Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/317



One of the chief characteristics of the Haitian peasant is his thorough kind-heartedness; he is free from all envious thoughts and is pleased with his lot, his few wants being so easily satisfied. He has no cause for hatred, nature's liberality supplying him with all that he requires. His tastes are of the simplest. On week days his costume consists of a "vareuse" and trousers made of blue denim; sandals, and a broad-brimmed straw hat. But he always has in reserve at least one good suit of clothes for festival days and the dances, which are the greatest sources of enjoyment. Although he is seldom to be seen without his "manchette" (machette), the Haitian peasant is of a quiet, confiding, and cheerful disposition, not given to fighting or quarrelling. He holds in abhorrence any abuse against the feeble; and crimes against children and women always disgust him. Nevertheless, quiet and harmless as the Haitian peasant appears, he can be transformed into a fierce and stubborn fighter when there is question of the independence of his country being in jeopardy. He has always in sight the two ends which it is his ambition to attain: to be a landowner and to give education to his children; with these