Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/68

42 valued gifts, and now offers them at the Monte Pio for the relief of her unworthy but distressed parents. The rich colour mantles upon her cheek as she exposes those cherished relics of more prosperous days; but an expression of tearful joy illumines her eyes, as she thinks of the benefit her present sacrifice will confer upon her relatives. As she turns away, one might envy her the happiness she anticipates.

A visitor of another stamp now makes his appearance—a tradesman, residing in one of the mathematically straight streets, branching from the Plaza Mayor. Of course, he is in difficulties. It is surprising how these storekeepers contrive to keep open their houses from month to month, so great is their pride and indolence, and so grossly do they mismanage their affairs:—it is no unusual thing for one of these retailers to request you to call again, if you require some article which he is too lazy to look for—and a Mexican shopkeeper seldom knows where to lay his hand upon any article required.

The individual in question has so long lived on in a kind of dream of inactivity and gentility, that he is quite electrified to find himself, on awakening, almost without the means of a