Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-31

much more fertile field than the well
! worked countries OF Europe.
AS soon as crossedthe Rio Grande 1 saw
at every station iusty brigand-like men
with handsome dark faces shining out from
| great sombreros, the crowns of which came
TO point above their heads, and the brims
of which seemed to be foot wide all round.
These hats were gorgeous in their silver and
gold trimmings. Some of them had ropes
Of silver around them almost as thick as
your wrist, and they formed only part of
the glittering
Costumes ofThese Mexican Dudes.
The clothes below them shone with silver
buttons and braid. The pantaloons of some
of the men were striped with silver buckles,
while to the waist of each, fastened by q
leather belt filled with cartridges, hung a
big silver-mounted revolver. At many of
the stations men dressed in this manner
would gallop up on horses as gorgeously ap-
PARALLEL, and across the country we saw now
and then troops of cavalry dashing over
the fields.
The costumes Of tie common people were
fully as picturesque, and both men and
women presented rare bits of color and re-
minded us of the dance of the nations in n
spectacular extravaganza. The lower classes
of the men Of Mexico dress in cotton, hut
they wear blankets of all the colors of the
rainbow about their shoulders; and they
drape these around themselves in a way
that adds dignity and grace to them. Many
Of these blankets are of red flannel and if
you will take blanket of this sort and
throw it around your shoulders and over
your back some morning as you hop out of
bed i'll your suow-white pajamas, you will
get some idea Of the Mexican peon. Your
hai-, however, must be rs black as the wing
of the raven; you must stain your face with
walnut juice and put on your head one of
these gorgeous sombreros in more or less
dilapidated condition.
Foot of the Modern Aztec.
You must get piece of dirty sole leather
so large that your foot can stand in it and
leave half inch of space all around and
tie this to your feet with leather strips, first
cracking your heels and blacking the soles
of your feet until they look more rough and
tough than the leather itself. After you
have done this you will present fair carl
cature of the Aztec of 1891. You are now,
however, only the Aztec at rest. The Aztec
at work is q different matter, and you Will
see him here in as many different occupa-
tions as are possessed by his brother fellow
in the land of Egypt. He carries the heavy
burdens of the country upon his back. He
lugs about Mexican beer in pig skins, as the
Bengalee water-carrier carries the water he
has for sale, and you see him in hundred
different forms on every street, and in every
one he is a new picture.
The women are as strange as the men,
though their plumage is less gay. Those of
bo nia in
and the crowd at one of the cathedrals looks
as though
A Plague Had Struck the Town
and all the women were in mourning. In
these interior cities of Mexico the better
class of women wear no hats, and their
heads are either bare or covered with a
black shawl, out of which theiI olive-com-
pleXioned faces shine and their dark, lus-
trous eyes look at you with strange Won
der. There is no greater beautifer than
black. and l believe these Mexican and
Spanish women get great part OF their rep |
utation for beauty from the clothes they |
wear. At first sight they appear handsome,
but close examination results in the dis |
coverY that most of them are rather homely |
than otherwise and that many are decided |
ly ugly.
The Indian women are much prettier than |
,helr Wealthler sisters. Ihcy have Strlk- |
ng beauty when under age, but after 80 |
hey grow old rapidly, and hard work and |
Door food makes them wrinkled and old at |
'5. They are more picturesque than the |
higher classes, and their dress takes you !
pack again to the East.
Show Only Half the Face.
They often wear dark blue cottons and |
about their heads they drape cotton shawl |
Or reboso .a that only the upper half of the |
face shows. Some of them wear bright red |
skirts and white waists and man, of .1G go I
and stop not to rearrange their |
clothes if more of the ankla shows than our |
IDEAS of etiquette allow. The children of
The Aztecs are more or less naked-gener-
lily more in the back districts-though even
.he poorest of those 1 have vet seen have a
short skirt to hide the upper parts of their
bodies.
The clothes of all are as a rule cleanlier
han those of other people in the same con-
lition Of poverty, and the self-respect which
they possessed, when under Montezuma
hey were the most civilized people on this
continent, clings to them still, and many
Students of Mexican questions believe they
Ire a people with a future
FRANK G. CARPENTER.