Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1895-06-22
TIC Q N OF Lsxloo.
a woman Writes sympathe hca,ly OF This
Downtrodden PeoSIs.

Woulu Jake a great deal tn do any
good. But they don't expect YOU ia
help them; there is a stoical ;nditrer.
ence, a submission to fate. about them
that shows their Indian blood, They
complain not, for they know it would
be to no effect. They simply drift along
in their dreary, poverty-pinched lives.
asking nothing. They are utterly
without hope or ambition; the thought
of the morrow does not disturb them.
They shrug their shoulders if YOU
mention it to them or ask. them about
the future. "Pues, quiea sabe" Cwho
knowsYl they say To-day is all they
an cope wpnay care for
itself.
tslshould see
the places in which thel peons live,
right here in this very city of Mexico
| have seen them, and though ! have
seen slums before this ! dAnot think !
care to be again in the tAy, gloomy
pest-stricken parts of thl city, where
they live just like animJs. For one
thing, it is hardly safe \ go among
them too much. They 3y there are
some places here, slums, lat ever the
native police would rathe& resign their
places than go into, and fter what
have seen, | am sure thai it cannot be
a matter of wonder.
1t is in these slums thatlhe ''tifo' is
so horribly fatal. | shsl never forget
last year, when this dryad disease was
spread throughout all the dty, emanat-
ing from the peon aumsl when one
would see in a single day string after
string of cheap, black street cars-I
would rather not give tn exact num-
~bers-laden with their heap, black
boxes, going out to Dolorc, the cemc-
terry. 1t was certainly % depressing
sight, one not easily to / forgotten.
When stricken with thei isease they
could do nothing, of coupe, for they
had no doctors, no mediciF, no food
nothing. One needs therefore, not
wonder when n reads otthe terrible
work of the typhus and the fearful
death rate during the spritg months IN
the City Of Mexico.
As a rule, | believe that people don't
find poems interesting. Well, ever II
you care only for the great ones OF the
earth and the wine and iake of this
life, you may want to kndw how the
other half lives, and wish $en a taste
of the humble tortilla AM pulQue of
the Mexican. But if You five any of
the milk of human kindnesstn you and
are of such disposition aI to think
this self-same peon has a saul just as
you have and a feel and transferable
and happy if he has only thy chance,
you might care to study HIN. lie is
worthy of it, for, in his own way, he
stands alone, distinct from bny other
race on earth, descendant + he is of
the proud old Toltecs and Atecs, with
a civilization that makes or boasted
Anglo-Saxon history seem BIT Il brief
tale of yesterday.
The thing that appeals b one most
in the peon is his peculiar admixture
of aboriginal and Spanish aits. They
are the most s%toical, most Indifferent
people, | believe, on earth-,hat is, the
Aztec. Take M of these p0ir, ragged,
dirty fellows wandering dong here
now in San Juan, barefoot, iold, moth
ing to warm him but his9l ragged
tilma, wrapped all %arount him, and
mutfiing up his face SO tht only his
sad, hopeless eyes car be fen-take
him and torture him, as they did here
during the frightful days Of the perse-
cution-burn him with fire, DIT him on
the rack, or tear the flesh from him
bodily-I don't believe that you eoald
make him cry for mercy. ,1st as his
Aztec ancestors, he would suffer any
thing before that.
They are fatalists. Whichever comes
they meet with always thu same sad,
hopeless submission to faR, expecting
nothing else. Poverty and oppression
has been their birthright 4nce Cortcs,
the brutal; that a changeIs Should we
come, or that they should Use above it,
never seems to enter theirhinds.
In what strong contrast b the Indian
characteristics come out the Spanish
traits, The poorest plon among
them all has a real, inherent
grace and courtesy O, manner,
IA dignity and gcntleni ss, that is
odd and pathetic against BACKGROUND
of rags and dirty old tilna and bare
brown feet. Bnt it is natuial to them;
non of it is put on" as i is so often
with the Anglo-Saxon. 1t is their
birthright, and not ever the oppres-
sion of hundreds Of yeats has been
able to take it away from them. |
like it myself. 1t is only this touch of
romance, old world grace,that makes
these poor ones endurable.
shall not soon forget being helped
once over some stepping stones in the
Morelos river, down in the hot coun-
try, by a peon. lie vas clean, thank
goodness, but he was barefoot, and had
an old battered straw sombrero and
ragged cotton clothes. Bu5 none OF
the powdered and berufiel and be.
wigged courtiers of the year of our
Lord 1900 could have taken me across
those horrid slippery black rocks more
carefully, deferentially, or with more
grace and courtesy than that ''tierra
caliente" peon. If / had Slipped, OF
even got a tiny bit wet, ! am sure hi
would have wept! Yes, it was an ex
perience, and l like to remember it.
And, too, how they do enjoy them
selves, if you give them even so TIM
an opportunity! Such a little bit of
thing makes them h~appy--they ar
more like children than anything else
so easy are they to please, and SO littl
have they to be pleased with. The,
are fonder of music, flowers and chill
dren than any other people in tn,
world, and for this reason one canno
believe them wholly bad. -Providenc
journal.
Population and Area.
The center of population in 1870 wa
about twenty-three miles east Of Bal
timore, in 1900, about eighteen mile
west of Baltimore; in 1910, about fort
miles northwest of Washington: i
1810. ahOut ~Sixteen miles north q