Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/294

266 pointed and affectionate also on pay-days, holidays, and gala occasions, when stray small coins were apt to jingle, and there were, figuratively speaking, more crumbs than usual falling from his brother's table. He even hung himself upon him at the most unseasonable times; would accost him when on special duty, and follow him into places where a vagabond Indian had not the smallest right to appear. On one unlucky occasion, therefore, he beheld the soldier enter a large public building with several of his companions; and he followed him forthwith. The building they had entered was the Academy of Fine Arts; and the soldiers were in immediate attendance upon General Santa Anna himself. Utterly unaware of the nature of the building, and only having noticed his brother in the crowd, the Indian cautiously approached the entrance; and finding no one to oppose his progress—for the officials of the place were fully occupied in receiving the General in an inner apartment—he marched boldly through the portal, as a matter of course.

I must here observe that many Indians in remote districts in Mexico have, to this day, a great respect for the ancient Aztec religion;