ly Indians--retained as a rule neither the activity and courage
of the wives of the _conquistadores_ nor the graces and dignity of the
dames of the viceregal courts. After the establishment of Mexican
independence there came as first ambassador from Spain, in 1839, Senor
Don Calderon de la Barca; and this gentleman brought with him his very
accomplished wife. Madame Calderon, as is the case with most women, was
an indefatigable letter-writer, especially when she was amid new
conditions; and to a number of her letters, written with no intent of
publication, but most vivid and entertaining in their presentation of
the chief characteristics of Mexican social life, is owing much of the
present-day knowledge of Mexican existence in the early part of the
nineteenth century, when that existence had begun to be acknowledged as
national and individual. There is no period better adapted than this to
the purpose of finding and fixing a typical Mexican woman, for it was
the time when the women of Anahuac had emerged from the imitation of
Spanish characteristics and customs into a national female existence as
well as type, and it was before their briefly held individuality failed
beneath the incursions of a northern civilization which has been so
universally destructive of national type wherever it has set foot.

Consideration of the characteristics of the Mexican woman of the forties
may be begun with an extract from the letters of Madame Calderon. She is
speaking of society women in Mexico, and she says: "I must put aside
exceptions which are always rising up before me, and write en masse.
Generally speaking, the Mexican senoras and senoritas write, read, and
play a little; sew, and take care of their houses and children. When I
say they read, I mean they know how to read; when I say they write, I do
not mean that they can always spell; and when I say they play, I do not
assert that they have a general knowledge of music. The climate inclines
everyone to indolence, both physical and moral. One cannot pore over a
book when the blue sky is constantly smiling in at the open windows."
This language reads as the words of one who is reluctantly compelled to
tell the whole truth and then seeks to withdraw or at least palliate the
accusation which she has brought. It is entirely plain that at the time
of Madame Calderon ignorance and sloth were the prevailing feminine
characteristics among those who sat in high places. It is true that the