50 MEXICO. 
on the street — the grand saloon being generally the length of the whole 
house. On the ground-floor are the porter's lodge, offices and carriage- 
house. From this, a flight of steps leads to an entresol, devoted to the 
domestics, while the upper story is universally the fashionable and best 
one. Here the family dwells in perfect seclusion from the street and 
neighbors, and the arcade which fronts their doors is filled with the choi- 
cest fruit and flower-trees in constant bloom. Above all this is the azotea, 
or flat, paved roof, a delightful retreat on summer nights. The front 
windows of the houses are all guarded by balconies covered with gayly- 
colored awnings ; and on days of festival, when filled with the gay throng 
of Mexican women, and hung with tapestry and velvet, they present a 
most brilliant appearance. 
The carriage, and ever-harnessed mules, stand constantly in the court- 
yard below ; and the postillion is ready to mount and sally forth at a 
moments' notice until after dark, when the large front gate is closed, locked 
and barred ; and the house becomes as quiet and secure as a castle, with 
which no communication from without is permitted, until you tell your 
name, or signify to the porter the object of your visit. Until this cere- 
mony has passed, no bolt is drawn in the wicket or latch raised to admit 
you ; and the caution is extremely necessary, on account of the frequent 
robberies that have been committed by allowing unknown persons to enter 
after dark. 
It has been said that " cleanliness is a virtue," and I think that polite- 
ness should be classed next to it. Cleanliness does not always proceed 
from the mere love of personal or domestic purity, but is often a mere 
evidence of respect for the opinion of the world. The same, perhaps, may 
be said of politeness. Be it what it may, however, it is one of the most 
agreeable sacrifices of social intercourse. The " old school " seems to 
have taken refuge among the Mexicans. They are formally, and I think, 
substantially, the politest people I have met with. Bowing and shaking 
hands are common all the world over, and in our country we do it stiffly, 
and often gruffly enough. Savages salute one another with a grunt, and 
the Chinese touch noses. But, in Mexico, there is something more than 
mere nonchalant nods of recognition and farewell. If you enter a Mexi- 
can's house, there is no rest among the inmates until you are made per- 
fectly at ease, and your hat and cane taken from you. The lady does 
not sit on the sofa — nod when you come in as if it were painful to bend 
or rise — talk with you about the weather as if your rheumatisms made 
you a species of walking barometer — and then expect you to nod again, 
and take yourself off as a bore ; but a frankness and a warmth are im- 
mediately thrown into the manner of the whole household as soon as you 
appear. No matter what they may be engaged in, or how much occu- 
pied; all is forgotten in a moment, and they are entirely at your service. 
Here, in the United States, I have paid fifteen or twenty visits on a morn- 
ing with a fashionable lady. To do so in Mexico — a man would be set 
down as an oddity. A visit is a visit — it is intended to be something. 
