El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-03-31

EEXICO CITY, March 31.-No
NJ people in the world give
themselves over to the holt
day spirit more thoroughly than do
the Mexicans- From the poorest peon
to the biggest bondholder, they all
enjoy unreServedly the more than a
third of the year which is set aside as
holidays and feast days created by
religion. tradition and history They
have their battle of the flowers, their
Bird fair, their Passion play The
railroads give excursions on 40 spec
ial holidays, and II general holidays
and 50 Sundays. No oneroom adobe
house is too humble for it's walls
nightly 80 resound to the musical
tinkle of a guitar or the STUNNING
of a banjo; no village is so small that
its band OF native musicians fail to
gladden. the evenings with strains OF
popular airs.
First Is the Bull Fight.
OF course the characteristic sport
Of the Mexicans is the bull fight
But that is a whole story in itself.
The masses in the villages and the
country districts, as well as the poor
est in the cities, seldom see one Of
these exhibitions. They appease their
love of gore by attending the fire.
quent cooking mains held III all parts
Of the republic With metal spurs
sharpeneG to a razor edge, the life
blood Of one cock or the other will
be flowing shortly, and the denizen
Of the cockpit complains less of tame
ROSTERS than the sun god of the bull
ring protests against tame bulls.
The price Of admission to the cockpit
ranges from a single centavo-half a
cent of our money-to so centavos
While baseball is too tame for the
average Mexican, it meets with favor
in the better circles. There are
the game may yet become the ma
tional pastime. But the Mexican
will have to become less hotblooded
before it will prove a substitute Cor
the fast and furious games he de-
mands today.
PeIota-Mexican Rail.
The real Mexican ball game is
known as Pelota, a combination Of
indoor tennis, lacrosse and handban
"a game so exciting that often a
thousand dollars is waged on a single
minutes play. The game is played
in large halls. The players are US
ually Europeans, and draw salaries
ranging from $3.50 TO $1,000 a month
They wear a kind of cestus attached
to the right hand. The balls are OF
rubber and weigh about four ounces.
The game consists in one Of the play
ers knocking the ball against the end
wall by striking its with his cestus.
It then rebounds and the adversary
must catch 1t in his cestus. If he
fails, 1t scores against him Betting
is freely INDUCED in. the house"
serving as stakeholder and reserving
10 percent of the bets as it's profits
The house" also acts as bookmaker
upon certain occasions.
Going to the theatre in Mexico is
different from what it is in the
United States. Here the playgoer may
buy his entertainment by the act.
If he does not care to risk the chance
of the entire play being a good one
There are no music halls in the
cities, but in most of them the NOV
ing picture show does thriving
business. In Mexico City there is
a moving picture parlor where the
audience takes a turn at looking at
the pictures. and then adjourns to the
spacious balconies above. where it
watches the passing show Of San
Francisco street.
Indians at Picture Shows.
When the indian or the half breed
goes TO a motion picture show and
beholds some of the wonderful trans
formation pictures which people
seem to rise up out Of nothing and
go back into nothing again, or