The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-13

.OOCLIY
Miss Bess Critchfield, Miss Leota
Mcfarland and Miss Iris Calderhead,
all of Lawrence, will arrive next week
ito be guests of Miss Imogene Dean.
They will be here until after the we'd
ding of Miss Dean and Mr.. Paul Bill
lings, which will be solemnized June
21. They are members of the Pi
Delta Phi sorority, to which Miss
Dean belongs. Mrs. Roy Williams and
Miss Maude Bixler of Marion, Kan,
will also come to attend the wedding.
The wedding arrangements will be
simple, and Miss Dean has chosen for
her attendants, her little niece, EliZ
abeth Ball, for flower girl and her
nephew George Ball, who will carry
their mother, Mrs. w. c. Ball OF
Webb City.
Mrs. E. J. Callahan of Mexico, has
come to Topeka to spend the summer.
She Will remain until October, or at
least, until the political disturbance in
Mexico has abated. Mrs. Galatians
home is in Guadalajara, where she
went as bride A years ago, and In
that time she has learned the Spanish
language as it is spoken by the Mex
leans of the higher classes. and has
absorbed their traditions and customs.
In GuadaIajara, there is an American
colony of 500 people. and in that num-
Der, Mr.. and Mrs Callahan, Mr.. and
Mrs. Austin Brady, Miss Stella Martin
and Mr.. Dana McVicar, are from To-
peka. The Americans and natives of
caste all keep numerous servants as
the wage of domesticS is extremely
low. ranging from three to five dol
lars a month in American money, Civ
ing the women lots of time to spend
a SI1it9 them The American
women utilize their leisure at their
clubs and parties, and the Mexican
women spend their time bearing and
rearing their children. They marry at
mon thing for Mexican woman to
have twenty children. 'They think
American women are cursed said
Mrs. Callahan, because out of our
population of 500 in their town. we
have but 80 children of school age"
But for that matter, the American
women think the MeXicans the I'M
lucky ones with their brood, or per-
haps I should say army, of progeny;
50 the contempt of one is balanced by
the scorn of the other. Among the
lower classes, the families are equally
large, though marriages are more
rare. The cost of the ceremony to the
poems is $40, and as the aSpirant 20
husbandhood perhaps never expects to
sec that much money at once as long
dS ne IIN0S-WGII, IlO SSlS al OuA4b LILO
difficulty by dispensing with the cere-
mony. Mrs. Callahan tells of time
when Mr.. Callahan was engaged in g
mining project in which he employed
several hundred workman, and in the
neighboring town a priest on his way
to another city held a. bargain day"
in marriages. officiating at weddings
for twelve cents per couple. The
phone at the mine rang all day, sum-
moning men from the work, advising
them to take advantage of the cut
rates, and old men took their common
law wives to the obliging priest and
got themselves married in the pres
ence of their grown children.
About the only luxury the servant
class can afford. is a bountiful libation
of Tequila, which is almost pure al
cohol, and Pulque, which corresponds
to the concoction that placed Milwua-
kee on the roll of fame. In Mexico
man may get resp ectably drunk for
one cent" and they are not slow 90
consume their moneys worth Among
the rich natives, two or three kinds
of French wines are served with an
ordinary dinner, and twelve kinds with
the more elaborate, 14-course dinners.
The women of fashion dress in the
most costly materials, all made after
the extreme French styles, as the
French settlers in Guadalajara have
complete control of all the dry goods
and millinery business and dictate the
mode of dress. The daily promenade
of fashionable women in the plaza in
the evening, is startling for it's rich
ness, and takes the place of social
functions among the native women.
A peculiar religious rite of the peo-
pie is that of having their domestic
animals blessed in the yards of their
churches. They bring their cows and
dogs, goats, ETC., dressed in fanciful
creations of tissue paper, to have them
sanctified and blessed. However,
these customs are rapidly passing,
with the rising of a middle class from
among the students, who are being
educated at the new schools. and who
are taken chiefly from the peon pop
ulation, and so with the reformed gov
eminent and the spread of education,
those who would see Old Mexico
as it was and is now, will have to
hurry"
Mrs. A. A. Hurd has asked fifty
guests for a bridge party Thursday
morning at 1920 o'clock at her home
complimentary to Mrs. NJ. L. Wood of
Oklahoma City, Ok, Mrs. J. w. Jones
of Temple, Tex, and Miss Imogene
Dean of Topeka. Mrs. Wood is a niece
of Mr.. c. w. Kouns and will arrive
Wednesday to be guest at the Kouns
home. Mrs. Jones was formerly Miss
Leta Rice, the daughter of Mr.. and
Mrs. N NJ. Rice, and is here to visit
her parents. The third guest of honor,
Miss Dean, is to be a June bride, and
her engagement to Mr.. Paul Billings,
of Park City, Utah. was announced
last week. The list of guests at the
party will include number of out
of town visitors, particularly the young
matrons who were formerly Topeka
girls.
Miss Helen McCIintock, who has
been visiting friends in the east the