t
indifference to what seems to be a very trying position, as well as to
almost total neglect. These children were never in a bed since they were
born. They probably sleep at night upon a straw mat spread upon the
earthen floor, and we much doubt if they are ever washed. Sometimes the
father is seen carrying the baby, but this is very rare; the women take
the laboring oar almost always here, as among our Indian tribes, the
people of the East, and the South Sea Islanders. This is a
characteristic applicable not alone to the national capital, but
observable again and again all over the republic. Though so very poor,
and doubtless often suffering from hunger, the half naked people are not
infrequently seen with a cigarette between the lips. Drunkenness is
seldom seen, notwithstanding that pulque is cheap and potent, and it is
very rarely the case, as already intimated, that any quarreling is
witnessed among the people. They are quiet and orderly, as a rule, yet
most of them are homeless and hopeless.

Though begging is chronic with the Spanish race everywhere, and
notoriously prevalent in continental Spain, persistent in Havana and
Matanzas, and nearly universal throughout the Mexican republic, still,
in the national capital it is far less obtrusive than elsewhere, because
the police are instructed to suppress it. So, also, begging is
prohibited by law in Paris, London, and Boston, but how constantly the
law is disregarded we all know. Sad is the condition of things which, as
Thackeray expresses it, gives the purple and fine linen to one set of
men, and to the other rags for garments and dogs for comforters.

It is not uncommon to see a family group, mother, father, and one or two
children, huddled close together in a street corner, where they have
passed the night, sleeping in a half upright position, while leaning
against an adobe wall. In an early morning walk towards the Paseo de la
Viga, we saw just such a scene, with the addition of a mongrel dog,
which had so bestowed himself as to give the shelter of his body as well
as its natural warmth to a couple of small children. One thing the
reader may be assured of, to wit: the whole family, including the dog,
had a hearty and nourishing breakfast that morning at least.

CHAPTER X.

Benito Juarez's Grandest Monument--Hotel del Jardin.--General Jose
Morelos.--Mexican Ex-Convents.--City Restaurants.--Lady Smokers.
--Domestic Courtyards.--A Beautiful Bird.--