Page:Mexico, picturesque, political, progressive.djvu/69

Rh between our experiences and expectations. It is a simple act of justice that it should be placed at least side by side with opposing statements. And the cameristes of the Iturbide — be their memory blessed— were the last straws that broke down our camel's hump of prejudice. In my special case, even the shock of finding my maid a man, and the man's name Jesus, could not shake my comfort and delight in him.

So far, in this country, society seems to have builded with the ruins of its old institutions: the stones of broken monarchies have been used to raise the edifice of the new republic, which has, as yet, added little fresh material of its own. It is still, as its enemies sneeringly call it, the land of to-morrow; the attempt at progress is constantly nullified by the habit of procrastination; and the best-laid plans for improvement in business are frustrated through ignorance of the value of present action. Unhappily, those in authority lend themselves to this weakness, instead of combating it by precept and example. The methods of government are as uncertain as those of trade: it is no more likely that a law which has been placed on record will be enforced, than that your