Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-28


desire fulfilled. The family which calls
this lovely place home is cultured and re
fined They are far removed from the con
fines of average civilization, but surrounded
by all the comforts that wealth can buy
they live an ideal life.
With such contrasts the peculiarities OF
the lower classes are all the more notice
able. They differ in every respect, in every
characteristic They have ground intC
their very beings the ignorance and super.
| stition of ages.
The native of the Texas border of the
Rio Grande is the embodiment of super
stition and religious feryor. He has more
religion to the square inch than any other
blind follower of faith who ever trod uu.
falteringly and unquestioningly in the paths
| where his priest might lead. Let jacal
be ever so poor it Is never so destitute but
it may
BOAST A CRUcIFI3
| in every corner and oftentimes images and
| pictures of the Virgin Mary and various of
| the saints. The cross is something which
! the representative of this class always
reverences, though he may seldom know
/ why. 1t is the symbol of his religious
( faith, the anchor of his simple belief.dn
| prosperity he bows down before it, ~ af-
! Fiction, when the angel of death entets baf
meath his roof. he invokes its holyf spelL
| and the black cross rudely drawn sont7the
1
| the Reaper has set his mark. Rough
crosses set by the roadside, or cafFedsipto
! the trunks of trees, show wstre violehs
| deaths have occurred and allbelievers pass
| ing by cast stone At the foot of the cross
| until the heap often assumes imposing pro-
| portions.
Hobgoblins, witchcraft, spells;and charms
hold firm hold on the minds of the simple
people, and all manner of weird mum
| meries are INDUCED in, thoegh StranerS sell
dom or never get an Opportunity to see any
of the fantastic performances. Especially
| strong is their belief in the loco" 1t Is
| asserted that many of those who have ac-
| quired the friendship of the powers OF evil
| have knowledge of 4 plant which, once
| taken into the system, robS the unfortunate
victim of that divine spark which elevates
| man above the bruteS, and driveling,
| senseless soulles thing he wanders about
until death comes TO his relief. This belief
in the existence of the 'leco plant" is by
no means confined to the ignorant. l have
had well-informed citizens tell me they
knew of instances where animals and, n
some rare cases, even men, had beenG9r
coed. One of the ranger companies now IN
this country has even recorded with the
Acknowledgement, not very long ago, re-
port telling of the loss OF pack-mule which,
had been locoed. That poisonous weeas.
do exist in all hot countries isa well-known
evil uses of them is also true, II needs but
little ignorance and q little superstition
to weave 4 shroud OF mystery around such
cases which shall serve to give them all
the attributes of the supernatural.
Churches are infrequent and schools are
almost unheard of. l doubt If thought
even of education ever Shimmers through
the intellect of 4 vast majority of these
people. Itinerate priests, or, as they are
often called, travelling padres, make their
regular rounds, reaching each community
about once in three months, and by the them
people are kept supplied with talismanss
and other religious relics. By them massesi
are said for the dead and by them those.
who would wed are united for weals8r faf
woe.
through life together await wish inlpatience
the coming Of the padre, and eyelfNhen he
comes their patience mus&Nbe furtherS
tested, for having obtained tf9Hl them Az
the particulars, they must<wait IL, thras
months longer while he makes trip o The
county seat, makes all his regular rounds
and returns to them again. Then the we'd
ding takes place, and the festivities of the
occasion are in keeping with the condition
of the couple and the degree of poverty in
which they enter upon life together. They
are always poor. Some, however, are
poorer than others, and there the difference
lies.
And thus the people live and die. They
know no other life; their world is bounded
by their immediate surroundings, and that
far-distant horizon where the fringe of
chapparal and cactus circles all around,
where earth and heaven meet, shuts them
out from the world of which they know but
little and care less.
Born in the midst of
POVERTY AND PRIvATIoN,
ignorant of the world and by the world I'M
known, they are a people by themselves.
Their customs are their own, their charac@f
teristics are peculiar. Even to the Mexi-
cans themselves who live III the interior of =
Mexico, they are strange class IEdee6F
the Mexican of Central Mexico looks pBon
the inhabitants of all that borderlap4 be-
tween Mexico and the United SAFES as
little better than barbarians. RhossE0fs
whom I have told have not been resident
contiguous to the dividing line between
these two countries.
In fact, the chief interest feel in their
peculiarities arises from the fact that find
them within the borders of Texas, hun
dred miles and often more, from the Rio
Grande. They do not seem TO be 4
degraded class, and when is taken into con-
sideratIon all the circumstances by which
they are surrounded, all the evil influences
to which these circumstances subject them,
they may be regarded as far from degener-
ate, though even then, with their supsft
stitions, their lax notions on many pUhfts,
their light regard for life and property their
utter Indifference to their by no means ele-
waited sphere of existence and their evident
indisposition to better their condition, they
may hardly be looked upon as desirable
door-yard neighbors.
Along the banks of the Rio Grande itself
many elements enter into the composition
of the population which tend to give it a
character distinctive even from that which
backs it up closely on either border. The
more frequent location of large towns, the
constant engaging of considerable class in
the precarious but profitable occupation of
smuggling, the temptation for desperate
characters Of all kinds to seek territory
so wild and so accessible to dividing line
which can be easily crossed, leaving behind
the laws which have been broken, and the
presence of numerous custom officials and
deputies, all combine to render the river
country itself al and with its own distinct
i've peculiarities. Indeed so much is this
the case that the people among whom the
patience of the readers of The GAZETTE has
permitted me TO carry them are almost as
ignorant of the country south of them as
they are of that which stretches away to
their north, and think all will agree with |
me that they are a class by themselves,
and distinct; peculiar people.
ROBERT j. BRowS.
NEW ENTERPRISES.