Mexican

“ Their bodies are graceful as the palms of the desert; their hair black as ebony, or golden as the rays of the sun, gracefully waves over their delicate shoulders; their glances are like the peaceful light of the moon. The Mexican ladies are not so white as the Europeans, but their whiteness is more agreeable to our eyes. ”

“ You have here the modern Mexican of every degree, from the substantial ranchero, or proprietor, bespurred, and bedizzened in the full and showy Mexican costume of stamped leather, embroidered vest, and gaudy serape and curbing a wild horse loaded with furniture; or the trusty arriero, with his long string of mules, his precious cargo of specie, and his train of assistant mozos; down to the poor adventurer whose whole wardrobe consists of a pair of faded velveteen trousers silt halfway up the leg, and a tawdry cloak, haunting the gambling table, and living upon what fortune sends. ”

“ The Mexican troops holding lights for the musicians; and they of various countries, Spanish, German and Mexican; the léperos with their ragged blankets and wild eyes that gleamed in the light of the torches, the ladies within and the crowd without, all formed a very amusing spectacle. ”

“ On the other hand, I cannot linger in Mexican churches day after day, as I have done, watching the Indians glide in, remove the leather bands from their foreheads, let their chitas slip gently to the pavement, and then, with straight backs and crossed hands, kneel in reverent ecstasy before their favorite images, without rejoicing that a profound human want can be so filled to overflowing. ”

“ The fine benevolence of ancient friendship, the universal respect for genius, a competent knowledge of the laws and institutions of other countries, a perfect acquaintance with the cause of Mexican decadence, and a charming regard for all those domestic rites which cement the affections of a home circle may all be observed and admired within the walls of a Mexican dwelling. ”

“ Already the Mexican people begin to gather the bitter fruits with which these men who blazon forth their humanity and philanthropy have always allured them, feeding themselves on the blood of their brothers, and striking up songs to the sad measure of sobs and weeping! ”

“ The enterprising North American commercial traveler, always in a hurry, rushes in upon a quiet Mexican business man, opens his grip, exhibits his samples, and fails to effect a sale. The reason is obvious: he has disgusted the merchant by his too eager and energetic manner. How different with Europeans! They have caught the spirit and habit of the Mexican to a nicety. Not alone in the outside world of business, but in the home life also, are they more in harmony with him. They have learned what we have yet to learn, to make haste slowly. ”

“ The features of the Aztecs as represented in the various Mexican paintings are typically Indian, and argue a northern origin. The race was, and is, of average height, and the skin is of a dark brown hue. The Mexican is grave, taciturn, and melancholic, with a deeply rooted love of the mysterious, slow to anger, yet almost inhuman in the violence of his passions when aroused. He is usually gifted with a logical mind, quickness of apprehension, and an ability to regard the subtle side of things with great nicety. ”

“ In every circumstance they proved to be animated by the noblest impulses of our common nature, and one of the happiest discoveries I made during those days of a bewildering bewildering struggle with a new civilization, was that, despite the representation of many of my own countrymen, fidelity, tenderness, and untiring devotion were as truly Mexican characteristics as American. It is doubtful in my mind if the people of any country lavish upon strangers the same warmth of manner or exhibit the same readiness to serve them, as do our near-at-hand, far-away neighbors, the Mexicans. ”

“ As their guest during my stay in Santa Rosalia nothing was more interesting than to watch these genuine American children transformed into veritable Mexicans. So thoroughly identified were these little people with the land of their adoption that in their daily play not one word of English was spoken; every movement, tone, gesture, and expression was entirely Mexican, even to their games and plays and reboso-wrapped dolls. The baby, christened Charles, repudiated his baptismal name and clung with infantile pertinacity to its Mexican synonym of Carlos, refusing to answer to any other. ”

“ Our road lies through a forest of pines and oaks, which reaches to the summit of the pass, where stands a wretched little village, La Guarda. There we had a thoroughly Mexican breakfast, with pulque in tall tumblers, and endless successions of tortillas, coming in hot and hot from the kitchen, where we could see brown women with bare arms, and black hair plaited in long tails, kneeling by the charcoal fire, and industriously patting out fresh supplies, and baking them rapidly on a hot plate. ”

“ Trembling on the verge of two races, his eyes looking towards the land of his progenitors, the enshrined Spain of his dreams, with something of race-nostalgia—if we may be permitted to coin the term—yearning for the distinction of the white skin and traditions of European civilisation, yet bound to the life of and race of his own patria by reason of the native blood within his veins, the Hispanic Mexican has cultivated a sensitive social spirit which tinges his character and action in every-day life. ”

“ Singularly un-American—that is if United States and Canadian manners and customs shall be considered typical of America—are the customs of the Mexican. The influence and romance of the long years of Spanish domination and character have been crystallised upon the Mexican soil. The mien and character of the race created here in New Spain is marked for all time as a distinctive type, which may possess more for the future than the votary of Anglo-Saxon civilisation and strenuous commercialism may yet suspect. ”

“ National pride.—Patronising manners.—Drunken independence.—A swaggering postilion.—Braggadocio and abasement.—The adventures of an intoxicated family group. One feature of the Mexican character obtrudes itself forcibly upon the attention of a foreign resident at an early stage of his experiences—their braggart pride and lofty assertion of personal independence. You will seldom encounter a Mexican at all removed from the lowest grade, who has not such an overwhelming idea of his own grandeur and importance that he will admit of superiority in no shape or form. ”

“ Every intelligent Mexican must wish for an event so greatly to the advantage of his country and of the world in general.
Some of our good friends in Mexico have bought land on the American frontier by the hundred square leagues, and can point out patches upon the map of the world as large as Scotland or Ireland—as their private property. What their gains will be when enterprising western men begin to bring the country under cultivation, it is not an easy matter to realize. ”

“ The Mexicans have naturally inherited and assimilated Indian lore about plants, animals, places, all kinds of human relationships with the land. Through the Mexican medium, with which he is becoming more sympathetic, the gringo is getting the ages-old Indian culture. ”

“ Besides, the fastidious taste of the Mexican as to color and texture is lost sight of; they forget his whole nature is antagonistic to dull colors, coarse woof, and unseemly assortment. The French have caught the popular fancy in taste and delicacy. Light and airy fabrics with cunning devices, adding unique effects to the artistic arrangement, catch at once the Mexican eye.
Foreigners from the old country are content to make a very little headway at a time, and to utilize every facility they can command to the very best advantage. ”

“ Let that power and influence which took hold of the natives of Mexico speak and say to those who took hold of the other side: "Here is our work. Mexico as it is today is peopled mainly by descendants of the races we found here. Now show us your work."
The question is which are the greater people, Americans or Mexicans? The question should be, which are the greatest the Mexican or American Indians?
If Mexico continues to improve and the people to advance in the future as they have for a few years past, the question may yet become, which people are the most advanced? ”

“ The spirit of the times is felt by the Mexican leaders, and it will not be long before, through their efforts, the Republic of Mexico will be as much the home of the free and the brave, in the sense used in the United States, as the latter. I repeat it once more, Americans who mind their business, who behave like sensible men, and treat the Mexicans with the respect they deserve, will find a splendid field for enterprise in Mexico. ”

“ Now in these two extracts we see illustrated the previous statement regarding the heterogeneousness of the population, since, although both speak of the Mexican, each describes a radically different type; the first evidently the Indian, the latter the Creole or Mestizo of the upper ranks. One should be careful to discriminate between the various classes of people. I have had my attention called to the fact, that those who have known the Mexicans longest speak of them in the highest terms. Of such well-informed observers was Brantz Mayer, author of several books on Mexico. ”

“ The Mexican is even more suave, more entertaining, and more determined in his mode of selling than the most smooth-tongued representative of the Israelitish race. He can sustain himself comfortably on a smaller profit, and is content to do so, as long as he is assured of holding his customer. ”

“ The solitaire Frenchman was bald-headed, and had white side-whiskers, which stood out at right angles to the length of one foot; his whiskers were the largest part of him. The Mexican had a very red nose, extremely thick lips, and was rather effeminate-looking. The married Mexican looked exactly like a jolly Irishman—something very extraordinary. After I had finished this inspection by the dim light of a lamp which hung in the center of the car, I too went to sleep, and knew no more till the train stopped at the journey's end, a few miles out from Vera Cruz. ”

“ Now a man, bearing a trunk or wardrobe; an Indian woman, selling fruits, with her children on her back; men with baskets, chairs, shoes, tanned leather, and others selling dulces, joined the procession. At length the acme of a typical Mexican scene was reached when the burros unceremoniously raised their nozzles and brayed loud and long. ”

“ There were men drawing the pulque from the maguey, Indian women selling vegetables, tortilleras, venders of ducks, fruitmen, lard-sellers, the postman of Guachinango, loaded with parrots, monkeys, etc.,—more of everything than of letters—the Poblana peasant, the rancherita on horseback before her farm-servant, the gaily-dressed ranchero, in short, a little history of Mexico in wax....
You ask me how Mexican women are educated. ”

“ It is safe to say that the average Mexican knows more about the chief men of his patria, and its history and institutions, than does the average Briton or American of his country. The educated Mexican speaks correct and expressive Spanish, which language—the Castellano—is, of course, the language of the country. ”

“ It was not long that this quarrelsome people could live together without fighting amongst themselves, and ten or fifteen years after the founding of the city the two parties—the Mexicans and the Tlatelolcans—separated, the latter going to a still smaller island near the main one. The Mexicans, however, kept the god, and, though their neighbors were more progressive at first, were in the end triumphant. Though for a while each faction had a separate government and its king, the Mexican is the one that finally absorbed the other, and whose history we shall mainly follow. ”

“ There is doubtless a great affinity between the races of Mexican Indians (the native Aztecs) and the Arabian tribes; there yet remains much of the Eastern type in the aspect of the people—their diminutive figures, their aversion to labour, their fiery irritable tempers, and their flowing and often poetical redundancy of language. The physical weakness of the modern Mexicans is extreme ”

“ It was an election year and the town had been somewhat disorderly the night before. Harboro and Sylvia had heard the noises from their balcony: singing, first, and then shouting. And later drunken Mexicans had ridden past the house and on out the Quemado Road. A Mexican who is the embodiment of taciturnity when afoot, will become a howling organism when he is mounted. ”

“ As to the native element, which is more important, inasmuch as it undoubtedly predominates in the make-up of the average Mexican, especially the Mexican of the poorer class, an examination of its peculiar character will prove quite as favorable. Biologically, the aboriginal Mexican is not to be classed with any of the so-called lower races, such as the negro, the South Sea Islander, the pure Filipino, or the American Indian. ”

“ There is no people who take less interest in the rare features of their beautiful country than the Mexicans. Nature charms them not. A Mexican dwelling with a garden around it is a rarity—a lawn or a shrubbery is never seen ”

“ The principal ingredient in the Mexican race is Indian blood, which is visible, in their features, complexion, and disposition. The men are, generally taken, ill-featured, while the women are often quite handsome. ”

“ Visiting is exacted with frequency, and on all occasions of interest to a family, and with all the old-fashioned Spanish formality — of manner, at least, yet the conversation falls, as a rule, into society gossip. With the rise of inferior and colored persons, by means of political influence and military intrigues, parties present a greater mixture than formerly. Nevertheless, the innate politeness of the Mexican, and his natural suavity of manner, permit a comparatively easy adaptation of tone. ”