148 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



With all her drawbacks as a domestic, the 

 house-mistress with us usually prefers the 

 native to the (American) imported article. 

 For instance, we have our Jesuscitas not of 

 common occurrence, but occurring sometimes, 

 nevertheless. Jesuscita is not grasping, and 

 she does not mind work, sickly though she 

 be. Her wages burn a hole, all the same, 

 and she is restless until they are spent. She 

 has the great advantage of having been a 

 scholar in a Methodist mission-school, and 

 she speaks English a passion for calling milk 

 and other inanimate objects ' he ' to the con- 

 trary notwithstanding. She is altogether, as 

 a Mexican, a superior production. That she 

 partakes of the lack of intelligence charac- 

 teristic of her race is not to be reckoned 

 against her, inasmuch as she had no hand in 

 her mental make-up. She is a gentle, and 

 of course untruthful, little creature, and we 

 grow fond of her as she lingers from week to 

 week within our borders. If after making 

 an object-lesson of my housekeeping desires 

 four or five times in one morning, only to 

 find them carried out in a totally contrary 

 direction, or else to have them forgotten 



