New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-15
THE MESS ROOM.

she was not. Seven years had instilied no such
liberality in her father. And So" she said
AS | am ashamed to talk to Natcho when papa
Is around, | must wait until he goes TO
bed. It is sometimes very late she
showed the little telephone. like childs Irvine
gram" that she dropped from her balcony TO
her lover in the street below.
FRANK TREATMENT OF LOVE AFFAIRS. =.
Nothing can equal the frankness Of the treat
ment Of love affairs by the Mexican girl. Her
chief topic Of conversation-and AS has been
said in four and-twenty hours. nay, in four
and twenty times twenty -four hours ii is not
worn outs Of wha, her novio said to her and
she to him. If he is faithless she pines openly.
The mother of two really charming daughters
said to me not long ago, when the opinion was
expressed that her Catalina was by far the
Drettiest girl in town though the native taste
exalts a blond Of regular meaningless features
as such Yes, she has pretty face, but il is
the face Of one who suffers" 1t was true Suf-
ferng showed in her great, heavy-lidded eyes,
ard in her pathetic little smile and in the droop
of her head. For her novio is faithless. They
have been engaged since she was seventeen
five years In that five years she has been
miserable most Of the time. Il know she says,
in her dear little voice. that Jorge does not
love me very much And know, too, that he
talks badly about me (Which, II the American
gentleman believe Ii of a light Of Mexican
society liz quite true) and ! know that he il I'M
kind to me. But" she turns out the palms OF
her little hands, IL cannot help loving him. 1t
is stronger than t. And so ii is that she spends
days and nights in tears and fasting and prayers
and makes herself and all who are around her
wretched.
few nights ago there gay doings at a
certain public garden because Of the feast OF the
Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe. Catalina came
but only TO say that she could not come. She
was all in black. and going home to sit
alone In the dark for upon that night six years
before Jorges father had died. And Jorge? He
was in the cantinas-the barrooms that take the
place Of club for the gentlemen-amusng
himself as is his gay wont And Catalina's sister
Virginia did not come because her novio was
confined to his house with a cold. and she there
fore went to bed And thus II Is that the
sehorita loves.
But in most cases she exacts all that she
gives. You not to dance with that girl"
says the nOvia, and her novio obeys, be II ever
so good a friend IL ne does not she gives him
calabasas. which is the name Of a kind Of
squash, and in this means the mitten. 1t IL
well for her to exercise the power before the day
arrives when she accepts her trousseau from
him and dons the wedding gown he has sent and
becomes his wife. For. once married. she settles
down to care for her very many children, to be-
moan the indifference Of her lord and to wear
ing the black shawl, which covers a multitude of
uncOmbed hairs and buttonless buttonholes.
Such are the pleasures and the pains OF the
sehorita AS for her occupations. they are few
She rarely reads. and when she does II is only
the frothiest VI novels and love poems Her