Page:Mexico, picturesque, political, progressive.djvu/83

Rh driven to base uses. Ages of misrule and oppression have not broken their sweet kindliness of soul, or dulled the instinctive courtesy of loyal devotion to a superior. There is everything to hope for when this people can be roused to a proper understanding of its own importance, and of the threads of advancement lying useless now in their idle hands, but ready to be woven into strong warp and woof of progress.

The seeming unconcern which makes life, both in and out of doors, as open to observation as the air or the sunshine makes them a constant study. One may contemplate manners and habits as if there were no human interests beneath. But, in spite of this outward indifference, a very strong vein of national spirit runs through the people. Hidalgo, Morellos, Guerrero, Juarez, only names to us, are to them living embodiments of vital truths never to be forgotten, brave lights of patriotism and principle that no rain of blood or terror can quench. It is a pity of pities that seventy years of struggle have brought them no nearer freedom of thought and action than they are to-day; still, to have kept alive the impulse of liberty is an immortality for the brave men who died at its