78 THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 



fully crammed with perfectly useless lumber, leaves 

 school with his native tastes undeveloped or utterly 

 swamped — in other words, he is neither fish, flesh, 

 fowl nor good red herring. This may be considered 

 an extreme case, but such extreme cases are quite 

 common. If Education for Citizenship, and the 

 Worthy Use of Leisure, often cry vainly for a hear- 

 ing where American youth is in question, how much 

 more so is this the case with an alien race? 



The Mexican girl, whatever may be said to the 

 contrary by those who do not know how to 

 approach her, has an undeveloned talent for 

 home-making; her inherited love for the beauti- 

 ful renders her, I have been told by heads 

 of dressmaking establishments, an invaluable seam- 

 stress ; in the florist line she is born to excel. Train- 

 ing would make her a good nurse, and among her 

 feminine elders expert masseuses of a skill inherited 

 from the Indians, may still be found. Both sexes 

 are almost passionately musical, though one regrets 

 to perceive a decline in this passion among the "edu- 

 cated" young peons. A correct ear, however, and 

 a love of good music — when not perverted by cheap 

 associations, — are still constantly to be met with. 

 A young peon who could neither read nor speak 

 English was helping me clean house one Spring day, 

 and his eves lighting on my Victrola, he exclaimed — 

 "Oh, and do you love Caruso? How many of his 

 records have vou? I saved mv monev and bought 

 with it a Victrola for my mother, and with every 

 cent more I save I buy Caruso !" And then lend a 

 shrinking ear to the raucous and terrible outcries 



