The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-08-23

'HINGTON. SUNDAY, A
to be wedding before the priest and then
one before the judge.
To this last ceremony there must be six
witnesses, and one of these must be the
priest who performed the church cere-
mony. found a number of Americans
who had married Mexican girls. and an
American has TO go through third we'd
ding in addition to the above two This is
In connection with the American consul
and at the close of il he is tied to his wife
as fast as two countries and church can
make him. At some of the Mexican mar
riages q silver cord with two loops is
fastened around the neck of the bride and
groom, and the groom gives the bride
money. as a sign that she is to have her
hand in the family poeket-book. As son
as the wedding IS over the couple go to
the best photograph gallery in the
in their wedding finery. / have
taken good many pictures
in Mexico and / have to visit
the galleries to have my developing done.
/ find the cases filled with pictures Of girls
in wedding wells, with uneasy men stand
ing beside them, and was for long time
al loss 10 know the cause OF the custom.
After leaving the photographer the
bride and groom return home TO the house
of the brides mother. or to the establish
ment OF the groom There is no bridal
tour. and the young people settle down at
once 10 married lite. Ii is not till now,
however, that the man has any sort of
an ownership TO the girl. While he IS
counting her she did just as she pleased.
During the interval between the civil cere-
mony aud the church ceremony, which
lasted perhaps a week, she remained at her
home and he remained at his, and
although he was her legal husband he did
not even dare to visit her.
HOME LIFE IN MEXICO.
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 baseburner stove
around which the family gathers, and the
people lack that home characteristic
which is such an important element
among the Anglo-Saxons and the Ger
mans. They are more like the French and
the Italians than us, and Mexican moral
ity is said to be considerably looser than
ours. Among the lower Glasses 1t is no.
torious that marriages are on and off at
the will of the contracting parties, and
among the higher classes, while marriages
stick. there Is a fair proportion of both
sexes who have their sweethearts outside
of their own families. One of our
missionaries in Zacatecas told me
that 65 per cent. of the children of his part
of the country were Legitimate and the
percentage in Mexico city was undoubt-
edly as large Girls are so secluded before
marriage that they do not learn how TO
take care of themselves, and after marriage
they do as they please. OF course the ma
Jority of women are good in Mexico as
they are the world over; but their ideas of
life and virtue are more those of French
girl than like ours. Americans who have
Mexican wives tell me that they make
good helpmeets. They are economical 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.
HOUSEKEEPING IN MEXICO.
Housekeeping is carried on here in q
much different style than with US. It is
necessary to have abont 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 ehambermaid go into the kitchen.
If you can get her to wait upon the table
you will do well, and Your cook would
leave you if You should 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 num-
Der 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 receptacle for the
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 uten-
sils are of clay In this city of loo, 900 peo-
pie don't suppose that there is a single
iron cooking stove, and l doubt whether
there is an iron pot, pan or skillet. Water
is boiled, soups are made. meats are fried,
and, in fact, first-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 a butter-plate
to dishpan and from an egg cup to an
apple-bufter kettle. Many Of the stoves
have half dozen openings, and in these
half dozen charcoal fires will
be burning. 1t is possible to cook
only on the fire, aad there has to be fire
for each dish, if the cook wishes 10 have a
number of dishes al the same time. The
Iturbide hotel, which is the biggest hotel
in Mexico, does all its cooking this way,
ana such a thing as our big cooking
ranges would be a curiosity. The Mexi-
can cook usually has great number of
friends. She keeps her family with her
in the kitchen, and man can RELY upon
keeping a sort of an Aztec boarding-ho
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 a court. which
serves as a stable for the horse and the
place for keeping the carriage. or which
NAV be beautiful garden. There are oft
en- galleries running around this court,
upon which the second story rooms open.
ana in some houses you will find a foun-
tain pIavipc in IT, The rooms are all fres-
coed instead of papered, and their floors are
of tiles or bricks instead OF boards. If they
are of brick the brick Is painted, and YOU
will find but little carpet upon them, only
a strip in front of the bed perhaps or run
ming along in front OF sofa. You would
be interested in the dInlng-room, which
has a floor of the same kind and in the
corner OF which there is a washstand
which Won may use in the place
of your finger bowls at the close of your
meals. AT your breakfast you will do well
II Won have a table-cloth. and Won will
ind that il consists OF little more than
chocolate and bread. Your dinner will be
soup and q half dozen boiled dishes, beans
ana dessert, and you VIII De expected to
eat the beans whether you take ANYTHING
else or not. After dinner you Will smoke
a cigarette with the family, and after sup
per. II Won follow the example Of the
family. you will 60 10 bed. Nou will ind
vOur bed as hard as a board and Won will
look IN vain for spring mattresses. You
will 20 10 bed with candle, and the
chances are YOU viii he troubled with
tieas. With all this You will nevertheless
: q