The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1898-11-26
MEXICAN NOTES.
Some Bits OF Information Concern
ing the Dons.
The Manners, Habits and Customs
of IN Interesting People De-
cribed in Concise
Form.

BARRIERS all wear long linen busters.
Bank drafts are always made out in
duplicate.
No person carrying load is allowed
to walk on the sidewalk.
1t is contrary to law to indorse a
check from one person to another.
Drivers never cluck to their steeds,
but urge them on with shrill Kisses.
There are free parks, free seats and
free music in all the cities of Mexico.
All kinds of vehicles as well as BIZ
cycles are obliged to carry lights after
dark.
Strips of newspapers are fastened to
the balconies in front of rooms that are
for rent.
Every householder is required TO
sweep the street in front of his prop
erty and sprinkle it twice a day.
All men and most of the women Of
the lower class smoke cigarettes, but
none of them chew tobacco.
Heavy wagons are not allowed to use
the streets paved with asphalt except
when absolutely necessary.
A hack driver never leaves his seat
and you open the door for yourself and
settle with him on his high perch.
A Mexican servant or messenger
never enters even a business house or
addresses his superiors without remov-
ing his hat.
Hand rakes are almost unknown
Leaves and loose grass in the parks are
swept up with long handled brooms,
made of stiff twigs.
Street cars never stop at street or
track intersections to avoid right-angle
collisions, but the drivers make their
approach known by shrill horns.
If the police find anyone carrying a
bundle through the streets who cannot
tell where he is going, or give a clear
account of himself, he is promptly ar
rested.
The single entrance of even the larg-
est apartment house is locked at ten
O'Clock every night, and the portero ex.
poets a. "gratification" if he is reused
after that hour.
When person is injured on the
street he and every one connected with
the affair are taken to the nearest po-
lice station, where each is required to
make a declaration.
The water pressure is seldom sufi-
cient to furnish a supply to upper
stories, and every house is supplied
with force pump with which reser
voir on the roof is kept filled.
The residences are all blessed. At
the completion of the home guests are
hidden and the ceremony of blessing
them corresponds to house-warming.
The priest passes through each room,
sprink!ing it with holy water.
The banks will not take for deposit
a five-dollar check on a bank in another
city, although it bear the Endorsement
of regular patron with good balance
to his credit, but the same customer
can go to the bank and get New York
draft for $1,000 without paying for it
and the bank will send around the next
day for check to cover the amount.
Invitations to baptisms come in many
dainty forms, but invariably have at
taehed to them a new piece of money.
To the immediate members of the fam
lily the coin is of gold, but to most Of
the hidden is sent a silver ten-cent
piece.
Everything and everybody pays di-
rect tax, from the street porter to the
largest mercantile establishment, and
the stamp tax for documents is equally
lucrative. Even placards and posters,
other than your own in your own house,
must bear a stamp.
Water for the bathrooms is heated in
a novel way. The separate supply tank
on the roof has an opening from top to
bottom, through the center, that acts
as chimney to the fireplace below the
tank. A small fire heats good guam
tity of water very quickly.
Nearly every one is named after
some saint, generally the one to whom
the day OF which he was born is
sacred. If he bears the name of a saint
whose day falls on other than his birth
y, he celebrates only the saints day
and calls it ell dia de su santo.
The Mexican policeman often seems
a bit stubborn, but it can be truly said
in his favor that he never sets him
self up as court of Judgment. If an al
or fight occurs on the street
he does not attempt to decide which
party was right, bu both are promptly
taken to appear before the judge, whose
business it is to determine which one
started the row.-Modern Mexico. -.s.