OLD MEXICO AS SEEN BY A NEW ENGLAND REPORTER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 17, 15 August 1884, Page 20

OLD MEXICO AS SEEN BY A NEW ENGLAND REPORTER.

We have always insisted that the Mexicans have been outraeeouslv misrepresented by ignorant, prejudiced, and unscipnlous KiS who have goae from the States with interested motives, and indeed the people by the light of a false civilisation. Spite of aU thTunpropitious influerfces that have been in operational, that country for S.SS^ yeaM> fche . ln ,? uence of th «ir Catholic civilisation is stilf fdt among them, especially among the mass of the people, and the con SSJE TV bat a . 0< L the Prot e<*ant civilisatio£ of *?neir more powerful Northern neighbours, with all their assumed superiority it must be confessed, is decidedly in their favour. superiority, it We have been much pleased and interested in reading the letters of the correspondent of the Boston Herald, "F.R. G.;-' who VocS pamed the late expedition of the directors' of the Mexican Central 232?* tFS* ****■• dl?ring their deli gbtf»l So°heA z £c B The descriptions of scenery and of the mansions and c 2 Jw£ th ff t Pe °^' writer, are graphic and interesting and they bear the evidence of verisimilitude on their very face He has evidently, no special point to make, no prejudice to gratify, nocovert design to accomplish. He simply describes things Is he finds them and we must confess that the picture he draws of thfstate of sodeTv' m Mexico i Bi B not by any means an unpleasing one y ff y '- -\ ' V * T . P°"ce courts are honestly and imnartialw administered. Jostle i 6 dea [ t mt prompU , here, and tt^a» of SmX a^, Of n Pabl 5 °?? e l is h , ard - "* his ** " « Jt.?n " Can 'the oSr -msujt & %sfji^s^S the rights of everyone by everyone. There is no loud or bfffterous talk, no elbowiDg of the weak and poor by the rich and Son* Women may walk the most densely-crowded JLto ™ttsd£Sßh !r Newark y Tne j?*? I ' than is the «^«2b<SS NorZrn^-^'w.? J ° U d °. DOt hear the naflal W-rttoSoS Sat Northern cities. Whatever infirmities of temper or character thl Mexican people may possess, their street manners are a Sodd for"

likely to walk off with any stray article which may come in his way, is true, but then remember that these poor people labour under ' extraordinary temptations. They are bitterly poor, and the smallest trifle looks large to men and women who subsist on ten cents a day. with a rise in wages and improved manner of living and general education, honesty will become the rule." The people will be as the children are educated. " The child is father of the man." The old Catholic civilisation understood this well, and acted accordingly, and the Mexicans have evidently inherited the good old customs of their Catholic ancestors. We commend the following extract from our correspondent's letter to the thoughtful consideration of the autnoiities of all our schools, public and private :— "The good manners of the school children of Mexico ment deserved commendation. ' Urbanity ' is a school study as much as arithmetic or spelling. There is a Tegular school-book which treats of such topics as respect to one's elders and superiors, the etiquette of the home and the street. Thus carefully trained at an age when discipline ie most required, the Mexican youth grows up with good manners and courteous habits. I was much pleased with the exquisite manners of the smallest children in the primary schools of Guanajuato, where yonngsters of four and five received foreign visitors, clad in a garb which, to them, must have appeared quite outlandish, without a murmur of laughter, and with all the aplomb of cosmopolites. Children in Mexico are kept in wholesome pubjection to their elders. The universal spoiled child of the States, who i makes life miserable for everyone, is quite unknown here. Corporal v punishment is the rule here, but parental discipline is tempered by that kindly familiarity with the children of the household which seems to be a universal characteristic of Latin nations. It is seldom that one hears a child crying on the streets here. I have been interested iv the street play among peon children, and the absence of rudeness, the kindness of the older children to the younger ones, struck me forcibly." — CatJwlie Review.