Page:Mexico of the Mexicans.djvu/50

34 in a marked degree successful, but gradually there began to appear in place of the saloon signs those of private clubs. In other cases these were changed to "Restaurant" and a few tables and chairs placed in view, backed by shelves filled with bottles. The doors of others were to be seen sealed by Court orders, and all business was suspended. Gradually these seals have disappeared, and the pulquerias are little by little resuming their old-time aspect.

At last a decree was published in the Press that certain conditions which prevailed last winter now no longer obtained. The decree of 14th January was annulled, and the sale of pulque of the first class and of the commoner grade known as tlachique went on merrily as before.

The peon is a great smoker, and manufactures his own cigarettes, wrapping the tobacco in the dried husk of the maize and twisting down one end of the cigarette so that it will hold together. He smokes constantly. It is one of his few relaxations.

Some of the Mexican peasantry are penurious and saving in the extreme. The chief object of many Indians or half-breeds is to save a substantial sum and bury it in a secure place. To employ money thus hoarded never occurs to the peon. Indeed, he regards money once buried as out of commission and unspendable. Perhaps it is because he has to toil so hard for his money that he values it so highly. But most of thepeon class are born gamblers, and will stake their last coin on a turn of the dice. The native population is also superstitious in the extreme, with a very real dread of the supernatural, a legacy in all probability from their ancestors of pre-Conquest days.

Socialism has of late years intruded itself upon the horizon of the Mexican peon with strange results. The comparative freedom he has enjoyed within the last twenty years has failed to banish his sense of subservience, and the new doctrine which has been sedulously preached to him by peripatetic agitators has made him a grumbler without