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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 1914)
I sct- By William Atherton Cu Puy. I TRAVELED for a month through the heart of Mexico looking for the women of beauty and romance of whom I bad heard so much. In all that month I aaw not one of them. Instead there waa always a horde of sad crea tures, child-laden, prematurely old. who hung about the railway stations and repeated the plaint, "un centavo. un centavo," always begging for a mere penny. And further back there was the horel where the mother presided over the destinies of a large family and attempted to make enda meet on the small and Irregular earnings of her men folk. There are two dominating ideas in the mind of the resident of the United States with reference to the people of Mexico. Light opera la responsible for both. The first Is the picture of the man a creature of an Inconceivably wide hat. of trousers skin tight to the angles, of flowing, scarlet sash and colorful blanket And the picture Is true In its minutest detail. No stager of light opera has ever exaggerated the roan of Mexico. He loafs today m mag nificent ennui about the railway sta tions at Chihuahua and Baltlllo and San Louis Potosl so arrayed as to defy ex aggeration. The second Mexican Idea of the man from the states is of the aenorlta. gay clad, bespangled. Jangling her tambou rine and with a dagger, for Jealousy, hidden In her bosom. But this maiden Is as conspicuous for her absence as Is the male of the species for his omni presence. Where Poverty Prevents. For it must bo remembered that th people of Mexico are Inexpressibly poor. It is of the masses I am writing, the 98 per cent. When Diaz became Pres ident there waa an occasional opportu nity for the native to earn 15 cents a day at hard labor. Dial let In foreign capital for the development of Indus try and In SO years these same men could earn cents a day and had more opportunity to work. Tet even this waa not luxury. And the boys and girls grew up as do the herds In the fields and mated long before they had reached maturity". Sometimes there was the formality of marriage, but more often there was not. for the fees were prohibitive. It was rare that a peon girl passed the age of 14 without having found herself a mat. This same girl at 20 was the mother of four children. At that age she should have Just been coming Into her matur ity, blossoming into whatever of beauty lay within her. But the girl of 10 who. In poverty, has brought Into the world four youngsters and cared for them, has had llttlo chance for the flowering forth of the latent beauty that may have boon her birthright. This is the condition that is almost universal among the people of the masses. It Is because of this condition that one looks in vain for the dream maiden of Mexico who burns up her soul In Jealousy for her sweetheart and slips the stiletto between his ribs rath er than lose him. Bemntlea of Trfcaaatrprr. It Is a condition almost universal but -WHY DO SUCH ODIOUS PEOPLE HIDE IX THE STREET not quite. There is the town of Te huantepec that saves the day, for Te huantepec Is the home of women who throw down the gauntlet to all the world for beauty and for those char acteristics of leadership that dominate all around them. "Where Mexico grows narrowest to ward the southern end the Isthmus of Tehuantepec separates the main body of the country from Yucatan. A rail road crosses this Isthums and makes a short cut between New York and the Orient. At the top of the divide there is a native Indian town and here re side Mexico's amazons. Here are found those rare natives with the fluted and extraordinary headgear that has won an international reputation. When the traveler alights In Tehu antepec he Is met by peddlers of opals, and beads beaten out by native gold smiths from the metal of tribal mines, and the fruits of the "tlerra callente." Soon he notices that these peddlers are all women and that many of them are young and beautiful. He passes into the market place where he finds innumer able stalls, also presided over by women. There Is the apeparance of Immaculate cleanliness and the air of business efficiency. Nearby are native stores also presided over by women. There Is hardly a male creature any where to be seen. Eventually the traveler learns that this Is a city of women. There are 3000 of them and but 600 men. They have assumed the reins of government and the responsibility for providing for their own support. They have done both so effectively that Tehuantepec Is the cleanest, best governed, most prosper ous community between the Rio Grande and Gauatemala. And the beauty of these self-governing, self-supporting women lifts the traveler out of his boots. They are a remnant of the unsullied blood of the Aztecs, that race of high civilization that suffered so tragically when it fell under the all-bllghtlng domination of Spain. They are the remnant of the people who built pyramids that rival those of Egypt and temples of such decorative beauty as to draw students from the world around Into the Jungles of Yucatan. And these women have a classic delicacy of feature and a dig nity that Is In accord with this an censtry. A Dlaa Tragedy. This manless Eden Is also a heritage from the Diaz regime. President Diaz sent his younger brother to Tehuante pec as Governor. This latter was but an unlettered Indian and possessed none of the unusual qualities of Por flrio. He governed his Aztec subjects with aboriginal cruelty and stupidity. His many atrocities came to a climax when, one day. he shot and killed one of these women of Tehuantepec as she passed his dwelling. The shooting was done upon a wager and merely to prove his marksmanship. There la a touch of cruelty in even the Aztec when aroused. The people rose as a man and went for Governor Diaz. When they had cap tured him they performed an operation that Is not unpopular In Mexico. They THE STTNDAT DHEGONIAN, PORTXANP, JTTLY 19, 1914, skinned the bottom of his feet and then forced him to walk to his execution. To avenge the death of his younger brother President Diaz dispatched an army to Tehuantepec with Instructions to kill every male in the village. The orders were so effectively carried out that the only men left were those who fled to the mountains. Since then the town has been a com munity almost without males. As I walked the streets of this native city of the tropics one of the most peculiar of the efforts of nature to keep her balance was thrust upon me. The male children of the Tehuanas go stark naked but little girls wear a skirt about their waists. I noticed that there seemed to be many more male children than female. So great was the appar ent difference in numbers as between the sexes that I began to keep a tally. At the end of the day I had seen four times as many boys as girls. I have ever since wondered if nature was here at work In an attempt to supply abundantly the males of which there were such a lack in the community. Giving a Party. An opportunity to study these women was afforded by the fact that the indi viduals of the party of which I was a members decided to give a party in Tehuantepec. There was but one Amer ican In the town, he being a mining en gineer In charge of a nearby property. We asked him how to start some form of entertainment In accordance with native practice. He said that the sys tem locally resorted to was based upon the employment of the native band of the community. This organization Drawn by Mrs. Jerome Myers. cars:" ailllift TheyA G-ea lures oToil WL ong (Suffer Du t Clllllll- tm mm H j j 4 lSp ?3c3S9 might be subsidized and, at the proper hour it would march through the streets at the head of a procession. The people giving the party would fall in behind the band. The public was thus invited and whosoever saw fit might Join the procession. When the crowd was sufficient the band would repair to a nearby dancing pavilion and the entertainment would begin. We followed this programme and soon found outselves hosts to the en tire village. The dancing pavilion was merely a thatched roof for shelter and had neither walls nor floor. The music was excellent. The programme began with native dances, stately Indian fig ures not unlike lancers. But soon the band struck up a .twostep and. to our utter surprise, native beau and mai dens glided forth in this dance of civilized man, performing the steps no differently from the manner to which we were accustomed In Wash ington or St. Louis or San Francisco. The members of the party grasped the opportunity. Soon these effete representatives of the northern civili zation found themselves gliding about this somewhat barbaric dancing place with their feet attuned to those of the Jungle maidens. Bronze Dianas they were, with a glow of coloring In their cheeks. They were barefoot, with but two garments. They wore the skirt of the civilized woman. They are no doubt wearing them hobbled this sea son. Supplementary to this skirt was an upper garment known as a vestido a loose, sleeveless sack reaching barely to the waist. They dance as do only those who lose themselves in the nature claim of the dream rhythm of music. The Beauty Secret. But the women of Tehuantepec tell the story of the possibilities of the native women of the whole land. They are beautiful because they have been given an opportunity to develop. The maiden of the Isthmus reaches the age of 20 and the full bloom of her wom anhood without 'the over tax of pov erty and child-bearing that is the lot of the Mexican woman elsewhere. She comes into her maturity as do the orchids of her lowland forests and rivals them In beauty. Yet her blood Is little different from that of her sis ters of other tribes and there is little Indication that they would not be as fair as she if they but had the oppor tunity. And as the condition of the Mexican woman Is largely due to the poverty that surrounds her, she may be said to await the coming of pros perity to take her place among the creatures of beauty who bring happi ness into the world. The women of Mexico possess In a marked degree the cardinal virtue of cleanliness. In Tehuantepec the whole population turns out at sunrise for Its bath in the river that runs through the town. Men, women and children take their dip In the stream as might so many sparrows and as unabashed by the absence of bathing suits. The Mexican native everywhere Is as regu lar In bathing If there Is but an op portunity. The Virtue of Cleanliness. The ranchmen of Arizona and New Mexico know the peon family well and there this family may be seen almost at its best. The Mexicans irrigate the farms of the Americans, clean their ditches, look after their livestock. This labor, on the American side of the line, gets the wage of a dollar and a half a day, to him enormous. The home of his family may be pitched by the side of the ditch in which he works, or near the village which Is his head quarters. This home Is usually a shack of adobe or of brush. He has built it himself and Its furnishings are worth four dollars. It is as good as his peo ple have ever known. The Mexican wears the blue overalls that are the working clothes of the West. But if they are old the blue is largely gone from them and they ap- proach whiteness. This is due to the insistence of the wife upon washing the clothes of her husband with Buch regularity. The Mexican Is scrupu lously clean. The American who works beside this man of the South is not so particular. Neither is the wife of the American. Measured side by side the Mexican woman may be depended upon, despite the primitive conditions under which she lives, to be vastly more cleanly than is the American woman. In fact, your family doctor will tell you, if asked, that two-thirds of his women American patients are derelict In the matter of bathing. The Amer ican woman Is, in fact, rather a sloven ly creature in this respect. The Mexi can woman is greatly her superior. The brush shack of the Mexican fam ily Is likewise clean. The hard-packed dirt of the floor is swept frequently with a broom that the wife has made from the tops of a bundle of watermoty bushes bound together. The piece of tin upon which she cooks her tortillas is burnished and shining. Her frijole pot is Immaculate. The ashes are al ways brushed back from the open fire at which she cooks. She is, under these unfavorable conditions, the model of a housewife. Hers are the elements of sterling worth from which may be de pended to, spring the merit of a self respecting people when Mexico comes Into Its own. The weakness of the character of the THERE are still a few cantinieres or women water carriers living who served in the war of 1S70, but In the future campaigns of the French army there will be no can tinieres doing "active service" on the battlefield. The Minister of War In giving his ishes them, explained that their serv ices did not compensate for "their part in lessening the consumption of the food supplies, the retarding of the march, and the delays caused by extra baggage." He did not refer, however, to their history, which has been one of bravery, heroism and tireless energy in aiding the soldiers during a campaign. The duty of these women who Joined forces with their husbands or brothers was to serve drinking water to the men on march and they were obliged to en dure all the fatigue and hardships equally with the soldiers as they tramped along by their side. Four can tinieres were apportioned to a battal ion. Their hodge-podge uniforms, half masculine, half feminine, consisted of a tight-fitting leather belted basque with its double row of brass buttons, a short full skirt reaching to the knees, a small Mexican man is his love of a sporting life. He has a mania for gambling, for cockfighting, for the bullring. As he grows prosperous a good many of him will be led away by these things. But the Impression should be corrected that the Mexican does not work or is a poor workman. I grew up on a ranch in Arizona and know the Mexican hired man well. Not only is he a willing worker but he is effective and intelligent and apt at learning. With the natural opportuni ties for productiveness that exist In Mexico and the willingness to work which the native possesses, there Is a great future ahead for that people If it can be but given an opportunity. The only thing that stands in its way is the habit of misgovernment that Is the heritage wherever Spain has been the preceptor. Wildest Women of Mexico. Of course, there are many tribes that are apart from the chief stock of Mexico. The most aboriginal of these are the Seri Indians, on the island of Tiburon, In the Gulf of California. They are the most primitive people In the world. Among them, also, women domi nate, and these are brawny Amazons, who, through centuries of necessity, have developed such physical fortitude that they can capture rabbits on the open plain. The marriage requirements that these Amazons force upon prospective hus bands are the severest tests of the fit ness for parenthood that are anywhere Looses Her Place in Ranks of French Picturesque CAntinieresAre Done Away with after Brave Career. black apron and underneath a pair of trousers. A leather hat was the prac tical headgear that went with this queer-looking combination. To the arm of each cantlniere's coat was at tached a little white Iron plaque with her name and that of the battalion to which she was assigned engraved on It. The cantlnlere In the time of peace had no legal existence, so that It was only when qar was proclaimed that she figured on the army lists. In a letter to' the dlrectolre dated March 17, 1797, Napoleon speaks of the noble action of the cantlnlere, Marie Dauraune, of the Fifty-first Brigade, "who on seeing a reasons for the new law, which abol soldler fall Into the river and in conse quence of a swift current being swept under, Jumped In without a moment's hesitation and saved him from drown ing. "I have presented to her a collar of gold from which Is suspended a civic crown with the name of the soldier en graved on It who Is indebted to her for his life." Some time later Josephine Tlnquart, of the Sixty-third regiment, received a cross for having killed a cossack and thus saved the life of her Colonel In the retreat from Russia. Marie Tete-de-Bois, whose name is probably a sobriquet, as, translated, It Is Marie Head of Wood, was In 17 act ive campaigns. Her husband was killed on the battlegrounds and she herself was wounded several times. The faith ful cantlnlere was scarcely cured of her last wound when she again took up her duties as water-carrier and followed Napoleon to Waterloo. During the bat tle a stray bullet struck her and lodged In her face. As she fell she shouted. "Long live France." The ball had made an ugly wound and the torn and bleed ing flesh made her almost unrecogniz able. A grenadier bent over her and while supporting her In his arms, in order to make light of her condition, said, "Marie, really you are not beauti ful like this." "Thafs possible," was her response, "but I can boast of being daughter, wife and widow of a trooper," and she expired. The records show a long list of can tinieres who have been rewarded with military medals as an acknowledged recompense for exceptional deeds of bravery. There has hardly been a French writer or poet of the 19th cen tury who has not been inspired to Im mortalize them with the pen. The cantlnlere now is only a name, but woman still has her role to play In an outbreak of war. The uniform ot the cantlnlere will be replaced by the hospital dreBS of the nurses of the Red IisskP ' jO applied, and result in the elimination of any man of less than t!ie maximum of fortitude. These people have In stinctively developed a severe eugenic test, for less than the superman could hot survive In the Inhospitable region In which they dwell. When a Serl youth applies for tho hand of a maiden, he Is asked to corns to live for a year under the roof of her parents that his eligibility may bs tested. Here he proves himself by pro viding food for the family during that period. He catches game barehanded in the desert or the thicket. He must dwell in this household and view the coming of rivals and the courting of his sweetheart with unconcern. The maiden lavishes favors on her visitors in attempts to make him loe control of his feelings. She practises all her allurements upon him in an attempt to make him once become demonstrative of his feeling for her. But his part Is that of the stoic, the man of Iron control. Through It all he toils and provides and shows no sign of the fire thst burns within. If he is steadfast to the end of a year ho is married to the maiden. If he falls to provide, if Jealousy causes him to turn his hand against some other suit or, if the maiden can tempt him to a show of affection, he Is driven Into the desert by the members of the tribe, there to wander unsuccored until thirst and hunger overtake him and his body becomes food for the vagrant coyote. The woman who has undone htm re mains to lure other men to their ruin or to find the superman that she may bear others of his kind. Army Cross, but for devotion and self-abnegation the cantlnlere will not be sur passed. ISLANDS WASHED AWAY. The Islands In the Potomac and along the eastern side of Chespeake Bay are being reduced with more or less rapidity, and it is said to be a question of only a few years before several of them will disappear. During every big storm portions of St. Georges and the other Islands In the lower river are carried away, but the erosion Is par ticularly marked at St. Georges, the area of which has been much reduced In the last quarter of a century. Just above Glymont about 22 miles below this city, is Craney Island, and on It formerly stood several houses used by fishermen In seine hauling. The Island was then large enough to ac commodate easily the fishermen and a gig storehouse. The use of the Island for fishing purposes was abandoned 20 or more years ago. and since that time the waves of the Potomac have almost completely washed the Island away, until but a small spot of land remains above water. According to the Investigators in the geological survey service, Tllghman. Sharp and James Islanda, along the eastern shore of Chespeake Bay, above Point Lookout, are rapidly decreasing In size from tho action of the waves. Tllghman Island, the largest and most northerly of the Islands. Is more than three and a half miles long and has an acreage of more than three square miles, providing homes for many prosperous farmers and fisher men. At Its north end are located the towns of Tllghman and Avalon, with a population of several hundred persons. Sharp Island is the smallest of the three. Less than a generation ago It was a Summer resort and supported several families throughout the year. Now all the trees have disappeared save half a dozen, and the buildings have been washed away except a large hotel, which stands alone In the center of the Island. The site of an artesian well has been reached by the waves. In 184$ the Island contained 438 acres of land. In 1900 only 91 acres remained, and In 1910 only 53. If the present rats of erosion continues unabated, the Island will be gone In 14 years Washington (D. C.) Cor. New York' Sun. Tons of Ore I'nmlned. Baltimore American. It is estimated that there are 4.-iS.-000.000 tons of Iron ore unmlned in ths United States. .srrn