The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-02-04

M Talking and Gazing at Her emo
E vio''-Traits of Personal Beauty
III Refreshingly Frank Treatment Of
S# Love Affairs in the Land of the
81 Montezumas-servan Girls in the
81 United States Probably Happier
III Than the senorita. 80
This is only a woman's view of IT, but
there has been so much of masculine
rapture over the soft-eyed Mexican Sc
norita and her destinations and her
beauty that anything in the way of facts
and novelty ought to be. welcome. Once
there was a man who was honest. He
spent fortnight in the city of Mexico.
and admitted. fearfully and in hushed
tones as of one who burns that which
he has adored; then, more openly, and at
length boldly, With pride in his courage
Gus veracity. that in all that time the
one pretty girl he had seen turned out
to BIO ar American. This was too sweep
ing, says a Guada1ajara letter to the
New York Tribune Even among the Sc.
noritas there are rather pretty girls.
Among the women Of the peon class, the
women whose heads and shoulders are
wrapped in the graceful rebozo, there is
beauty. But a senor1ta will not under
stand you If you say so. However the
girl of the City of Mexico IS not the
typical one Ct the country, though the
prevalent idea in the United States. of
course, Is that all beyond that town is
waste land and mud villages. =: ~:
Away off to one side of the republic,
up 5000 feet among the western noun
tains, there Is a city called Guadalajara
1t Is beautiful city and Aold. and it
boasts an orderly, we'll governed popula-
ton of 100000 souls. Except in that it
Is exceedingly clean, this, by the Mexi-
cans. is accounted the typical city of
Mexico. For the capital is so American
lied that the very street vendors talk
English. But in GlIadalajara there is
little to attract the capitalist and the
syndicate. and it Is out of the route Of
ordinary travel.
The senorita is uncontaminated by the
bold freedom of the Gringa, and she har-
bors no disturbing aspirations for great
err liberty in her placid breast. When
she Is little she Is carried in the arms
of black-shawled nurse, good natured
and not over clean. She wears wonderful
caps of lace and colored silks, and false
slip, long and flowing, of the same over
her simpler baby clothes. When she is
little older she Is laced into long, stiff
stays and sent to the convent, and at
night She walks in the plaza land begins
to think about a noVio. The novto is
thenceforth the one aim and interest of
her life. She first knows that he is likely
to become such because he has stared her
out of countenance whenever she has
come upon him in the streets and has
he Si6ewa
and gazed after her, which is good man.
ners and a proper appreciation OF her
charms. Then he is always to be found
in the plaza when she is there.
And the Plaza itself. since 1t is a nation
al institution, and the stage WheTeupon
are enacted many of the most thrilling
scenes Of her LIES romance, merits.
word. 1t is a. garden surrounded by
wide walk. Several times a week the
band plays there at night, and damsels
who would look their tolerant horror and
surprise when told that in the States
girl may in the daytime walk in the pub
lie streets with a man come in the dark
ness two or more, Unattended, from re-
mote parts of the town. They join the
line of women who walk from west to
east. and watch the line Of men who walk
from east to west. Latterly the spirit of
the age is creeping in. and a man. upon
rare occasions, joins two girls and walks
for a time with them. But it is not usual.
For the most part the two streams do not
nlingle. The black one Of the men pours
steadily along the multi-colored one of
the girls does the same. and no word of
greeting is exchanged though man may
bow-he has the option-and a woman
may return the salute.
There are rows of chairs around the
Flaza upon both sides Of the promenade
They IRE full In the glare Of the arc
lights, under the trees, and in one of these
the sanorita when she wearies Of walking
seats herself. Then the nov1o takes a chair
opposite and proceeds to stare. If she
likes him she also stares: If not she talks
to the girl who Is with her-for If two
Mexican girls were together for twenty
four hours they would talk every mo-
ment Of the time-and observes. her
friends filing past with the walk &C.
counted graceful. which is q 1itching
motion that would seem to jar the very
bra In. All are round-shouldered and push
cut their chins; they themselves admit
the defect. with the calm satisfaction in
1t of the provincial. They scorn the sug-
gestion that a course of carrying loads
and water jars upon their heads might
give them the majestic port Of the women
of the lower class ~, s.. s,y,t. =.
There is great deal Of transformations
ealth in Gaadalajara, and the girls who
drive through the narrow white streets in
carriages that would do credit to Central
Park send to Paris and, the "city": for
which. the belle of Puu.pkinyille would be
proud. Among the curiosities of Paris the
place from which they import those hats,
Is not to be seen. The system OF fierce
lacing. whose aim Is the prevention of the
all but inevitable superfluous weight,
which Is the bugbear of the senorita, has
produced no supple waists nor slender
grace. The bodice of the senorita is hope
lessy square. And there are two girls in
the city who have had the first idea that
their magnificent hair should not be
burned and klnked like wool, and twisted
in the back into tight Jumps. One of
these mourns because her novio who has
seen and lived in the world will not per-
nit the cutting and crinkling Of her gold
brown locks, and the other is not yet out
of school" 'r.- s.a..~ .sa s..-
The senorita when she walks must not
lift her dress, and therefore, pale satin or
silk or chiffon though it may be, it sweeps
clean the plaza. Nor must she cross her
knees or her feet as she sits in public,
which may perhaps be why her shoe re-
sembles IN shape nothing so much as a
serviceable, black flatiron. 5@ u.s.
After the plaza, and at o'clock, begin
or the Mexican girl the amusements of
her day. If there is an opera she goes
with her fanily-the women folks in even
ing Dress and their men in. anything they
choose. and as often as not wearing their
hats-and sits in a box. Her novio gets the
most advantageous seat on the ground
floor, and while the curtain is UP looks at
her. She Of course, looks at him, both
aawith a steady, unwavering stare, and
hose who do not happen to be similarly
Engaged derive therefrom considerable
amusement. When the. curtain falls she
walks in the foyer and he joins her. II
hpYs q "a worry 1Hyoy oo15 ~,