Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1900-10-11
ALAND OF CONTRASTS
An Inside Glimpse Of the Social
Life of Mexico.
Many Live from Hand to Mouth, But
the Majority Put On No Airs
Simplicity and Good
Taste Rules.

band to mouth, with recUrrent visits to
the pawnshops, which hard-headed-
Asturians or north country Spaniards
manage, and there is great majority
who live on what they earn and make
no fuss in social show. The average
young Mexican marries before he is 20,
and he does not take his bride to a
clearinghouse; she does not wear dia-
monds and a sealSkin sack, or affect to
be wealthy by any manifestation Ga
clothes. She dresses neatly and becom-
ingly, and it is to hep own little fur
nished house that her young husband
takes her.
The Mexican, the typical Mexican,
loves his home. he has not just the
word for the place, for he calls it poet
ically his "h9gar," or fireside, and he
has no fireplace. But it is usually
one-story house, surrounding patio,
or courtyard, wherein grow flowers,
where often there is fountain and
singing birds ENGAGED make music in
the morning hours. The babies come
along with almost astronomical pune
tuality, and they are welcome. When
Allah built this world he had in mind
just such genuine homes as these. He
never imagined a clearinghouse as
home for young married folk.
know something of intimate Mex
ieo, and so have had occasion to note
tha& courtesy, everyday politeness, is
sraivexsal article. You do not cut a
uaaa, says the correspondent of the Bos-
con BeFald, because he happens to live
In little house, nor ab1ectly bow down
to some wealthy owner of a great man
Gon and master of many servants. ES-
Sentially, the Latin, and therefore the
Mexican, is democratic in public. Cab
met ministers shake hands with poor
clerks, and bow to their wives II they
happen to know them. The high
mightlness of the social magnates in a
small New England manufacturing
town reveals an instinct for snobbery
which, Allah be praised, is not included
In our daily reckoning in Mexico.
The president here is pretty big
man. l assure you. He holds power
four long years, and reelection is Gus
tomary. He is ruler to the full extent
Of the word, but he drives about in a
carriage no better than that Of many
a prosperous merchant. His personal
staff is not composed of generals as in
] Some Central American countries, but
and he is accessible to anyone who has
Ia reduced to the absolutely necessary,
a sound reason for taking his time.
I don't want to paint Mexico as a so.
eial paradise; 1t is not But although
there are heartbuEnings and social riv-
| alriss in the now cosmopolitan capital
crowded with foreigners of many ma
lions. the Mexican social life, that of
the best people, is really simple and
well sustained. The real old families
put on no airs; their great homes are
ample; their dinners good, their taste
cultivated by travel and observation,
and the poor relation sits down IN
abashed at meal time with his for
tunate relative.
How 90 know this? Because have
dined with many fine old Mexican fam
flies. Enter the poor relation, an aunt
we will suppose, who has made a mar
rage that did not turn out well tinan-
cially. She wears modest black, hei
gown is of cheap stuff, made at home
probably. She is greeted with hugs and
kisses. and enters into the talk OF the
family unconstrainedly, giving heI
views. of matters in general, and shows
pleasure at seeing her nieces hand
somelv gowned. Sometimes they take
her to the theater with them or to drive
in the family carriage.
People are not ashamed of poor rela
lions; they are part of the great
scheme of social life, and the Mexican
has TOO much Of the Moor not to know
that fate rules our destinies, and that
to one man is given riches and to an
other poverty. So it has been decreed
And the Mexican usually has a big
warm heart inside his anatomy.
Old people (well, this is the paradise
of grandpas and grandmas, a fine ole
Spanish and oriental way) are always
reverenced. Their opinions are sought'
they are the "old guard" and respect
ed accordingly. One cOnsults them OF
important family matters, the daugh
ter's engagement, the profession fol
the boy. the naming of the babies, etc
For them the favorite chair or corner
the siesta undisturbed, the preferred
dish at table, and, when they die, you
may be sure they are mourned sin
cerely.
Mexioans have no notion of being
ashamed to show publicly warm at
fection for their aged fathers an'
mothers. The great lawyer meets hi
white-haired mother in the street ca
and kisses her hand deferentially, ant
he does the same with his father. Big
] handsome girls, fashioDably clad, NEE
|, their father in the street, and, takin!
his hand. kiss it. The family tie is yer,
strong among the people who have tn
right idea of home and family.
: TTNI0TTE ORNAMENTS.