these must
be the priest who performed the church
ceremony. | found number of Ameri-