Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/639

Rh union of the sexes at an immature age, and the restrictions against divorce; but climate and national characteristics must be considered, and even more so the caste distinctions whose great social barriers are a standing encouragement of illicit relations. So tolerant is the public to the prevalent looseness, that pseudo-wives find the doors of almost any family open to them, while husbands not infrequently maintain several households without much attempt at concealment. A redeeming feature in all this, however, is the comparative absence of mercenary motives, love being the impelling cause.

Spanish laws were not very strict in these respects, as we have seen, nor the more liberal republicans; but a better tone is spreading with foreign influence, as manifested also in more guarded utterance on delicate subjects, perhaps with a tendency to that extreme English euphemism which only intensifies the significance. The smoking habit among women is declining, and the government has taken steps to check obscene songs and disorders attending wakes and other reunions.

A greater measure is the institution of civil marriage, in accordance with the spirit of the liberal constitution of 1857, and on the ground that the clergy fostered immorality by their exorbitant fees and