Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/223

 an hereditary right, without regard to the attainments or accomplishments which might be turned to account.

This chivalric conduct extends still further, in view of the fact that estates of orphans and widows are administered with much care and honest effort. No dread Nemesis pursues the Mexican in the form of a mother-in-law, for, even if there be room for criticism, she may counsel, but she never interferes.

In many homes I have seen the husband regularly, three times a day, bring from the court-yard a flower to lay on the wife's plate. And such little attentions are not meaningless. I have also known many instances where the husband fondly insisted on the wife placing herself at the table, so that she might be excused from serving either the soup or coffee—saying, "The care of the children was enough for her." There is little or no intoxication among them. At the club or in their homes they may imbibe too freely, but the effects are never apparent in the street.

In social life there are certainly no more agreeable companions than educated Mexican gentlemen, and they are still more delightful when one comes to know them intimately upon the basis of friendship, time and means being alike at one's disposal; and wherever fate may lead, they follow the fortunes of their friends.

One American family whom I knew were kindly conveyed on their journey of five hundred miles, over a rough and barren country, and nothing would induce the generous Mexican to receive one cent in compensation; and further, the mozo who drove them, and the one who rode ahead to ward off interlopers also declined any compensation, saying, "It was the master's orders."

Some of the grandest public benefactions that I have ever seen were endowed by Mexican men; not only hospitals of every kind, but also institutions of learning. An instance I recall, is that of Everisto Madero, ex-Governor of Coahuila, who devoted his entire salary during his term of office to establishing public schools in his State.

The taste for ceremonious display and profusion is national, and