Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-03-04
LIFE IN OLD MEXICO.


Good household servants are paid
from "a TO So month.
You clap your hands to stop the
street car or call waiter.
Men arrested for drunkenness are
made to sweep the streets.
The devout Catholic always raises
his hat while passing church.
There are free band concerts in all
the cities Mt least once a week.
You can hire the finest cab on the
street for two silver dollars an hour.
1t Is quite the proper thing to take a
little nap after the midday meal.
The poems wear sandals made of sole
leather, and prefer them ITO shoes.
| Church bells are rung as fast Ind
sharp as fire bells In the United States.
You may listen for year and never
hear an angry word spoken in Spanish.
1t never gets cold enough to KIN the
grass or leaves on the harder trees.
The bananas that are considered best
| by many are only about two inches
Tong.
The largest business houses are
closed for an hour AMI half in the
middle OF the day.
Turkeys are driven to market
| through the main streets of the cities,
just like sheep.
Even the poems wife has a piece
of drawn work to cover her husbands
dinner basket.
The departing lady kisses her lady
friend on both cheeks at the door or on
the street car.
The Federal telegraph has recently
inaugurated night service, and ten
words can be sent for ten cents.
Nobody chews tobacco, but nearly
everybody smokes cigarettes, including
most of the women Of the lower class IS.
White paper is one of this things
that are expensive. Ordinary news
paper costs about 10 cents lsilver) a
pound.
One of the favorite sweets for chill
dren Is sugar cane. 1t Is sold in pieces
about Is inches long for / centavo
each.
You can buy all the beautiful flowers
you can carry home in a ------Jbushel
basket tor an American half dollar.
Babies and children all wear hall
socks, and are happy with bare legs
when -,orthern visitors require over
coats.
The weather is not subject to COM
ment unless it is bad. 1t is as a rule
SO fine that it furnishes no variety OF
conversation.
The stamp law is very thoroughly
enforced. Every form of commercial
paper, from check to contract, con-
tributes to the revenue.
The hiss Is used almost as un'ivers-
ally among the French, not only to at
tract some ones attention, but to de-
note approval.
The street car mules make better time
than in any otLer country in the word.
About half the time they are kept OH
full gailop.
Horses with tails more than twelve
to eighteen inches long are rare ey
ceptions, as the tails of fashionable
coach horses are invariably docked.
Everybody shakes hands at meeting
and parting, even though the VISIT may
be on the street corner and lasts only
two minutes.
Banks are capitalized for immense
sums and have very strict regulations,
anu failures among these institutions
are practically unknown.
The pollteness the common people
show each other and their affection for
their children are never-endlny
source of pleasure to foreigners.
avery one is required by law to keep
a bowl of water in the entry way OF
his house for the convenience Of dogs,
so that they viii not go mad from
thirst.
The waiter whl give you complete
change of plate, knife and fork with
every separate order of meat or yege-
tables, and the style is to eat but one
thing at a time.
Very few horses are used except in
carriages. The little nudes pull aud
carry immense loads. Big two
wheeled carts are used almost exclu-
slvely for all kinds of drayage.
There Is an excellent Federal telc-
graph system, and nothing can happen
in the whole republic of any import
ance whatever that President Diaz
does not know Of 1t almost Immediate
ly.
A gentleman would almost feel dis
graced to be seen carrying two
pound package or his satchel on the
puDAc street. Servants and carriers
are so cheap that such work is always
left to them.
Fires are almost unknown. Cooking
is done with litrle charcoal in stoves
made of masonry, and as the houses
are universally built or stone and
bricks, and have no chimneys, there is
little chance for CONGREGATIONS.
Gentlemen rarely drive, and Mexican
ladies never do. II they do not have
their own carriage and coachman they
hire cabs. lhere are very few rigs,
even In the City of Mexico, that can
be hired without a driver.
Aside from fresh fruits, which are
always served abundantly, desert is
almost unknown on tue average home
or hotel table. A dulce, or simple sweet
OF some kind, Is served at the end Of
the meal, but it rarely consists Of more
than a very small portion Of preserved
fruit or a dftule tart about the size Of
a dollar.
Everybody buys lottery ticket once
a week. .-sen the poems gather up ten
cents for q fraction of a ticket, and
- n A. ~.