The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-02-03
town, which were once simply place
of amusement, the Theatre lturbide."

town, which were once simply place
of amusement, the Theatre lturbide." "
From Guernsey.
The authority to which | referred in
my former article, Guernsey OF Bos-
ton Herald fame, presents in an article
which is quoted by the Boston Pilot
of March 4, 1899, description OF his
life in the town of San Angel, This de-
scription throws a mighty illumination
upon social and religious conditions in
the Republic of Mexico. take pleas
ure in quoting from it,
What I like best about our town
is the delicious contrast to life in a
New England village. The absence OF
any attempt to reform any one fills one
with positive Joy. 1t is so healthy a
sign. Here you have the normal hui
man being untouched by fads of any
sort. A literary society would be bank
rupt after half an hours session. Not
that our people have not travelled and
read; some of them are Of Partisan res
idence for years; others have lived
and loafed in sunny Spain; others have
large book collections, and several
learned pundits go into town in the
second-clasS cars, not to save money,
but to prevent commonplace bores
from interrupting their reading with
discussions on international politics.
Even this eccentricity is not rebuked.
For here in San Angel we believe that
every man has right to be odd, to
walk home from the station on the
ends of his fingers, if he prefers that
mode of locomotion. Personal habits
are not criticised.
DO not argue from this that we are
heather in this dear San Angel. Not a
bit of it! We are town full Of philos-
ophers. Spanish-American civilization
has reached the point of minding its
own business with great earnestness.
The only tyranny (and it is not Of pub
lie Opinion), that we know is in moral
matters. If you do not get on we'll with
the wife of your bosom, and the chill
dren are being neglected, and the fam
lily broken up, the good old parish
priest comes in and gives excellent adj
vice, which is most respectfully heed
ed. There is no divorce hereabouts,
and SO the duty of the clergy is to put
oil on the matrimonial wheels.
Hospitality prevails. The poor are
all fed. A labourer's family through
illness falls into distress, and word
goes from the priests house that here
is chance to exercise the Christian
grace of benevolence. Result relief,
and no talk about it. A mild spiritual
despotism, benignly exercised, rules,
and no one complains. 1t is well to
have some disinterested person as gem
eral arbiter and adviser.
In Mexican town one sets what is
lacking, possibly what is not desired,
in an American town, and that is re-
pose. A Mexican home is all that the
sacred word implies. 1t is patriarChal.
1t is of old Spain, and Spain got it out
of those very sensible people, the
Moors, who have an idea that in the
desert of human life there should be
GASES of comfort There is one thing
that Moor, a Spaniard or a Mexican
will guard with all his strength and his
intelligence, and that is the privacy
and happiness of his home.
Human life has its trials in these
lands, as everywhere; character is i'm
perfect, and there are collisions of
temperament, but, taking it all in all,
the life of MeXicans behind the thick
stone walls of their houses is very
pleasant One secret is the unselfish-
ness of the people, their genuine desire
to please. They prefer to be polite and
to be kindly. They do not like to Of
fend. In this they resemble the. Jap
anese, who have reduced living to a
science.