Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1893-10-19
STREET SCENES
In the City of Mexico Primitive Meth
ods Modern Inventions.

N"" a' 'ltIi7llCS OF the street He in the cap
/ ltal city Of Mexico, It pays an American
/ to take trip to Mexico, IL only for the
| purpose of learning how much more fortu.
| nate in mos respects he is than Is the aver.
| age Mexican, perhaps one might say
| than any Mexican" To one accustomed
| to the activity OF the street life of New
York, Chicago. or almost any American
I city, the movement in Mexican streets is
( funereal. In fact one Of the most "hust.
ling" scenes in the streets Of the capital is
fuHersL The cemeteries are all located
at considerable distance from the city
and are reached by horse-cArs, in this
case malc-cars, as the jack is the motive
| power on all Mexican street railways.
1t is not customary for the relatives
and friends of the deceased to accompany
the remains to the grave. the funeral cere-
| mony ends At the church, and this is the
inyariahe custom in all Spanish American
countries, 80 fa- a. the natives are CON
cerued In The City Of Mexico, at the ter
mination II the church ceremonies the
coffin Is placed On a horse-car, and hastily
| driven tu the cemetery There are cars
made specially for this purpose In the
case of the rich these cars are elabors,elv
finished and decorated, sort of temple
| Or wooden canopy being erected in the CEN
TIRE of the car beneath which canopy the
coffin rests on a raised platform. The fun
eral cars for the middle and lower classes
sre the painest Of platform cars. without
! paint. without ornament
As you walk along the streets you viii
now and then see one Of these funeral cars
| approaching, The coffin resting on the plat
form car, the driver standing up In front,
whipping his horses Into a spanking gal
lap, and % tie funeral cortege rushes on
ward to the cemetery at a roliicking pace
a. II the driver was doing his best to AZ
rive there on time. 4 Mexican funeral
i really quite spirited scene-so far as
the race to the grave is concerned. II is
sort Of "go-as-y you-please" contest.
Many indications of the extreme poverty
Of the peon class (Which class comprises,
Il Is said, nine-teuihs Of the native pOpua-
tom present themselves tn the most
casual observer. Along the curbs of
the principal streets are seated al uoon
little family groups; the mother has pre-
pared sayory ola podrida composed Of
meat scraps, onions. chill. and other vege-
tables. Around her, squatting on the
curbstone and In the gutter, are her hus-
band and children.
Each twists up a huge pancake snd
shovels ~ with It some Of the stew from
the red earthen pot, envelopes it in the
pancake SO a. to form a sort Of sandwich.
and that forms the whole of their dinner
II they can afford il they wash it down
with 8 cents worth Of pulque, the native
beverage made from the sap OF the maguey
plant They live in novels, such Mexicans.
and rarely have beds TO sleep on, for the
entire income Of such family is usually
les than fifty cents day.
Poverty and squalor are so common in
very large sections Of the City of Mexico
As TO shock the American when he first
visits The city, but we grow used to any
thing, and after few weeks residence we
too become callou-ed to all this distress
Yet it Is perhaps erroneous TO call it
distress, for these people do not seem
uphsppy Like as the eels - skinning,
they have become used to poverty and
hard living. They may not enjoy it, per-
haps but they make no complaint. Very
many of them, from generation to genera
tion, have known nothing different during
centuries; probably their descendants for
mady generations will live in just the same
way and never complain. Two admirable
traits distinguish the poor in Mexico; they
are always polite and almost always cheer
full
As we walk along their streets our nos
trils are greeted with the odors from the
sewers, which in many of the streets are
placed beneath the sidewalks and the per-
fume rises through the interstices of the
stone sidewalk. In the streets in the out
skirts of the city the sewers are all open
to the sky, and there the odors are espec-
tally rank. Add to these the other odors
that are waited across the city from the
lake, few miles distant, where the sewers
| empty their contents, and you have col
lection of perfumes worthy of the famous
city Of Cologne with its three hundred
| odors, each a well-defned and separate
stink"
| 1t is only fair to add that during the
past six or seven years the goyernmen,
has been Spending millions OF dollars in
| constructing new sewer system for the
| City of Mexico. and by this time great
| change must have been made from it's con.
dtion as it was when / saw it nine years
ago.
One of the most picturesque street
scenes is presented by the long lines Of
burros coming into the city, in single hle
from the country, bearing on their back,
huge burdens Of merchandise, consisting
usually of produce, hay, fodder. crockery
packed in hay or straw bales, fruits ol
| vegetables in paniers. etc. The dumb pa
tient beasts seem so little in comparison
with their towering loads, so lost to sigh
amidst such mountains of hay or straw
that they excite ones mirth as well a.
sympathy.
Mexico is well equipped with American
horse railways. You find them in ever!
city of importance and in the capital thu
lines are as numerous and as well equipped
as in any American city of its size. AL
of them were built by American engineers
largely by American workmen, and grea
fortunes have been made by the Mexican
politicians and government fayorites wht
..ixed the job" Sebastian Csmacho wa
the leader among the Mexicans in th'
street railway business and is believed Il
have made millions out of it.