Evening star., 1899-08-12
RURAL NEW MEXICO
Some Of the Traits and Customs Of the
Natives.
Life fs Monotonous and Full of the
Hardest LabOr-Homes of
"PObrecitos."

Cor ST. Louis Globe Democrat.
Now that Uncle Sam has on his hands
sundry millions of spanlsh-speaking people,
it may be interesting to Americans in "the
states to know something of the life of a
Castilian-tongued race which has lived un-
der the starry banner for over fifty years.
On the plains and in the mountains of New
Mexico, far from the Amer canizing infiu-
ences of the towns, Thousands of dark
skinned Mexicans live as did their ances-
tors generations ago. Indolent and happy,
unlettered and without ambition beyond
having enough food for the current day, the
world begins and ends with the canyon in
which they live. Few can read or write,
fewer still can speak English, and the chill
dren for lack of schools, are trudging be-
hind their parents as in a treadmill.
In rural New Mexico the peon system
fourishes To be sure, the shackles of slav-
cry are not fastened on them by law, as
was formerly the case in old Mexico, but
they are poems for all that. In a given
district or zone of influence one man is all
powerful, for to him the poor people look
for work and on him they depend for ex-
istence. TIe is usually rich farmer, cattle
king. sheep man or sawmlll owner, and has
a country store.
The store is the hub of his little universe,
for he pays his pobrecitos the poor) with
letters of credit, good for the necessaries of
life. over the counter. They rarely earn
enough to feed their families of six or
eight members, and hence they are as a
rule in debt to the local king. That is the
secret of his almightiness, for he can leave
them to hunger whenever he pieases. On
the other hand, their labor is cheap; ne
buys supplies by wholesale from Chicago
and elsewhere and sells at retail. Hence
he Is not the loser, even If every family
for several miles around owes him a debt
which can never be fully liquidated.
The difference between. this father OF ms
people and his retainers is strikingly mark
ed. First, he is usually called don, a1i6
the members of his family senior. sonora
and senorita; and no matter how ignorant
a Mexican is, he is as slow as courier TO
give titles to which person has no ap-
parent claim. Again, the don is as a rule
educated, white-skinned and possessed OF
that business shrewdness tor wmlch pure
blooded Spanards are noted. The pobre-
citos on the other hand, are ignorant, poor
ly clad dark from exposure and mixture
of blood and as simple as child in busl-
ness But the don raises no social barriers.
The poorest have the run of his house;
and he never fails to take a deep personal
interest in them and their numerous fam
lily. The result is that the best OF feeing
exists and in politics and all the affairs OF
life the common herd are as potters clay
in the hands of the don.
The homes of the poor are all OF a klnd,
and built as in the days when Mexico owned
logs and clay, or merely of clay. in which
case they are full-fledged adobes. Each
house consists of two rooms, ten by ten
feet and separated by hall or vestibule
five feet wide. This hall is open to every
wind that blows, and when a person visits
a Mexicans house he enters the hall and
knocks at the door to the right or left.
There are bound to be members of the fam
fly in both rooms, for Mexican rarely has
less than six children, and even the crowded
tenements of New York have fewer deni-
Zens per room than Mexican shanty. The
women and children sleep in one room and
the men and grown boys in another Close
to the house Is always to be seen stable,
for a rural Mexican must have a team of
raw-boned horses. Oftentimes, too, a small
corral attests the fact that Joaquin, Jose,
or whatever his name may be, has a flock
of goats.
When an American first sees a Mexican's
house in the country he hesitates to ap-
proach 1t. because it looks fearfuily dirty.
Then, too, a group of dark-faced ragged
children usually burst into the open and
shout, Mira! mira! un Americana Gook,
look! an AmericanD. This cry always
brings forth the mother and daughter from
whose faces toll has long ago driven every
trace of beauty But let the American en-
ter, and he will see a cleany, if poverty
stricken, home, for Mexican women are
more Industrious than their husbands. And
If the American is forced to seek refuge at
night in Mexican's cabin he need have no
fear of assassination or robbery, for, how
ever VICIOUS ana thlevfng the typical
'greaser'' of the towns and Mexican border
may be, the rural Mexican is hospitable
and not avaricious enough to steal a nickel
Frijoles pronounced as if spelled free
holies) are the staff of life of these poor
Mexicans. Frijoles are Mexican beans
brown and nutritious. In addition, their
bill of fare embraces the fattest of fat ba-
con, bread and coffee. On great occasions
a chicken or goat is killed, but fresh
meat is almost as great delicacy as the
birds tongues of a Luculan feast Chile or
red pepper is as much part of a Mexican's
meal as butter is of an Americans
He lat breakfast)-"My dear the paper