Page:Our Sister Republic - Mexico.djvu/404

390 They never talk back, after the manner of the Italian servants in America, but reply to every epithet with a fresh offer of service.

"You d—d drunken loafer!" thundered a master to his servant who was endeavoring to back an unusually heavy load of pulque.

"Si Señor, at your service!" was the polite and prompt reply, as the mozo lifted his hat and bowed like an India rubber man.

It takes about four servants in Mexico, to do the work of one in the United States, and as you board them, the cost of labor for a family is considerable, after all. If you pay a servant his or her wages in advance, or day by day, the chances are, that you can keep them almost any length of time; but let them get a few dollars due them, and they are almost certain to come to you, and say:

"Please Señor or Señora, I want to have my wages settled up on Saturday, as I am going to the village where my family reside, to rest a few weeks. When I have had a good rest I will come back if you want me!"

The idea of allowing money to accumulate on their hands is exceedingly against their fancy, and they make it a point to get rid of it as soon as they lay their hands upon it. I thought before this trip, that servants in the United States were the worst in the world, but heard just as much complaint about them in Mexico as in California. In all fairness I must say, that I think the Mexican servant system better, or at least, less troublesome than ours.

The census takers in the United States sometimes complain of the annoyances and indignities which they