Family Life in Mexico. 151 



eyes, and small feet and hands. They are very graceful in 

 their movements, but mostly very delicate. They marry very 

 early, sometimes at fourteen or fifteen years, and have gener- 

 ally many children. It is no rare case to see a mother with a 

 dozen or more. The children are very delicate, and a great 

 many die young. They are very quiet and well-behaved ; and 

 I never saw them romping or quarrelhng as healthy children 

 do in other countries. The mothers mostly nurse them them- 

 selves, and are very fond of them, but bring them up in a very 

 injudicious manner. They treat them like dolls, and to dress 

 them nicely seems their principal care. The children are very 

 intelhgent, and progress very fast, but only up to their tenth 

 or twelfth year. After that they do not advance in their 

 intellectual developement. 



The family life in Mexico is rather pleasing. Husband and 

 wife are always seen together, and they live mostly at home 

 and within the circle of their relations. Parents do not like 

 to part with their daughters, and if they marry, it is by no 

 means rare for their husbands to estabUsh themselves in the 

 houses of their fathers or mothers-in-law, living at their expense. 



The ladies are extremely ignorant. They do not read any- 

 thing else but their prayer-book, and are scarcely able to write 

 their necessary letters. They do not know any language but 

 Spanish, and of geography or history they have no idea. 

 That Paris was the capital of France they knew even before 

 the arrival of the French, and about London they had heard 

 also, for from these cities they received their dresses and furni- 

 ture and other luxuries. Of Rome they would not know any- 

 thing if the Pope did not reside there, and that fact is the only 

 thing they know. They are, however, fond of music and 

 singing, and have talent for it, and also good voices. There 

 are many who play the piano very well. 



There is no regular dinner in their houses. If hungry, they 

 eat a simple dish or take a cup of chocolate, which is very 

 good, but much mixed with cinnamon. Coffee is grown in 

 Mexico, and it is excellent, but they do not understand how 

 to prepare it. 



At six o'clock the ladies drive to the promenade, and after 

 it to the opera, where they take their young daughters dressed 

 up to their best. If there is no opera, they pass the evening 

 at home, and amuse themselves with playing at cards, or with 



