Page:Our Sister Republic - Mexico.djvu/405

Rh are made to suffer; but they have a glorious time compared with their fellow-laborers in Mexico. It is said that the actual population of the country can only be approximated, it being impossible to get at the number of able-bodied men in any given town. The intelligent and educated families will answer at all times, correctly; but among the lower classes from which the army is mainly recruited, it is next to impossible to get correct returns. The appearance of a man with a book, or roll of paper and pencil, is the signal for all the men capable of doing military duty to skedaddle in double-quick time, and the women, fearing that it is a preliminary arrangement for a conscription, persistently declare that there is not an able-bodied man on the premises.