The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-08
s4aEa
MEXICO CITY.

/" HIS letter is written for the dear
little chickens" of the United
i states / mean chickens in the
Mexican sense The young women anu
girls of this country are affectionately
called "chickens." If they are under
Is they go by the name of "pollitas' OF
little chickens, and if over that they
are called "pollas," or grown-up or big
chickens. The comparison is even car
ried out as to the men. If young and
marriageable they are known as gal
limos" or young roosters. If old and
tough they are called "gallos," or old
cocks.
am writing this for our girls rather
than for the boys. but ] doubt not 1t
will form good feed for our old roost-
ers as well. 1t Is about the women of
Mexico-how they look, how they love
and how they are eourted and welded.
Mexico's Beautiful Girls
wish 1 could take you with me
through the Alameda here at the cap
ital or around any of the big plazas of
the interior cities when the band plays
Sunday evenings. The girls are then
The girls walk by themselves and the
boys by themselves. Each sex goes
double file, and so that they face as
they pass. The men stare hard at the
girls. 1t is not improper here for a
man TO look at woman, and if he
ogles her she thinks it a compliment.
This ogling goes on even in the busi-
ness streets during shopping hours, and
it flies from carriage to carriage along
the fashionable drives The amorous
glances, however, come from only the
men. The girls are watched that it
takes a sly maiden indeed who can
sneak a love look out of the tail of
her eye without the knowledge of the
mother. aunt or duenna, who always
goes with her to keep her in order.
Not many years ago it was the rule
for the girls to have their faces half
hidden by their mantillas, and even now
this is done somewhat by the sevillana
or little mantilla, a small shawl of black
lace which they drape over the head
on going to church. The Mexican GUS
tom forbids one going to church to
show her clothes She cannot wear
hat or bonnet to worship and she must
go clad in black, with her head draped
in black lace.
No Wonder They Ogle the Girls
I do not blame the men for admiring
the girls Mexico is a land of beautiful
women and the polltas especially seem
good to my eyes The girls mature here
much sooner than Uncle Sans maidens.
AT 9 they are old as our girls of
16 and at IA they are ready for mar
and 16. and the girl who has no hus-
band by the time she is 90 is on the road
to old -maidenhood.
After that her beauty begins to de-
cline. At % of 26 her sedentary life has
turned her plumpness to fatness and
after 80 she needs some anti-fat remedy.
The young girls here have compilations
of a brunette order, with rosy cheeks
md dark eyes and hair. The hair is
often as black as midnight in the tropics
nd it grows so luxuriantly that it fails
81 the waist. 1t is seldom tortured with
cirling irons, and ii has good wash
cry week, so that it is fluffy and
cream Here in the city it is often worn
in the most modern way, but as a rule
it is brought down over the forehead,
almost meeting the eyebrows. Some girls
wear their hair banged
The features of the Mexican women
cast. with good foreheads and straight
noses. They have pearly teeth, shapely
necks, and the easy carriage of the Az