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296 stationary now, or at least, all those along the banks of the canal, having been anchored down by cotton-wood trees planted along their edges, which taking deep root, have fixed their hold firmly in the earth below the water. They rise, at most, but two or three feet above the surface of the water, and are in the form of oblong squares, and perfectly level. Every description of garden vegetables, corn, etc., etc., grow finely on these marsh gardens, many of which are fringed with tall cane, and most of them are highly cultivated. Hundreds of boats, loaded with "produce," were met coming down the canal, and others conveying passengers, or loaded with stable manure from the city, being carried out to the gardens, were seen at every point. There were also many little canoes, each about twelve feet long, and two feet wide, hollowed from the trunk of a single tree, in which stalwart Indians were poling their families up and down the canal.

A detachment of cavalry galloped along the banks as the flotilla moved up the canal, to guard it against a possible attack. It was a curious sight to see these bronze-hued soldiers of the Aztec blood guarding a party of another race, galloping across the bridge which Cortez seized and held as his first point of vantage against the city, which their ancestors defended with such desperate but fruitless valor against the Spanish invaders.

Disembarking for a few minutes, at the old, ruinous town of Santa Anita, we went on to an Indian village with an unpronounceable name, and a tumble-down, old church—in which the priest was hearing confessions from kneeling women, on both sides of his open box at the same time—and there disembarked for the final picnic.


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Rh All the way up the canal we had been indulging in Mexican music, French and Spanish wines, and the music of other days, alternately; the Hymn of Zaragoza, John Brown, the Danza, Home sweet Home, Star Spangled Banner, American cheers and the popping of champagne mingling in strange confusion.

A bountiful collation, picnic style, was spread beneath the trees and discussed with keen relish. We had not seen a single unpleasant day during the month that we had been in the City of Mexico, and on this occasion, the ladies, clad in thin stuffs and without shawls or capes, danced with the gentlemen of our party in the open air, for hours, as they might have done in New York in June, and felt no subsequent ill-effects from it.

After numerous toasts, and a very facetious speech by Major Hoyt in response to the sentiment of "the child, above all others of which I am proud—California,"—by Mr. Seward, the guard were called down to finish up the feast—abundance of everything being left for them, and a novel scene ensued. Colonel Green, between every speech and toast, called for vivas for every distinguished man he could remember, dead or alive, from Geo. Washington to Benito Juarez, Bonaparte to Grant, Hidalgo to General Mejia, and the defenders of Thermopolye to General Antonio Caravajal, all of which were given by the excited, swarthy soldiers with equal good will. An officer of the staff of the Governor of California addressed them for a moment, and offered a toast to peace and lasting friendship I between the two republics, an enthusiastic soldier adding:

"Yes; and we will go out together as true brothers

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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298 and whip the whole old world into republicanism!" whereupon, the laughter and cheers were redoubled. Then Antonio Mancillas made a rousing, red Republican speech, going even to the extent of woman's suffrage, and was applauded to the echo at every sentence.

Then the party started down the canal on the return trip. We had hardly got under way when a contest among the boatmen as to who should get ahead, commenced, and the excursionists, from plying them with dollars to induce them to do their utmost, soon came to join in themselves, and a scene of indescribable confusion and excitement took place.

The moment that one boat attempted to pass another, it would be grappled by all on board the slower craft, and a dead lock would ensue. Major Hoyt, on the boat in which were Mr. Seward and Mrs. Juarez, clinched with a gentleman, whom modesty forbids me to name, on another, alongside, and both, falling, struggled for some minutes, the contest ending in the gallant Major being drawn, head-foremost into our boat, and made prisoner. Dr. Manfred, holding like grim death to the Major's leg to prevent his being captured, was drawn overboard, and then pulled out of the water into our boat, and paroled as a prisoner of war. Then the Seward boat, getting a little ahead, was boarded by Mr. Foster, who pitched one of the boatmen headlong into the canal; whereupon, Col. Green went over and threw both of their boatmen, heels-over-head, into the chilly waters, and the flotilla came to a stand-still.

The uproarious laughter of the ladies as they cheered on their respective champions, testified to their intense enjoyment of the ludicrous scene. The boatmen who had been thrown over, were compensated—amply in


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Rh their estimation—by a present of a dollar a piece, and quiet once more restored, we went rapidly back to the city which we reached at night-fall, after one of the pleasantest days we enjoyed in Mexico.

Among the minor demonstrations was the grand funcion by Bell & Buislay's Circus at the Circo de Charini in the old Convent of San Francisco. Great preparations had been made, specially, for the occasion, and the Government lent a military band and a regiment of its choicest troops, to add eclat to the affair. The grand court-yard of the convent is used for the circus, the ring covering the spot in which the dead of centuries lie buried, and the corridors rising one above the other, with their graceful pillars and costly ornamentation form the galleries, which are divided into boxes. What a change in the institutions and the religious sentiments of this once bigoted Catholic people this indicates, can be readily understood.

Noticing that the mochos did not appear to be there in great numbers, I asked the reason of a common mechanic or tradesman of some kind who chanced to be near me at the moment. His reply:

"Because they will not submit to see the burial ground of their ancestors desecrated by a circus," contains more of bitterness, satire, and hatred, than I have ever seen before in a single sentence, and is curiously illustrative of the state of feeling in the capital.

The vast audience arose and bowed, en masse, as Mr. Seward entered, and the troops presented arms, while the band played the national hymn. The performance, consisting of the usual ring exhibition, tableaux, including one representing the "Moral Alliance of the two Republics," etc., etc., passed off well.


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300 There was also a "grand funcion" at—the "Teatro Nacional" at which an opera company gave the Spanish version of "Crispino e la Comare" in good shape, though the fairy was dressed in deep mourning; and a theatrical entertainment in which the "Campania Zarazula" gave us "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in Spanish, and a curious old cabin it was. They varied the plot so as to make the villain Legree get his deserts, being whipped to death by the slaves, to the great satisfaction of the populace, half of whom had been affected to tears by the imaginary sufferings of the slaves, though they had most of them seen bull-fights and kindred atrocities without a murmur of disapprobation, and probably, with yells of delight.

But the grand and closing feature of the demonstrations in honor of the nation's guest, was the ball at the Teatro Nacional on the night of Thursday, December 9th. Three thousand tickets, of which one thousand were to families, were issued, and more than three thousand persons were in attendance. The great theater—the largest on the continent of America—was decorated with flowers and the Mexican and American colors from floor to roof, and lighted within by three hundred and fifty chandeliers, each holding from twenty to fifty candles, which poured down a flood of mellow light and blistering stearine on all below. The stage was carried out so as to cover all the body of the vast house, the fine galleries or tiers of palcos rising one above the other to the roof, being reserved for the use of those not participating in the dance.

Outside, the scene was magnificent. The front of the teatro, from ground to roof, was covered with lanterns, the entire street, for a whole block, was arched over


text: The Army and Navy Hymnal/Readings/The New Year


text: The Army and Navy Hymnal/Readings/Gratitude to Christ


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Göttling, Carl Wilhelm


text: The Army and Navy Hymnal/Readings/The Joy of Obedience


text: The Army and Navy Hymnal/Readings/Thanks for Public Blessings


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title: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Göttingen


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Talk:Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave/Chapter 3

what was the penalty for telling the truth about your master


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gottfried von Strassburg


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gotter, Friedrich Wilhelm


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Goto Islands


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gotland

title: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gotland


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1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gretna

GRETNA (see ). — A new association was given to the village of Gretna in 1915, when the Ministry of Munitions purchased a site for the erection of a large propellants factory and for houses to accommodate munition workers. The strip of land taken for the purpose was roughly 9 m. long by 1 m. broad, and extended from the village of Dornock on the west to Longtown on the east. The factory was erected to make the explosive known as cordite R.D.B., which had been recently invented by the Research Department and was made without the use of acetone, of which supplies were short.

title: 1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gretna


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1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Grey, Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl

GREY, ALBERT HENRY GEORGE GREY, (1851-1917), British statesman, was the son of Gen. Charles Grey, Queen Victoria's private secretary, and grandson of the 2nd Earl, the Whig Prime Minister who passed the Reform bill of 1832. Born Nov. 20 1851, he was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first-class in the law and history tripos, 1873. As his uncle the 3rd Earl had no children, Albert Grey was the heir-presumptive to the earldom, and he endeavoured to win a seat in Parliament as a Liberal, when a by-election occurred in S. Northumberland in

the spring of 1878. It was at first announced that he had been returned by two votes; but a scrutiny eventually seated his Conservative opponent, who became afterwards Mr. Justice Ridley. However, he won the seat by a large majority at the General Election in 1880 and, after the Reform bill of 1884 had altered the constituency, sat for Tyneside for a few months in 1885-6. The Liberalism which he displayed as a member of Parliament and developed greatly in a crowded after-life was unlike the conventional Radicalism of the period. He was an enthusiastic social reformer, and a passionate imperialist. It was inevitable that he should follow Hartington rather than Gladstone over Irish Home Rule. He was one of the 93 dissentient Liberals who by voting against the Liberal Government decided the fate of the Home Rule bill of 1886.

Standing as a Liberal Unionist, he lost his seat at the General Election of that year, and did not reappear in Parliament till he succeeded his uncle in the earldom in 1894. The interval had been largely filled with travel — chiefly along the byways of the British Empire. He was in S. Africa when his uncle died, and his knowledge of, and interest in, that country led to his appointment in 1895, after the Jameson raid, as administrator of Rhodesia in succession to Dr. Jameson. His difficulties were great. The settlers were still few and scattered, and were regarded with jealousy and mistrust by their neighbours, the Transvaal Boers. In 1896 there came the second Matabele War, only brought to a close by Cecil Rhodes's personal intervention. Racial, administrative, and economic problems of an intricate kind pressed upon him and were not always wisely decided; and it says much for his personal charm that he carried away with him on his retirement the warm affection of the Rhodesians. He had become himself a close friend and ardent admirer of Cecil Rhodes; and it was natural that on returning to England he should join the board of the Chartered Co. in 1899, a directorship which he held until he went to Canada. He visited Lord Milner in S. Africa after the Boer War; and returned once more in 1912 to unveil the Rhodes memorial on Table Mountain.

Canada, however, where he went as governor-general in 1904, was the part of the British Empire to hold the first place in his affections. He was no stranger there, but had visited the dominion twice already, being a brother-in-law of his predecessor, Lord Minto. His enthusiasm for the land and the people, his idealistic outlook, his bright but simple manner, his utter lack of conventionality and stiffness, his fondness for travelling and nature and sport captivated the Canadian heart. He formed a firm and cordial friendship with the Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier; but that did not prevent him from welcoming and winning the attachment of Sir Wilfrid's successor, Sir Robert Borden. Similarly he was able to celebrate worthily, in the presence of the then Prince of Wales, the acquisition by Quebec of the Plains of Abraham for public purposes, without hurting the susceptibilities of the French-Canadians. His term of office was twice prolonged; but Canada was loth to see him go in Oct. 1911, even though his successor was to be the Duke of Connaught.

Never much of a party man, he was still less so after his return to public life in England. He devoted himself to the causes which appealed to him. Of these, the federation of the Empire was the first, and he would only contemplate Irish Home Rule as part of a Federal scheme. State liquor control was another of his pet ideas; and he helped greatly towards licensing reform by the institution of the Public House Trust, in which he took a leading part. He worked hard also for Proportional Representation. Perhaps the good of agriculture came next in his affections to the claims of empire; and he forwarded all promising schemes for its betterment and organization. He died at Howick, after a serious operation, on Aug. 29, 1917.

Lord Grey married Alice, daughter of Robert Stayner Holford, and had, besides daughters, a son who succeeded him in the earldom and who married the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Selborne. (G. E. B.)


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1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Grey of Fallodon, Edward Grey, 1st Viscount

GREY OF FALLODON, EDWARD GREY, (1862–), British statesman (see ), had given public notification, in a speech in the City of London in Oct. 1905,

that if, as seemed probable, the Liberal party regained power in the near future, they would maintain the national foreign policy pursued by Mr. Balfour and Lord Lansdowne. He mentioned as the three cardinal points of British policy: (1) friendship with the United States; (2) the alliance with Japan; and (3) the Entente with France; all three were matters, he said, of cordial congratulation. Could British relations with Russia and Germany be improved? As to Russia, he held that the roots of estrangement lay solely in the past, and that it should be the business of both Governments to encourage the growth of mutual confidence. As to Germany, it must be a condition of any improvement in relations between her and Britain that the relations of Germany with France on all matters coming under the Anglo-French Entente should be fair and good also.

The programme thus laid down in advance was faithfully observed by Sir Edward Grey (as he then was) during a tenure of the Foreign Office which lasted exactly 11 years, from Dec. 1905 to Dec. 1916. He had great hesitation originally in accepting office under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman; but after a short interval of negotiations he was included in the new Liberal Cabinet. In office the relations of the two men were cordial, and the Prime Minister gave his Foreign Secretary steady backing. It was needed at the very outset. During the general election of 1906, as Sir Edward told the House of Commons in his famous speech on Aug. 3 1914, Germany was pressing France about Morocco, and he was asked by France if, should a Franco-German war break out, Britain would give her assistance in arms. He replied that he could promise nothing which would not be fully endorsed by public opinion, but that, if war were forced on France through the Entente respecting Morocco, British public opinion would rally to her support. The French Government then suggested conversations between naval and military experts. After consulting the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the War Secretary, he agreed, on the understanding that such conversations should in no way bind the British Government. The Algeciras Conference on Morocco followed in the spring of 1906, and the constant support which, on his instructions, the British representatives accorded to the French helped to produce a satisfactory result, and to strengthen the Anglo-French Entente. He had also in this first year to take a firm attitude towards Turkey, who was making difficulties about the delimitation of the Turco-Egyptian frontier. In 1907 he forwarded Anglo-American friendship by sending a distinguished public man, Mr. (afterwards Lord) Bryce, to Washington as British ambassador; and, it may be added, he succeeded, during Mr. Bryce’s term, in settling the outstanding questions of difference between England and America. He concluded an agreement in 1907 with Spain, which pledged both Powers to maintain the status quo in the waters adjacent to southern Spain and north-western Africa, and which incidentally involved Spanish recognition for the first time of the British position and rights at Gibraltar. In that year he also fulfilled his hope of coming to an understanding with Russia. He concluded a convention with her about Persia, in which both Governments recited their desire to maintain the integrity of that country, but stated that in certain parts of it Russia and Britain had special interests. Accordingly Britain recognized Russia’s rights and interests in the northern zone and Russia recognized British rights and interests in the southern zone, the central zone being treated as neutral ground. Sir E. Grey asserted, and the Russians did not deny, the special rights of Britain in the Persian Gulf. Other questions which pressed on him in these early years of his foreign secretaryship were the state of Macedonia and of the Congo. He disappointed the humanitarians by declining to pose as a knight-errant. His prudence led him to be chary of burning words, but to promote international action to benefit Macedonia, and to forward the transference of the Congo State from King Leopold to Belgium.

In 1908 — the year in which Mr. Asquith, an intimate friend of Sir E. Grey, became Prime Minister — the European situation was considerably modified by several striking events. First came the Young Turk revolution, which Sir E. Grey, no wiser

than the rest of the western world, welcomed as a most beneficent change. Then, in October, came, almost simultaneously, the assertion by Prince Ferdinand of the independence of Bulgaria and his assumption of the title of king or tsar, and the annexation by Austria-Hungary of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which she had administered under the Treaty of Berlin. These strokes of policy moved the indignation of both the Russian people and the Russian Government; but the German Emperor announced that he would stand by his Austrian ally in “shining armour”; and Sir E. Grey, though he protested against the infraction of the public law of Europe, was naturally unable to promise Russia anything more than diplomatic support. The action of the Central Powers must have confirmed him in the view that it was from them that came the principal danger to European peace; but he kept on friendly terms with them, and resisted all suggestions that the Anglo-French Entente and the Anglo-Russian agreement constituted in any sense a hostile encirclement of Germany. On the other hand he emphatically declared in Parliament that, if Germany persisted in her naval preparations, Britain could not give up the competition.

The labours of the Foreign Office, coupled with membership of the House of Commons, left Sir Edward little leisure for forwarding the domestic policy of the Government. But he made two or three speeches in 1909 on behalf of Mr. Lloyd George’s famous budget, maintaining that it was not revolution that Britain had to dread, but undue slowness to move with the times. He also took his share in the campaign against the House of Lords, but protested that he was in favour of a two-chamber system, with the Commons predominant, and declared the Parliament Act, after its passing, to be a cumbrous and not a final measure. He showed himself a convinced supporter of Irish Home Rule, but was forward in the autumn of 1913 to obtain an agreed settlement, suggesting “Home Rule within Home Rule” as the proper method of meeting Ulster’s fears. He was a strong advocate of woman suffrage; and he defended the Declaration of London as conforming the British naval code to that which the United States and the continent of Europe would agree to enforce in war.

Meanwhile British relations with Germany were his main preoccupation. Germany gave dramatic notice of her dissatisfaction with the spread of French arms and influence in Morocco by despatching, at the beginning of July 1911, the gunboat “Panther” to the N.W. African coast at Agadir, to protect, it was alleged, German interests (a step which perhaps hastened the action of Italy, later in the year, in seizing Tripoli before her German ally could develop an interest in it). In view of this further attempt to test, and if possible loosen, the Entente, the British Foreign Office issued a warning, through the mouth of Mr. Lloyd George speaking at the Mansion House, that Britain intended at all hazards to maintain her place among the Great Powers. The warning sufficed to make Germany lower her tone, and Sir E. Grey helped forward a reasonable agreement between her and France. In November he explained to Parliament that the foreign policy of the Government was a continuance of Lord Lansdowne’s, and had got rid of the constant trouble with France and Russia; that British friendship with these Powers afforded a guarantee that neither would pursue an aggressive or provocative policy towards Germany, while the strength of Germany was a guarantee that no country would pick a quarrel with her; but that, when a nation had the biggest army and was increasing its already big navy, it was natural that other Powers should be apprehensive. On this occasion, as always, the Opposition, represented now by Mr. Bonar Law, supported Sir Edward; but many Radicals and Labour men, as throughout his tenure of office, were full of suspicions, disliking any agreement with autocratically governed Russia, and anxious for better relations with Germany at almost any cost. But public opinion in general supported Sir Edward, and was pleased when in the following year his memorable services to his country as Foreign Minister in difficult times were marked by the very unusual distinction, for a commoner, of the Order of the Garter.

In the beginning of 1912 he was a party to sending Lord

Haldane on an informal mission to Berlin to reassure the Emperor and his Government as to the pacific intentions of Britain and to probe the intentions of Germany. The Cabinet formally notified the German Government that Britain would neither make, nor join in, any unprovoked attack on Germany. But nothing would content the German Government but an absolute pledge by Britain of neutrality if Germany were engaged in war — a pledge which Sir E. Grey naturally could not give. Largely in consequence of this ominous rebuff, he exchanged letters on Nov. 22 1912 with the French ambassador, agreeing that, if either Britain or France had grave reason to expect an attack by a third Power or a menace to the general peace, both Governments would consult whether they should coöperate and what measures they should take in common. Still he found himself able to work in general harmony with the German Government in the efforts made by the Powers, in conference in London, to bring a settled peace to the Balkans. In those regions, in the years 1912 and 1913, a Balkan League of Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece had, first of all, severely defeated Turkey, and had then split up, Bulgaria’s treachery in turning on Serbia and Greece, in order to obtain the largest share of the booty, being overcome, after barbarous fighting on the part of Bulgarians, Serbians and Greeks alike, by the final intervention of Rumania. He joined the other Powers in creating an independent Albania, under a German prince; and seems to have had his suspicions lulled for the time by the apparent reasonableness of German diplomacy and by the straightforward attitude of the new German ambassador in London, Prince Lichnowsky, who was not, it subsequently appeared, in the confidence of his own Government.

Accordingly he was taken aback by the unyielding attitude of Germany in the negotiations arising out of the Austro-Serbian dispute. As soon as he heard of the Austrian ultimatum delivered at Belgrade on July 23 1914, he realized at once that Russia could not allow Serbia to be crushed, and exerted himself in the most strenuous fashion to save Europe from the threatened catastrophe of a war in which four Great Powers at least, Austria, Russia, Germany and France, would be involved. In conjunction with Russia he urged upon Austria the extension of the alarmingly short time-limit of 48 hours, and he pleaded unavailingly with Germany to do the same. Next he proposed that England, France, Germany and Italy should work together at Vienna and St. Petersburg for conciliation — a proposal to which Germany had no objection, but which produced no result. Thirdly, in conjunction with France and Russia, he advised Serbia to go as far as possible to meet Austria; and in fact, Serbia accepted almost the whole of the Austrian demands; but Austria would be content with nothing less than complete submission, and on the expiry of the time-limit declared war on Serbia. Sir Edward proposed a conference in London between himself and the French, German and Italian ambassadors, to discuss the best means of a settlement. Germany boggled at the conference, but accepted in principle mediation between Austria and Russia by the four Powers; and he asked her to suggest any other form of mediation than the proposed conference. At this point, on July 29, Germany, declaring war to be inevitable if Russia attacked Austria, endeavoured to purchase the neutrality of England by undertaking, if England remained neutral, to make no territorial acquisitions at the expense of France — an undertaking which did not extend to the French colonies — and by promising to respect Belgian integrity, after the war, if Belgium had not sided against Germany. Sir E. Grey next day absolutely refused to make any bargain of the sort at the expense of France and Belgium. But, in a final effort for peace, he offered, if through the coöperation of Germany with England the peace of Europe should be preserved, to endeavour to promote some arrangement, to which Germany would be a party, by which she and her allies could be assured against any aggression or hostile policy on the part of France, Russia or Great Britain. This suggestion met with no response. In view of the apparent threat to Belgium, Sir Edward asked France and Germany whether they were prepared to respect Belgian neutrality provided it was not violated, and he asked

Belgium whether she would remain neutral. France and Belgium both replied affirmatively, while Germany temporized. Hopeful negotiations which had been begun directly between Russia and Austria were wrecked by a German ultimatum to Russia to countermand her mobilization; and on Saturday Aug. 1 Germany declared war on France.

The moment for decision had come for Great Britain. Russia had asked her to declare herself against Germany and so give the German General Staff pause; France had asked her to coöperate, as Germany was about to invade French territory. The Cabinet had hitherto been divided, a strong section pressing for the preservation of neutrality, and so Sir Edward had been unable to reply favourably to either Russia or France. But now Germany had declared war on France, and was apparently about to disregard the neutrality of Belgium. The Opposition, through Mr. Bonar Law, tendered support for active measures to aid France and Russia; and Sir Edward with a Cabinet rallying, with slight exceptions, to his view, was able to make an appeal in the House of Commons on Aug. 3 for the support of public and parliamentary opinion to a policy of action. Unconditional neutrality, he said, was precluded by the commitment to France and the consideration of Belgium. The forces of the Crown were never more efficient; the Government had striven for peace till the last moment; and the country when it realized the situation would support them. The speech finally decided a wavering public opinion; with the exception of some Radicals and extremist Labour men, all parties, including the Irish Nationalists, accepted the necessity of war. Sir Edward demanded next day that Germany should respect the neutrality of Belgium, and on the German refusal, England went to war.

Great Britain found herself at once associated, in the war against the Central Powers, with France, Russia, Belgium and Serbia, to whom Japan, in virtue of her relations to Great Britain, was added in the course of August. One of Sir Edward’s first tasks was to turn this association into an alliance, which should bind its members to fight in common and make peace in common. In the course of the negotiations for this purpose, both with the Powers who were fighting Germany from the beginning and with those who, like Italy and smaller Powers, joined afterwards in the struggle, he did not hesitate to guarantee the support of Great Britain for the attainment of long-cherished national objects, provided that these did not conflict with the aims of liberation and self-development common to the Allies — the most striking case being the promise, after Turkey entered the war on the side of the Central Powers, that Russia should have Constantinople.

Much of Sir Edward’s time and attention during the first half of the war was occupied by difficult questions arising out of the blockade of Germany and the consequent interference with the trade of neutrals. Public opinion in Great Britain constantly complained that the blockade was not enforced with sufficient strictness, that the policy enunciated of preventing goods from either entering or leaving Germany was very far from being realized in fact; while the United States, as the principal neutral, harassed the British Government by repeated notes, denouncing the methods of the British navy, in the search of neutral ships and in the seizure of goods, as unnecessarily prejudicial to American trade and contrary to international law. He was perhaps more successful in his answers to the Americans than in his justification to the British public; and a large body of opinion in America accepted his explanations as reasonable. He pointed out, as was indeed notorious, that American exports to neutral countries adjacent to Germany had enormously increased since the war began; that there was a serious danger lest these countries might become in consequence bases of supplies and arsenals for the enemy on an unprecedented scale; that there were neutral ports in the neighbourhood of Germany that were neutral only in name and really did a thriving trade in contraband; and that Britain was only exercising the right claimed by the United States in their Civil War of expanding the practices of international law to meet emergencies not hitherto contemplated. He further demonstrated that the assertion of the United States

that the immense modern ships could be adequately searched at sea, at a period when submarine warfare was being vigorously prosecuted, and that it was unjustifiable to take them into port for the purpose, could not be seriously maintained. He claimed also that the British practice caused the least discomfort to neutrals; and contrasted with it the German practice of sinking ships, regardless of human life.

The tenure of the Foreign Office by a statesman so high-minded, sincere and experienced as Sir Edward Grey was everywhere regarded as such a valuable asset for Great Britain that it appeared only natural and fitting for Mr. Asquith, when contemplating the formation of a Coalition Government in May 1915, to lay down, as one of the essential conditions, that there should be no change in the office of Foreign Secretary. No one could refute with such authority the intermittent assertions of the German Chancellor that it was England and not Germany that was responsible both for the origin and for the continuance of the war. Sir Edward pointed out, in a letter to the press on Aug. 25 1915, that the reason why the Anglo-German negotiations of 1912 broke down was that Germany wished to retain her freedom to wage war while binding Britain to absolute neutrality. What she was really fighting for now was supremacy and tribute. When the pacifists called for negotiations in May 1916, he showed that when the Germans professed a readiness for peace it was only for a peace on the basis that Germany had won and the Allies were beaten; but the Allies were not beaten, and the first step towards peace would be taken when Germany began to recognize that fact. In Oct. 1916 he laid it down that, as the war was forced by Germany on Europe, it was the Allies who must have guarantees for the future. The peace must ensure that Europe should be free from Prussian militarism.

Credit must be given to Sir Edward for facilitating, in the early summer of 1915, the entry of Italy — till May 3 a member of the Triple Alliance — into the war against the Central Powers. It was, however, a grave disappointment to him that he was unable to prevent Bulgaria, in the autumn of 1915, from taking the field against the Allies. He had worked for a Balkan agreement founded on mutual concessions, but naturally Greece and Serbia would not make concessions unless Bulgaria joined the Allies; and Bulgaria was seduced by the promise of the Central Powers, who had not to consider the feelings of her neighbours. He warned Bulgaria that, if she joined the enemy, Britain would give her own friends in the Balkans all the support in her power in conjunction with her Allies, without reserve and without qualification. In fulfilment of this promise Allied troops were sent to Salonika, and he offered Cyprus to Greece in order to induce her to carry out her treaty obligations and go to Serbia’s aid against Bulgaria. But on this issue King Constantine won the support of his people against M. Venizelos; and Serbia was crushed before help could reach her.

Sir Edward made strenuous efforts, with a certain measure of success, on behalf of British prisoners in Germany and British civilians interned at Ruhleben. The course of the war compelled him, in July 1916, after long hesitation, to abandon that Declaration of London in regard to naval warfare which he had strongly supported in peace-time. He took part, it may be added, in the first tentative experiments to obtain full coöperation of all the Allies in war, by attending Allied Conferences in Paris in Nov. 1915 and March 1916.

In July 1916 an affection of the eyes, which had been giving him increasing trouble, made it advisable that he should have as much relief from work as possible, and he accepted a peerage. It was announced that he had been created an earl — a rank which his public services thoroughly warranted. But he wished to keep his own name, and yet not to enter into any competition with the head of his family, his cousin Earl Grey. Accordingly at his own request he was gazetted a viscount and not an earl — Viscount Grey of Fallodon. When a few months later, in December, his friend and chief Mr. Asquith was succeeded in the premiership by Mr. Lloyd George, failing eyesight and political comradeship both united to determine him to bring his tenure of the Foreign Office to a close. He had served for a longer

period than any predecessor, exceeding by a year the 10 years' tenure of Grenville (1791–1801), Pitt’s colleague in the first war against republican France, and of Castlereagh (1812-22), the Foreign Secretary under whom Waterloo was won and the Treaty of Vienna signed. In his official methods he carried out his own precept — that foreign policy required not striking effects nor bold strokes but careful steering. An ardent lover of peace, he had been driven, through no fault of his, to lead Great Britain into the World War; he left a tradition in his office of steady work, a resolute will, and a clear head, and of that straightforwardness, sportsmanship, and courtesy which istinguish the best type of English gentleman.

After his resignation Viscount Grey took no part in public life for more than a couple of years. Happily, rest and quiet worked a decided improvement in his eyesight, and in the autumn of 1919 he felt himself well enough to comply with the wish of Mr. Lloyd George’s Government that, pending the appointment of a permanent ambassador after Sir Cecil Spring-Klee’s premature death, he should go on a mission to Washington to deal with questions arising out of the peace. He only remained there three months; while his sympathetic personality made numerous friends for himself and for his country, the quarrel in progress between the Senate and President Wilson over the Treaty of Versailles hampered him seriously in fulfilling the charge entrusted to him. His public appearances in England in the years immediately following the war were very few; but he showed a keen interest in the League of Nations; and he took a leading part at the foundation, in July 1920, of a British Institute of International Affairs in order to promote among Englishmen international thinking.

He published in 1899 a book on Fly-Fishing, his favourite recreation. In 1885 he married Dorothy, daughter of Shellcross F. Widdrington, of Newton Hall, Northumberland. She was killed in a carriage accident in 1906; there were no children of the marriage.


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1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lee, Vernon

LEE, VERNON, the pen-name of Violet Paget (1856-), English author, was born in France of English parentage Oct. 14 1856, and made her home at Maiano, near Florence, identifying herself with her adopted country and making special study of its art and history. Amongst her publications are Studies of the Eighteenth Century in Italy (1880) and many volumes of essays; certain novels and stories, such as Miss Brown (1884); A Phantom Lover (1886); Hauntings (1890); Vanitas (1892); Sister Benvenuta (1906) and Louis Norbert (1914); a play in verse, Ariadne in Mantua (1903), and Satan the Waster, a philosophic trilogy (1920), as well as a volume of political essays, Gospels of Anarchy (1908).

Her half-brother, (1845-1907), who was also born in France Jan. 6 1845, was educated in France and Germany and at Oriel College, Oxford, afterwards entering the diplomatic service. He married in 1898 Annie E. Holdsworth, author of Joanna Traill, Spinster; The Years that the Locust Hath Eaten, and other novels. He published a number of volumes of poetry, as well as a translation of Dante's Inferno, and (with his wife) Forest Notes (1899). He died at Florence Sept. 7 1907.


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1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Legros, Alphonse

LEGROS, ALPHONSE (1837-1911), Anglo-French artist (see ), died in London Dec. 8 1911.


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1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lehmann, Liza

LEHMANN, LIZA (1862-1918), English singer and composer, was born in London July 11 1862, the daughter of the artist Rudolf Lehmann. She studied singing under Alberto Randegger and Hamish MacCunn, making her début in 1885, and became extremely popular as a concert singer. In 1894 she married Herbert Bedford, the composer, and retired from the concert platform, devoting herself henceforward chiefly to composition. Her most popular works are the song cycles In a Persian Garden (1896, words from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam) and The Daisy Chain (1900), and various Shakespearean songs, while she also produced a light opera, The Vicar of Wakefield (1907); the music

for the farce Sergeant Brue (1904) and the morality play Everyman (1915). Madame Lehmann became well known as a teacher of singing. She died at Hatch End, Pinner, Sept. 19 1918.


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1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Leland Stanford Jr. University

LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY (see ). The work of the university was so reorganized during the decade 1910-20 that the first two years constituted a so-called lower division with certain specified requirements, including biology, a course in citizenship, etc. The major department system became operative at the beginning of the junior year, and degrees were granted upon the recommendation of the departments. The institution sold some of its large ranch property in 1919, and in 1921 had about $25,000,000 in investment securities and an educational plant that included the Stanford Medical School, Lane and Stanford hospitals, Stanford school for nurses, the Lane medical library, all in San Francisco, and the Hopkins marine station on Monterey Bay, the whole valued at $10,000,000. The medical school owed its origin to the fact that the directors of the Cooper Medical College in 1910 turned over that institution and the associate Lane hospital to Stanford. In addition to the schools of law, medicine and education, a graduate school was organized with a dean at its head in 1917. New dormitories for women were constructed and a housing scheme inaugurated whereby practically all the faculty and students will eventually live on the college campus. Volumes in the library numbered 319,872 in 1920, of which 48,187 are in the Lane medical library and 23,360 in the law library.

(R. L. W.)


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 has conveyed also the thought of the other listener, and both are happy.

No. 6. "Adios," the universal good-bye, or in saluting an acquaintance then passing.

No. 7. "He's a sharper! Don't you trust him! He'll deceive and cheat you without mercy."

No. 8. Salutation in the street, or from a fair Juliet in her window;

one of the most graceful and beautiful of the endless sign-manual. It will be seen that it is the middle and third fingers only that move rapidly back and forth, and not the whole hand.

No. 9. "No es costumbre"—literally an expression of negation, so named from impressions received during my first sojourn in the country. Even children in their play use it when wishing to say, "You can't do that now, I sha'n't play with you."


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 An irrevocable edict has gone forth when that prophetic forefinger goes upward and outward before the end of the nose. The laws of the Medes and Persians may be evaded, but "no es costumbre" never.

In no country are family ties stronger. The thought of separation is to them fraught with unspeakable anguish, and even after marriage it is not unusual to see half a dozen families living in the same house, daughters with their husbands and sons with their wives remaining under the paternal roof. The time never comes in the lives of the parents when the children are not more or less amenable to them. Grown sons and daughters do not forget the respect and obedience that were expected of them when children.

The reverence for parents goes with them in their wedded lives, and even increases with the lapse of years. A man never grows too old to kiss the hands of his aged parents or to visit them every day if they reside in the same city, and the daughters do the same.

When the marital knot is tied, the women accommodate themselves to whatever fate may have in store for them with that grace and fortitude which belong to them, rarely equaled and never surpassed. The time never comes in which they feel their burdens too great to be borne with patience.

They go but little into society or mixed assemblages, consequently their earthly happiness is summed up in home, husband, children. Their outward deportment corresponds with the interior calm. Whether riding, driving, or walking, they always retain a decorum and dignity of manner peculiar to themselves. To express emotion or surprise in public is not considered becoming.

In all my intercourse with them, I have seen but two who used the trenchant weapon of sarcasm; in their hands it cut like a two-edged sword, and in each case their own countrymen were the victims.

Among the earliest lessons of Christianity inculcated by the Franciscan missionaries were love, charity, and self-denial, and the outcome


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 of these teachings of nearly four centuries may be seen to-day in the beautiful graces and charities of the Mexican women. These high lessons, exemplified in the lives of the teachers, were received gratefully and practiced faithfully by the warm-hearted people. To feed the hungry, clothe the naked, relieve the distressed, and entertain the stranger—surely there is no nobler mission!

Every battle-field on their soil has left its records of their tender devotion to “prisoners and captives," without regard to name or nationality. Our American soldiers, when in an enemy's country, with death staring them in the face, have borne grateful witness to their patient and tireless nursing. The Texas and Santa Fé Expedition, in 1841, written by George Wilkins Kendall, fully portrays the kindnesses of these noble-hearted women. In a march of two thousand miles, from Santa Fé, in New Mexico, to the capital, the condition of the unhappy prisoners was everywhere ameliorated by the women, who, moved by pity, never failed to bring them food—the best they had—and on every opportunity tenderly cared for the sick and foot-sore Americans.

But, before the dawn of Christianity in Mexico, the women practiced a noble order of charity. When Netssahualcoyotl, the young prince of Tezcuco, was fleeing from his enemies, weary and dust- stained, he suddenly found himself in the presence of a young girl who was reaping chia in the fields. He hastily informed her of his danger and entreated her aid. She was moved to pity, and, telling him to lie down, covered him with leaves and stalks of the maguey. When his pursuers came up, they inquired if she had seen him. "Yes," she replied, "he has gone by yon road," pointing in the opposite direction—which saved him.

Although there are hospitals, homes, and public charities in every city, still there are not only numerous beggars, but blind, maimed, and distressed persons—real objects of charity—seeking aid from the more fortunate members of society. Assistance is never denied; even little children take by the hand, with the sympathetic "pobrecito!" ("poor creature "), and lead into the house, some poor creature to be


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 fed and cared for, having been taught to pity and never to ridicule or despise personal afflictions.

The housekeeper is supplied with home remedies, that she may give effect to her charitable interest in the sick and miserable. In many places, ladies of high position on a saint's day will unite in giving a dinner to the poor. Each one contributes to the feast, and then, with her daughters and friends, waits on the squalid guests. Theatrical and musical entertainments are also frequently given for charitable purposes.

Poverty, while greatly to be deplored, is not considered a disgrace. Almost every wealthy family has its full quota of poor relations, who in many instances fill the places of housekeeper or upper servants. But at the same time they are provided for comfortably and kindly. Even where means are limited, it is common to see in a household several children outside the immediate family taken from time to time, and cared for by the tender-hearted lady of the house.

Two of the most interesting young people whose acquaintance I made at the capital were the descendants of a humble Indian woman. With her sick babe, only a month old, lying in her rebozo, homeless and unfriended, she trudged through the rain at dusk. A charitable lady, from the interior of a luxurious home, witnessed the scene, and calling the woman, took the babe to her heart as if it were her own. She proposed to her to adopt the child, promising a mother's care. The trust was sacredly kept, and although this lady afterward became the mother of fifteen children, the poor waif was one of the many, and developed into a lovely woman. She married an accomplished gentleman and bore several children, but to the day of her death she knew nothing of her origin.

The religious observances, as well as the customs of the country, are kept up mainly by the women. The men naturally become more cosmopolitan through travel and contact and intercourse with the outside world. But whatever the cause, scarcely a man of education can be found who does not proclaim himself a deist or an atheist.


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 But if a long illness ensue, or death appear inevitable, the priest and the holy sacrament are at once ordered. So I have come to the conclusion that they consider the expression of irreligious sentiments when in health indicative of liberal ideas, and showing a sympathy with the "advanced" thought of the age. While they adopt the theory that "the first requisite of man is to be a good animal," in the hour of trial they fall back on the time-honored consolations.

But, despite their lack of creed or religious faith, there is one respect in which husbands of other nations might learn from them a profitable lesson. They generously believe that their wives are fully entitled to an equal share of their business profits and to the expending of their income. The wife is not subjected to the humiliation of begging a pittance, but the whole matter is left to her own good judgment.

It is only justice to say that courtesy and kindness are almost invariably with them the rule in the family.

It is a knightly spirit which impels the men to the belief that their women are not capable of sustaining the burdens of life. And when a man marries, if his wife have a widowed mother and sisters without means of support, it never occurs to him that it is not his duty to keep and maintain them. These offices they cheerfully accept as


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 an hereditary right, without regard to the attainments or accomplishments which might be turned to account.

This chivalric conduct extends still further, in view of the fact that estates of orphans and widows are administered with much care and honest effort. No dread Nemesis pursues the Mexican in the form of a mother-in-law, for, even if there be room for criticism, she may counsel, but she never interferes.

In many homes I have seen the husband regularly, three times a day, bring from the court-yard a flower to lay on the wife's plate. And such little attentions are not meaningless. I have also known many instances where the husband fondly insisted on the wife placing herself at the table, so that she might be excused from serving either the soup or coffee—saying, "The care of the children was enough for her." There is little or no intoxication among them. At the club or in their homes they may imbibe too freely, but the effects are never apparent in the street.

In social life there are certainly no more agreeable companions than educated Mexican gentlemen, and they are still more delightful when one comes to know them intimately upon the basis of friendship, time and means being alike at one's disposal; and wherever fate may lead, they follow the fortunes of their friends.

One American family whom I knew were kindly conveyed on their journey of five hundred miles, over a rough and barren country, and nothing would induce the generous Mexican to receive one cent in compensation; and further, the mozo who drove them, and the one who rode ahead to ward off interlopers also declined any compensation, saying, "It was the master's orders."

Some of the grandest public benefactions that I have ever seen were endowed by Mexican men; not only hospitals of every kind, but also institutions of learning. An instance I recall, is that of Everisto Madero, ex-Governor of Coahuila, who devoted his entire salary during his term of office to establishing public schools in his State.

The taste for ceremonious display and profusion is national, and


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 enters into all arrangements, whether of house, dress, or equipage, being limited only by the means for its indulgence. If rustic chairs, cornices, or brackets are used, the dainty fingers of the housewife adorn them, until they lose the rough, unpolished appearance of the native boughs, by means of gilding, bronze, and gay paints, the whole combined into a brilliant mosaic.

Pots containing their lovely plants are draped with mosses peculiar to the country, exhibiting only the beautiful. But in striking contrast to these natural flowers blooming the year round I have frequently seen in handsome houses huge artificial plants in pots, with exaggerated coloring in foliage and flowers.

A love for all bright and lovely objects is innate with these children of the sun. Gorgeous flowers, trailing vines, Chinese lanterns, paintings hung in corridor or patio, brilliant-hued singing-birds, all combine to form a scene of Oriental richness and beauty.

Notwithstanding the apparent tendency to prodigality, the utmost care is taken in every detail of domestic economy.

The carriage, with its silver mountings bright and glistening, stands in the zaguan ready for the drive at a moment's notice, but when not in use, carriage, horses and harness are all in their proper places, in the best possible order.

On the first visit, a guest is cordially shown through the house by its mistress, who may well take pride in its spotless condition. The Mexican housekeeper dreads nothing more than an insignificant particle of polvo (dust) in any part of her domain.

Great care is bestowed on the marking of household linen, the husband's initials or monogram being exquisitely embroidered on each article. Merely to write the name in ink does not suffice, not being considered in keeping with a refined taste.

The bedsteads are of either brass or iron—in wealthy families of the former—and almost universally single. Much ingenuity is expended in the draping of filmy laces in canopies of various shapes, daintily caught back with bright ribbons and flowers, while the greatest pains are taken in the execution of elaborate embroideries, laces, tatting,


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 and crochet for coverings, those with drawn threads being the most distinctively national. But with all this industry piled up, I have never seen in the country our well-known, if homely, patchwork quilt.

Pillows are more numerous than with us. I have counted thirteen on one bed, made of either wool or cotton (feathers are limited to the few), very thin and narrow, graded and piled up, pyramid like, and all trimmed uniformly with lace.

Lace curtains are prime essentials of a well-arranged home and adorn every opening, but I have seen none of our gay chintzes or cretonnes used in this way. Mirrors are indispensable, and with the careful forethought of the housewife, one invariably occupies a place over the sofa, while another hangs on the opposite wall, directly before you.

On entering the sala, the most noticeable feature is the sofa, with its invariable accompaniment of four chairs—two large and two smaller ones—placed at either end of the sofa, parallel to each other and vis-a-vis. The unusual number of chairs in most of the houses is surprising, and suggests occasions of reunion as their raison d'être; and regardless of wealth or station, the method of arrangement is the same, extending around the room in unbroken lines, except when met by the sofa or the triangular tables that fill the corners. The parlor furniture of the wealthy is extremely handsome: upholstered in damask, either pure white, or in shades of blue, pink, or crimson, supported by stately frames of gold or silver; with carpet corresponding in style. But the furniture in more general use has wooden frames covered with bright reps; the cushion of each, with its dainty, home-wrought lace cover, tables with the same, all fitting to a nicety make a unique and harmonious effect. Plainer houses have the same unbroken lines of home-made chairs (the sofacita before described), with the same tables and arrangement. Here one will see as pretty home-made laces and drawn-thread work as in the grand houses.

Surrounded by so many evidences of a refined and luxurious taste, the absence of books and pictures is conspicuous. Private collections are few, but in every large city there is a public biblioteca (library), of


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 which the men and boys avail themselves, but the desire for knowledge is not yet sufficiently urgent for these institutions to be much patronized by women.

On the great Tacuba highway, at the eastern extremity of the Alameda on the right, at Mariscala No. 2, stands a mansion typical of the wealth and luxury of the capital. This stately edifice is the home of General Vicente Riva Palacio, the distinguished statesman, soldier, and littérateur.

The house is entered as usual through the zaguan, from which a spacious stairway, branching to right and left, leads to the principal apartments. A bronze statue of Guerrero, a leading hero of the Independence war, who was grandfather of the owner of the house, now stands as seen in the illustration. The stairs and floors of the corridors and halls are of the finest Italian marble; while around and on either side are tropical plants of every shade and tint; and on the north side swings an aviary filled with bright-hued singing birds.

The house contains about fifty rooms, including three parlors, a grand salon and two smaller ones, all fitted up luxuriously. The oratorio (chapel) is impressive with its altar handsomely draped, and the picture of the Virgin Guadalupe in the center—crosses, silver candelabra, kneeling-stools in plush and gold, magnificent vestments, and I was surprised and pleased to see, on either side, American mottoes—"In God we trust," and "God bless our home."

Quite near the chapel is the comedor grande (large dining-room), which is, perhaps, 100 feet in length and 50 in width.

The furniture is of native rosewood and mahogany, wrought in most tasteful designs, while the floor glistens like glass, in its varied mosaics of rare and peculiar woods. Mirrors alternate with the massive side boards, with their rare marble slabs from the quarries of Puebla.

In different receptacles were no fewer than 3,000 pieces of china, many of them hand-painted in the flowers of the country, 2,000 pieces of crystal, and silver that for quantity, variety, and brightness was truly dazzling. Included in this was the magnificent silver service


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sent by Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, engraved with the royal arms, to Mariano Palacio, father of the present owner of the house, as a token of gratitude for his voluntary and noble defense of Maximilian.


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 Smaller rooms are used by the family informally.

The table linen, of finest texture, includes cloths with monogram elaborately embroidered at either end, and napkins for every possible use, many representing the talent, industry, and ingenuity of the women of Mexico, being hemstitched, embroidered, or ornamented with that original lace—the drawn-thread work—for which they are famous.

While on the subject of needle-work, I must mention that I was shown about thirty of the most elegant bed-spreads on which my eyes ever rested. They consisted of velvet, silk, satin, plush, lace, crochet, with various kinds of embroidery as center-pieces; all quite adequate to arouse feelings of lively admiration. The sheets, of snowy linen, are hemstitched and embroidered, sometimes several inches in depth. The pillow-cases correspond in style, the whole forming a collection of rare needle-work which seemed to amount to thousands of pieces.

The sleeping apartments, in addition to every article of luxury and ease, are furnished with single brass bedsteads, over each of which is suspended a canopy of delicate lace, caught up with flowers and bright ribbons, forming a veritable bower.

The sala grande bears evidence of an immense expenditure, every thing being of European importation. In size it corresponds with the dining-room. The carpet is shaded from pale pink to bright crimson; the furniture in frames of gold, upholstered in the same shades of the carpet. Grand chandeliers costing thousands of dollars are suspended from the ceiling; mirrors and sconces are arranged on the walls, and lace curtains of daintiest weft shade the windows. In this apartment I again encountered the beautiful hand embroidery of Doña Josefina, the noble and lovely wife of General Palacio, in the chairs, ottomans, and hassocks, all executed in the finest Japanese designs, some of which she told me had occupied her time for six months.

I must also mention the ceilings of this mansion. Some 30 feet in height, they rest on heavy beams of wood, laid crosswise of the room, each one perhaps 18 inches in depth, the whole giving an effect of massive grandeur. The beams are tinted to correspond


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title: Author:Ray Lyman Wilbur


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 With the ceilings and walls, and ornamented with lines of gold. These lines also panel the walls, and outline doors and windows.

The azotea, a notable feature in the architecture of the Aztecs, still adorns these square-topped buildings. At the capital they are constructed of brick, and form a delightful promenade at all seasons. As the houses are joined together, one may walk over the entire square, as I had the pleasure of doing.

The study of General Palacio contains, perhaps, one of the finest collections of books and manuscripts in the republic. He possesses a large number of the original documents of the Inquisition handsomely bound; also a valuable foreign library, comprising books in many languages. The door of the case containing the books of the Inquisition opens over a winding stairway, and the carpet is fitted to a nicety over the semicircle which opens and closes with the door, giving ingress and egress to the private study below. When the General opened the door of this case, I came near going headlong below, and the thought flashed through my mind that I was verily descending to the vaults of the Inquisition, not knowing that the door of the bookcase was also that of the dark stairway. I was, however, rescued by my friends, and made the descent in the usual way. I would here remark that these spiral stairways are a prominent feature of Mexican architecture.

In the room below there is a handsome case containing the swords of General Francisco Xavier Mina and Vicente Guerrero; the feathers—pink and white—worn by the Emperor Iturbide on his hat when entering the city in 1821; a bronze cast of Napoleon; and the original sentence of Picaluga, who betrayed Guerrero into the hands of his enemies, besides many Indian curios and bric-a-brac. In another room were the chair of Hidalgo and the saddle that Maximilian rode the day he was captured.

Some idea of the immense collection of books, manuscripts, legal documents, and literary works of General Palacio may be gained, when I say that eight handsome rooms in this grand house are devoted exclusively by him to his scientific and literary pursuits—the large


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 study upstairs, from which we descended by means of the winding stairway, and seven rooms on the ground floor, running from the front windows on the sidewalk, along the patio, far to the rear. On the opposite side is the family theater, capable of seating two hundred persons, beautifully arranged and decorated. The drop-curtain and scenery are painted from native subjects. In the season a select company occupy the boards—sometimes varied by amateurs—and play to crowded houses of friends.

In the rear zaguan, a carriage is ever ready for the drive, while immediately behind this is an exquisite fairy-like grotto, with its fountain, creeping tropical vines and gorgeous flowers, distinctly visible from the sidewalk through the open doors. On one side are various baths, and still beyond, sewing rooms; while on the other are the numerous servants' rooms, all neat and well kept. Beyond these is the vast laundry, then the stables containing stalls for many horses, all sleek and shiny, with vehicles of various kinds, the premises extending until halted by the rear street.

It may be interesting to know that the number of servants


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 employed is thirty-five—among them three housekeepers—to say nothing of many extra ones who come in on special occasions. The family to be waited upon by this array of domestics consists of, at most, six members.

Externally the mansion presents the semi-feudal appearance so often seen here—a mass of solid, gray stone, indicating little of the extent and magnificence of the interior.

The love of music permeates all classes, and is cultivated equally by both sexes. Thoroughness is the rule, and memorizing is always required; the most difficult and prolonged recitals being rendered with brilliant execution without the score or a break. When asked to play, the musician complies at once, and if the guest expresses pleasure, will continue playing indefinitely.

On marriage the beautiful art is not given up; on the contrary, is practiced quite as much as before. In some delightful homes I have been agreeably entertained for hours at a time by the choicest musical duets rendered by an elderly man and his wife, the sons and daughters, and even the grandchildren, taking their places alternately at the piano.

I heard but little classic music, but the opera is popular and understood by all. In this, public taste is quite critical, Italian opera taking precedence. Opera bouffe is regarded as highly immoral, although the ballet is universally popular, and introduced between the acts of grand opera. English opera is regarded as a compromise between them. A young Mexican friend of mine quaintly classified Italian opera as blanca (white or pure); English, color de rosa; and opera bouffe, muy Colorado (highly colored).

An enterprising manager, not a great while since, attempted to present on alternate nights grand opera and opera bouffe. On grand opera nights every seat and box was filled with the wealth and fashion of the capital, while on opera bouffe nights they sang to almost empty houses. If any laxity of morals exists in private life, immoral and corrupting plays are certainly discouraged on the boards.

The native airs breathe a passionate sweetness, uniting with the


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 tender minor tones the high staccato movement and the short, quick rest—a style to be observed both in the voice and instrument.

A marked difference may be noted in the melodies of the plains and low country and those of elevated and mountainous regions—the former being soft and pathetic, while the latter breathe the exhilarating spirit of the hills.

The finely attuned national ear for music assists greatly in the acquirement of foreign languages, for which their aptness is remarkable. I have been in families where English, French, and Italian were spoken quite as fluently as the native tongue. In this respect they excel our own country people. Their linguistic culture is practical, while our students generally neither have nor make opportunities for speaking in foreign tongues.

Closely connected with music and languages is the poetical faculty, which seems equally inherent. It comes out on any occasion, with surprising readiness, in little tender sentimental effusions, or graceful compliment—tone and gesture having added emphasis in delivery.

Diminutives are universally employed, and the cita never sounds so sweetly as when murmured by infant lips in mamacita and papacito (dearest or darling mamma and papa). The names we are accustomed to use in a formal manner sound sweet and pathetic in their simpler adaptation, as heard in Mexican homes. Aunt Julia, in our prosaic idiom, becomes Julita—pronounced Hulita, little Julia—tia aunt) being entirely omitted. Everybody is called by the Christian name, regardless of age or position in society.

Nothing is more melodious in Mexican homes than the terms teand tu (thee and thou). The pronoun you, usted (written V.), is not used in the family, nor with intimate friends, te and tu being expressive of confidence. I have been corrected by heads of families for thoughtlessly addressing some of them as you instead of placing myself in their inner circle, sharing its most sacred privileges.

In the endearing expressions, "Tu me quieres á mi?" ("Lovest thou me?"), " Yo, te quiero á ti" ("Yes, I love thee"), the pronouns are repeated for emphasis.


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1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lemaître, François Élie Jules

LEMAÎTRE, FRANÇOIS ÉLIE JULES (1853-1915), French critic and dramatist (see ), died in Paris Jan. 21 1915.


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1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Oceanography

OCEANOGRAPHY (see ).—The period following the year 1910 was not productive of notable additions to knowledge of general oceanography. Several expeditions were made just before that year and in the period between then and the World War. The most important were: the Australian Antarctic expedition of 1911–4 under Sir Douglas Mawson; the Danish Oceanographical expeditions in the Mediterranean and adjacent seas of 1908–10; a short cruise made by Sir John Murray and Dr. Johan Hjort in the Norwegian Fishery exploring vessel “Michael Sars” in 1910, the general results of which were published as The Depths of the Ocean (1912) by the leaders of the expedition; and a short special cruise made by the “Scotia” in 1913 (after the loss of the “Titanic”) under the leadership of Dr. Matthews, which made observations upon the distribution of ice in the North Atlantic.

Generally, oceanographic work at sea was brought to a stop by the outbreak of war in 1914. A good deal of special investigation relating to naval and especially submarine warfare was carried on during 1914–8, but the results of this confidential work were not published. The very important activities of the Conseil Permanent International pour l’Exploration de la Mer were suspended during the war except in a few local seas. Fortunately the continuity of the organization was maintained, largely

through the mediation of the British Government, and the council held its first post-war meeting in London in 1920. Its work is primarily that of the investigation of the fisheries of northern Europe, but its general methods are oceanographical, and its published results have formed an immense contribution to the science. Germany and Russia had, temporarily at all events, withdrawn from the coöperation, but France came in for the first time in 1920, and it was understood that the United States was likely to join in the scheme of investigation. An entirely new project was an international survey of the Mediterranean and adjacent seas, from the fishery and oceanographical standpoints, by France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, but in 1921 no definite programme had been put in operation. The International Research Council formed just after the war constituted a section for Physical Oceanography, which held its first meeting in Paris in 1921. In 1920 a very influential movement began, in England, for the despatch of a new “Challenger” expedition on a great scale, but it was suspended in 1921 for lack of funds. On the whole, oceanographical research was being taken up most actively in Europe, but much important work was also begun in America, for instance the fine hydrographical research in the Pacific by the Scripps Institute of the university of California.

Methods of Investigation.—Little change occurred subsequently to 1910 with regard to the methods of oceanographical investigation except a continual refinement and an increasing improvement in the apparatus used: in this direction the activities of the Central Bureau of the International Council were very noteworthy. The instruments—current-meters, sounding apparatus, water-collecting bottles, thermometers, hydrometers, etc.—were all elaborated and improved. Hydrodynamical methods received increased attention and the investigation of the movements of the ocean by means of physico-mathematical devices developed as a result of the older work of Bjerknes, continued chiefly by Helland-Hansen and Sandström. It became fairly certain, however, that theory had outrun observational work, and that the latter must again receive renewed attention.

Variations in Oceanic Circulation.—The general scheme of oceanic circulation was made out prior to 1910. The excess of heat received in equatorial regions expands the water, but at the same time excess of evaporation concentrates it, so that the density increases. The heating effect is, however, the more significant, and so the water of the ocean tends to flow N. and S. from the equator towards the poles. In intermediate latitudes there is a loss of heat and then the increased density due to equatorial concentration becomes a factor. The water sinks below the surface and continues to flow along the sea bottom back towards the equator. In the polar areas the melting of sea-ice and of ice formed by precipitation lowers the density of the sea-water and causes a difference of level which sets up streaming movements towards the equator. This surface drifting water is cold and as it enters into intermediate zones it remains colder

than the water in situ there and is therefore denser; it sinks below the surface and continues to flow along the bottom either back to the polar regions or towards the equator.

This main scheme is complicated in various ways: (1) by the rotation of the earth, which continually deflects currents of water or air to the right in the northern or to the left in the southern hemisphere; (2) by the conformation of the land masses (as in the case of the equatorial stream which is banked up in the Gulf of Mexico and flows out through the Straits of Florida); (3) by the varying depth of the ocean, for currents tend to flow more readily through deep than in shallow waters (as in the case of the main Atlantic drift, which flows most strongly through the deep channel between Shetland and the Faroe Is.); and (4) by the driving force of the winds acting on the surface of the sea (thus the drift of water from the equator is not N.E., as one might expect, but from E. to W., because of the impelling force of the N.E. and S.E. trade-winds).

Long-range Periodicities in Oceanographical Changes.—More and more the science seeks to discover periodicities and to correlate these with others. In these attempts new methods are elaborated and in their criticism contributory phenomena are discovered. An interesting example is the discussion, by Otto Pettersson, of the effects of long-range fluctuations in the tide-generating force: this memoir was published about 1914, but has only recently become available to English readers.

Hydrobiology.—The study of marine life has in recent years become more general, and has become associated with very precise investigations into the chemical composition of sea-water, changes in chemical equilibrium, the effect of variations in salinity and temperature, the processes set up by marine bacteria, and so on. The investigation of the microscopic pelagic life of the sea has also developed to a great extent. Several decades ago all marine organisms became grouped together in three great categories: (1) the Benthos, or bottom-living, rooted or sedentary forms; (2) the Nekton, or actively swimming animals; and (3) the Plankton, or drifting (usually) microscopic organisms, which have little power of locomotion (see ). The plankton is divided into (a) the Zoö-plankton (such as the minute crustacea and the eggs and larvæ of fishes and many other marine animals); and (b) the Phyto-plankton, that is, the minute algae, diatoms, peridinians, some flagellate protozoa, spores of algæ, etc. The investigation of the plankton from a new point of view, begun by Hansen in 1889, was continued by Lohmann at Kiel, by Cleve in Sweden, by Gran and Ostenfeldt in Norway and Denmark, and by Herdman, Allen and others in England. Hansen’s early results were much criticized and the original methods very greatly modified and improved. It became clear that only very rough estimates of the numbers of planktonic organisms in a volume of sea-water as large as (say) 10 cubic metres could be made, but that these estimates could nevertheless be trusted to show very marked regional and seasonal differences.

Coral Formations.—Coral reefs remove calcium from solution in the sea on a vast scale. During recent years the controversies with regard to the modes of formation of these structures have entered on a new phase. The theories of Darwin, Agassiz, Dana, Semper, Murray and others had led to apparently interminable discussion, and the great boring experiments at Funafuti atoll, which were expected to be crucial, gave results that backed both the rival theories of Darwin and Murray. On the other hand, Wayland Vaughan (see Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1917) has shown clearly that the problem is essentially a biochemical one and may finally be solved by the methods of the latter science.


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Author:James Johnstone

Works

 * British fisheries : their administration and their problems ; a short account of the origin and growth of British seafishery (1905)
 * Conditions of Life in the Sea. a short account of quantitative marine biological research (1908)
 * Life in the sea (1911)
 * The philosophy of biology (1914)
 * The Mechanism Of Life In Relation To Modern Physical Theory (1921)
 * An introduction to oceanography, with special reference to geography and geophysics (1923)
 * A Study of the Oceans (1930)

title: Author:James Johnstone


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Leland Stanford Jr. University


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Page:The Holy Bible, containing the Old & New Testament & the Apocrypha.djvu/1564

Rh a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, to stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, as the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them; because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them, the Jews ordained, and took upon them, and


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IX] now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done. Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons. For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand. But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey, on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and


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 Another way of putting it is, "Me queres tu?" ("Lovest thou me?'"), "Si, te quero" ("Yes, I love thee"). Still other loving expressions which are heard in Mexican homes every day are, "Luz de mis ojos" ("Light of my eyes"), and "Idolo mio" ("My idol"). "Mi corazoncito" ("My heart's treasure"), and "Vida mia" ("My life"), all having an added zest by the speaker's tender manner.

In the baby language of mothers, nothing is sweeter than these

expressions. Intonations vary in different localities. At the capital the rising inflection is generally heard, the voice running on an upward sliding scale—the marked rising inflection—as nõ, Buènó, with pleasing effect.

Great delicacy is always exercised in speaking of ages. In one part of the country, one a little advanced in years, or even quite old, is called viejito (a little old). In the choice society of the capital this term is considered wanting in good taste; un poco grande or grandecito


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 (a little large) is usually employed, but the phrase carries conviction with it.

One highly commendable trait is, that Mexicans will not say disagreeable things to you, either on their own account, or repeating what others may have said. I have been told that the women are much given to gossip; but if true, I have not heard them, as they are careful never to speak unkindly or slightingly of their countrywomen in the presence of strangers. The possible failings of their own people are carefully held in reserve; and the most critical remark I heard one woman make of another was, that she was "muy buena, pero para pura buena no serve" ("very good, but to be purely good, and no more, was of no value"), a nice discrimination between negative and active goodness!

"Muy Mexicano" ("Very Mexican") is another phrase used in the same way, referring to something slow, or out of accord with the feelings and sentiments of the speaker.

"Muy mal criado" ("A very bad servant") expresses great contempt. Sometimes, however, it is used humorously, as when a child teases its mother, or a friend insists on the conferring of some little favor at an inconvenient season.

In the arts of the toilet the señorita is fully up with her AngloSaxon sisters; indeed, it may truthfully be said she is ahead of them. Paint, whitening lotions, and dentrifices are used freely. But no women excel them in the care of the hair, that "glory" of woman, and its wonderful length, its silky, luxuriant softness, amply compensate them for their pains.

Houses built before the days of modern conveniences are not provided with baths, but comfortable and luxurious public baths—warm and cold—for all classes exist everywhere. It is here the señorita, at least once a week, uncoils her lovely tresses, and washes thoroughly both hair and scalp, then, with towel pinned around her shoulders, and hair flowing in unconfined ripples from crown to tip, goes through the streets to her home with no more concealment than if returning from church.


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 Señoritas are universally known in plain English as chickens. If very young, they are pollitas (little chickens). If twenty or more years, the graver and more prophetic term polla (grown or big chicken) is applied.

An opportunity was given me of hearing an amusing adaptation of the term. A number of ladies were arranging to give an entertainment for a charitable purpose. All had stated what they would contribute, save one, who had remained silent throughout. But when a lull came in the conversation, she quietly remarked she would bring the pollas y pollitas. The merriment spread like contagion, for she had three marriageable daughters.

On another occasion, at a fashionable dinner party which I attended at the capital, Guillermo Prieto was also a guest.

The venerable poet sat at the extreme end of the long table beside a blooming señorita, who was evidently entertaining the old gentleman to the best of her ability. A charming, middle-aged señora sat near me, and when the conversation flagged, she turned and said, naïvely, "Oye! oye (hear! hear)! Guillermo! You like those pollitas much better than the pollas!" To which he replied, "Naturalmente (naturally), there is nothing prettier or sweeter than a pollita!" An expression of taste which could not be described as national.

But these lovely pollitas never experience the pleasures of our débutantes. From thirteen years of age they may be candidates for matrimony, but such an event crowning their entrance into society as a winter in Washington would be as foreign to their ideas and impressions of real young ladyhood as their Romeo and Juliet lovemaking from the balcony or barred windows to our young ladies. So they are always out, and yet never out!

Solteras or doncellonas viejas is the term applied to old maids. While no derogation attaches to this position, yet often much sport is made at the expense of those who may in any way render themselves odious and disagreeable. Muy fastidiosa''" ("very fastidious," or "a little difficult to please") is politely applied; or "Very


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 good to dress the saints," meaning, that they are always at church, and, having nothing else to do, dressing saints is a proper occupation for them.

Thirty years are allowed a señorita ere she is launched on that monotonous soltera journey; and they are to be found as often in wealthy as in plainer families.

Bachelors are quite common, and they also have their special names. Sometimes solterones, at others, solterones perniciosos (bad or pernicious unmarried men). A Mexican lady said to me, "Life to the solterones is never bleak nor desolate. They keep up their houses and have everything about them that contributes to their happiness!"

Young marriageable men are called gallinos, older ones, gallos (young and old roosters). And those tireless, idle young men who stand on the streets habitually, watching the señoritas on their way to mass or to shop, are called by the appropriate name of lagartijos (lizards), because they are always in the sun.

Foreigners are not long in sorting these out from the multitude, as they make it a rule to stare one out of countenance.

They compare with the idlers of all countries, and are not a whit behind them in deportment and dress—even the eyeglass is not wanting.

A natural and, it would seem, national source of pride to the Mexican, is his small and elegantly formed foot, and, not satisfied with its original graces of slender form and arched instep, he compresses its size by wearing tight-fitting, high-heeled, and pointed-toed shoes.

Apropos of this little display of personal vanity, shared by both the sexes, I may repeat what a lady of great culture and refinement told me in plain words, that while her husband was handsome, good, and kind, yet, had he not possessed the most perfect foot she ever saw, never would she have married him!

The women are by no means migratory in their habits. Indeed, with few exceptions, they do not travel in their own country. They


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 have no seaside resorts nor watering-places kept solely for recreation; the change to a hacienda or to a quiet village being the chief portion of their knowledge and experience in that line.

The increased facilities for travel do not offer sufficient inducements to them to leave their homes.

One charming woman, whose acquaintance I formed at Morelia, said to me that she had never been ten miles beyond Morelia but once in her life. This was a trip to the capital after her marriage. Then she only remained one day, which was spent in weeping so violently, and in entreating her liege lord to take her home again, that he was only too glad to do so without delay.

The boarding-house, as it is known to us, is entirely unknown in Mexico, so that in cases of financial difficulty or other misfortune, ladies do not assume the care and management of such establishments. I only know of one instance where a lady, suddenly reduced from affluence to poverty, had recourse to this method of gaining a livelihood. Now and then one may encounter a casa de huespedes, where furnished rooms are rented, but this is the extent of such business by women. And it is safe


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234 to estimate that scarcely one out of ten thousand señoritas has ever found herself inside either a hotel or boarding-house.

Indeed, so deeply rooted is the feeling against any kind of publicity in the domestic life, that it is not considered etiquette for a lady, married or single, to visit in hotels.

Foreigners are attracted by the tender, kindly manner of the señoritas, and frequently choose their life partners among them. But, though loyal and devoted wives, as is well known, the fewest instances are on record where they have been successfully transplanted to another soil. They will not quarrel to carry their point, but sooner or later they will and must return to their native land. The women of other countries may fill a wider sphere, but there is no climate nor customs like their own.

A parallel is found by transplanting the American woman to Mexico, and the Mexican woman to the United States. The one sighs over her lack of freedom, while with the other, the excess of freedom is an untold burden. No charm or attraction can exist for her beyond the barred window and the circumscribed limits of the promenade, accompanied according to custom, by some female relative or servant.

The foreigner who contemplates seeking the hand of a señorita, should first arrange all business matters in his own country, bid adieu to kindred and friends; for when the event takes place linking his fate with that of the object of his affections, he must become in word and deed a Mexican, and be one of the family in every relation.

One noble trait is exemplified in the life of the Mexican woman who shares her worldly goods with either a foreigner or countryman. He may bring into his house his parents, his aunts, and his cousins, even as remote as the twenty-ninth cousin, and his wife will feel it only her duty and pleasure to be kind and tender, dividing with them her worldly possessions.

According to law, a girl is eligible for matrimony at fourteen. She is then as fully developed as an American girl at eighteen. Maturing thus early, marriage takes place, and from twenty-five to thirty-five, the


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Rh piquancy of youth waning, they arrive at a faded and premature age. The dearth of intellectual pursuits and the climate do their part in the metamorphosis.

The fine physical development among the women is particularly noticeable at the capital. Their beauty, however, grows upon and impresses one by degrees; their glorious soft eyes, glossy black hair, exquisitely shaped hands and arms and small feet are more admired the longer we observe them.

It is a pleasure to chronicle the fact that the government is now thoroughly aroused to the importance of giving educational advantages to the excellent, honest, and kindly disposed middle class. Nothing will tend more to make Mexico strong in herself and the sooner place her in the foremost ranks among nations, than the disposition she now manifests of being deeply interested in the education of the masses, and especially in that of the women. Industrial and normal schools and colleges are now in successful operation at many central points. In these they receive not only a practical education, but also instruction in the various branches of art by highly qualified masters.

Treated heretofore more like dolls, or ornamental adjuncts—and in a state of dependence—now, without fear of misconstruction, they may enter such avenues of art and industry as will support them independently. Every latent talent is being fostered and encouraged by the administrators of the law. Poor young girls, as well as boys, are pensioned by either their own State or the federal government, and


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236 only a few years more will witness an upward and onward progressiveness heretofore unknown.

At home, also, their range of accomplishments is extended. Where formerly señoritas employed themselves in lacework and embroidery, they now cut, fit, and make their own dresses with taste and skill, copying closely European and American fashions, and taking much pleasure in the selection of the various styles.

During my sojourn at the capital, one young señorita graduated in dentistry. She began at once assisting her father, who was a dentist, in his office, the fact being announced in all the leading daily papers.

Happily the class which most needs this aid and encouragement is the one most benefited by it—the excellent, faithful, and hospitable middle class.

It need not be inferred that husbands interdict their wives from sharing intellectual enjoyments. Yet one—a distinguished man of letters—remarked to me that it was all very well for American women to walk along with the men in science and literature, but it would never do for Mexican women to know any place aside from the home, with its relation to husband and children. If so, they would at once grow unhappy and discontented.

A Mexican gentleman, who had lived a great deal in the United States, and appreciated the Americans as a people, freely admitted to me that he had made the "double mistake of marrying two American women." If this remark savored of a lack of gallantry, it bore, however, a general truth, for the races are not, as a rule, suited to each other conjugally.

But some of the most majestic old dames it has ever been my fortune to know are among the Mexican women. They step as if descended directly from Montezuma, and the manner in which they uphold the dignity of their homes is something well worth seeing.

In neither sex is the slightest effort made to conceal age. Even young ladies on the shady side of an "uncertain age" do not seem aware that the least derogation attaches to that fact, but with a quiet unconcern state the exact number of their years.


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Rh Having so many servants, the lives of the women are much easier with regard to household labors than with us. There is no hurry—no necessity for it; but, though custom yields to négligé in the mornings, sacques and skirts, loose low shoes, and no corsets, hence no inconvenience as from the more formal toilet of our women, their maladies are quite as numerous. The lack of exercise, and excessive indulgence in rich, highly-spiced peppery food, may account for many ailments.

Children sum up, generally, ten, twelve, and sometimes as many as fifteen to eighteen in number, many not reaching maturity. In few instances do the mothers nurse their babes, the wet-nurse being "the power behind the throne." I was agreeably disappointed, however, to see so few instances of personal deformity. Near-sightedness is prevalent all over the country, and is accounted for by the excess of light outside and its deficiency, with lack of ventilation, in both homes and schools.

Mexico is an earthly paradise for children. The little monarchs hold high sway in the affections of the people; and from the moment they see the light it is a long hey-day of enjoyment and child-play. Expressions of the tenderest love are lavished on them without affectation, whether in the street, the house, or the shop, and, regardless of how many may have preceded him, the new baby is hailed with delight, and takes superior rank in the household.

No country can produce more marvelously beautiful, brighter, or more precocious children. They are happy by nature, and, though indisposed to quarrel with each other either in the house or street, yet somehow they manage to assert their rights.

The childish prattle in the sweet baby Spanish is melody itself, coming from these winning and most lovable little creatures. Beautiful Alfonso, the baby boy of Señora Calderon—a little more than two years old—came tapping at my door one day. Opening it, I asked, "What do you want, precious one?" Taking my hand and looking archly in my face, he said, with baby