Las Vegas free press. (East Las Vegas, N.M.) 1891-1???, 1892-07-11

people OF Massachusetts are Anglo
Saxons. Neither are they ignorant;
more than half of them not only
speak the Spanish language with cor
rectness and fluency, but read and
write it with ease and elegance.
Free schools for the education Of all
the children are now in successful
operation in every part of this terri
tory. Chas. f. Rudolph, county sup
erintendent of San Miguel county, of
which Las Vegas is the county seat,
native Of New Mexico, a cousin of
Mrs. James A. Garfield, is at present
conducting, with a corps of able as.
sistants, a teachers institute at Las
Vegas, with an attendance and de-
gree of success rarely surpassed in
the great educational centers of the
east. Similar institutes are IN pro.
gress in various other parts of the
territory.
1t is partly true that in the rural
districts Spanish is the only language
spoken. But within few years, un-
der the present school system, both
languages will be understood.
The Mexican men are not lazy. If
they do not find constant employ
ment the fault is not theirs, but that
of their surroundings. There may
be some loafers among thexS- but to
no greater extent than may be found
among Americans in Missouri or
Minnesota. They are
Nor lNTEMPERATE,
and do not, as a rule, loaf around sa-
looms. They are not profane in
speech, and neither the senoras nor
senoritas "cuss or threaten" They
are typically courteous and polite.
"Honor thy father aud thy mother"
is among no people observed with
more fidelity than among the Hispa-
no-Americans. Let an example illus
trate the rule: A young married man,
one evening last summer, was drink
ing to excess in a saloon on the plaza
in Las Vegas. His wife, learning the
fact, repaired to his fathers house in
the vicinity, and reported her hus-
bands misconduct. The gray-haired
father went Immediately to the
saloon, and finding his son, half in
toxicated, in the act of raising a glass
of liquor to his lips, laid his hand
upon his sons shoulder and said: "No
tomas mas; ven conmigo-take no
more; come with me"-the contents
of the cup were at once dashed upon
the floor, and in few minutes the
father delivered dutiful son to the
care of faithful and devoted wife.
How many Americans, married or
single, would thus yield obedience to
the old man? Your correspondent
must have derived his information
from some revengeful and
EvIL-MlNDED GRNGo.
In defending the New Mexican
character it is not necessary, nor is it
he intention, to villify the Ameri-
IAN. The great majority of Ameri-
cans resident in the territory are de-
cent, sober, industrious, moral and
Intelligent. The American women,
n particular, are deserving of the
highest commentator for the purity
If the lives and their varied acts of
Had your correspond
mt consulted the representatives of
uch people, instead of some name
ess malcontent, he never would have
)enned the obnoxious article. Had
lie interviewed upon the subject {
natter of his intended communica-
ion ex-Chief Justice +. V. Long,
Ion. L. Emmett, first chief justice of
his state, Joshua Reynolds, or Hon.
frank Springer, at Las Vegas; Hon.
A. Morrison, Thos. b. Catron, Col.
or Judge Francis Downs,
It Santa Fe; Senator Childers, Judge ,,
Zee, Mr.. Field or Senator Ferguson,
It Albuquerque, all Americans and {
Id residents, who are an honor to {
heir country, he could not have writ
en- so elaborate and defamatory a