rapacious cargadores.—old book-stores in the portales.—public schools in the mexican capital; the pupils in attendance.—theatres and hospitals.—a theatre supporting a hospital.—the brothers of charity.—inside the theatres.—a performance of opera.—a minor theatre.—listening to a mexican performance.—bull-fighting in mexico.—a disgraceful sport.—origin of the bull-fight.—marionette theatres.—the processions.—mexican love for cock-fighting.—commingling of religious ceremonials and amusements.—the posada and the pastorela; their peculiarities.—killing judas.
wants a souvenir.
the train by which our friends returned to the capital left amecameca at 1.20 in the afternoon, and reached the san lazero station at 4 o'clock. a crowd of cargadores swooped down on the baggage, and for a time threatened to disappear with it in as many directions as there were single pieces, but by dint of watchfulness and energy it was rescued and placed in charge of a runner from the hotel. the morelos, or interoceanic railway, the one by which the party had travelled, is distinctively a mexican line; it was built by mexican capital, or capital borrowed by mexicans, and the management is mexican throughout. when finished it will be literally what its name implies, as it will connect the atlantic ocean at vera cruz with the pacific at acapulco. at the time our friends were in mexico work was being pushed on the eastern division of the line (between vera cruz and the capital), and its managers were confident of completing it by the end of 1890 or 1891. at last accounts the completion of the western division (from the capital to acapulco) was very much in the future.
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it seemed to frank and fred that they had been away from the city for a month or two, when in reality they had been gone less than a week. the next morning they were out early to ascertain if any changes had taken place during their absence—whether any new buildings had been erected or old ones demolished, new streets opened, or new avenues laid out. they strolled through the portales, and stopped at the little shops established between the arches of the covered way that shelters the sidewalks from sun and rain, to bargain for old books and odds and ends of curiosities. fred had received a letter from a friend at home asking him to pick up certain old books if they were to be found, and he made many inquiries for the volumes. one after another, he found them, and the search roused in him a fever for book-buying which did not abate until he had invested several dollars in antique specimens of the printer's art.
"how does it happen that so many old books are sold at these stalls in the portales?" he said to doctor bronson on his return to the hotel.
ruins of san lazero.
"it comes from the confiscation of the church property," was the reply. "for three centuries the churches and monasteries had been gathering
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a fine collection of books for their libraries, and the confiscation of ecclesiastical buildings under the laws of the reform threw the most of these libraries into the market. some of them were bought for speculation and others for private use; in either case they were pretty sure to drift sooner or later into the hands of the dealers. gentlemen familiar with the subject say that mexico is to-day the best place in the world for a book-collector to find what he is looking for."
from the portales the youths extended their walk through several of the principal streets, and reached the hotel just in time for breakfast. on their way they passed a school just as the pupils were going in, and this circumstance gave a hint on which they acted at once.
on the way to church.
they proceeded to collect information concerning the public schools, in addition to what they had already learned. they found that there were in the capital 101 free secular schools, with an aggregate attendance of 7400 pupils; then there were thirty-seven protestant and twenty-four catholic schools, all free—the former with 1300 pupils, and the latter with 4000. the catholic schools are held in large buildings, as will be readily
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seen from the number of pupils in the twenty-four schools; while the protestant establishments are on a smaller scale. there are something more than 100 private schools for primary instruction, with an average of thirty pupils to each school. all the wealthy families have their children taught by private tutors or governesses, but the grade of their education is not high. the whole number of educational establishments in the city is a little short of 300, with an attendance in the aggregate of about 16,000.
monks at their musical exercise.
mention has already been made of the san carlos academy of fine arts, the conservatory of music, the military academy, and the medical college. to these should be added the law school and the preparatory schools and colleges of architecture, theology, commerce, and astronomy. some of these have been founded by the government in recent times, while others are descended from those established by the catholic church in its days of prosperity.
of some twenty hospitals and asylums of different names and kinds, fully two-thirds are the successors of benevolent institutions founded by the church. the oldest is the hospital of jesus nazareno, and was founded by cortez; he left a large endowment for it, and the hospital is still
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supported by it in spite of many attempts by governments and individuals to break his will. the last effort in this direction was in 1885, when the will was sustained by the mexican courts. the bad management of the hospital in its early days led to the founding of the san hipolito hospital by bernardo alvarez in 1567. the pious people that joined him became a regular monastic order under the name of brothers of charity. the order was suppressed in 1820; the hospital fund passed into the hands of the municipality, and afterwards went to the general government. since that time the city has managed the hospital, and provided the necessary funds for it.
a belle of the opera.
one of the theatres in the city (the teatro principal) owes its beginning
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to the necessity for money to support the hospital real, which was in the hands of the brothers of charity during the seventeenth century. the first theatre was in the hospital building, and the players were hired by the brothers. tradition says that the noise made by the performers and audiences seriously disturbed the sick, while the management of a theatre by a religious order caused a great scandal among pious people. the brothers argued that, no matter what the origin of the money was, it was used for a good purpose, and they continued to enjoy the revenues of the theatre until the hospital was discontinued. the theatre, and with it part of the hospital, was burned one night in 1722, after the performance of "the ruin and burning of jerusalem." the common people regarded the conflagration as a sign of heavenly disapproval, but the brothers rebuilt immediately. a few years later they rebuilt again; and in 1752 they laid the foundation of the present theatre, and finished it in the following year. it has been changed so much since that time that very little now remains of the original edifice.
a stage brigand.
the theatre is one of the institutions of mexico, and liberally patronized. on this subject frank wrote the following:
"the teatro principal is not what its name implies, as it is not the principal theatre at all. it may have been so when it was the only one, but it certainly has not been of much account in late years. the most fashionable theatre is the nacional. italian and french opera are given there, and the place is open for one thing or another pretty much the whole year. it is the fashion to have the commencement exercises of the military and other colleges in the teatro nacional, and since we came here there has been a grand concert in the building.
"we went to the opera one night. the performance was fairly good, but nothing remarkable, and we came away with the impression that the mexicans go there more to see and be seen than to listen to the performance.
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the ladies were in full evening costume, and the men seemed to be about equally divided between dress-coats and double-breasted ones. there are boxes on two balconies and also around part of the parquet. the prices for seats and boxes vary according to the attraction, and the house is said to be generally well filled.
"most of the men left their seats between the acts, some of them to smoke cigarettes in the lobby, and others to call on their lady friends in the boxes or send packages of dulces (sweetmeats) to them. the pretty women in the boxes seemed to enjoy being stared at, if we could judge by the way they smiled when opera-glasses were aimed at them. many of the men paid no attention to the performance, but constantly eyed the beauties, and eyed them with their lorgnettes instead of their natural organs of sight. they came back just before the curtain rose on each act, and then each man stood up and made a survey of the horizon of boxes, reminding us of the quartermaster of a ship at sea looking for a sail. they tell us that the mexican belles feel slighted if they are not thus stared at, and there is a keen rivalry among them as to who shall be the recipient of the greatest amount of attention.
"we have been accustomed in other parts of the world," continued the youth, "to hear the voice of the prompter at the opera, but we were not prepared for it in an ordinary theatre where the performance was a play in dialogue and not a musical one. we went one night to the hidalgo theatre to see and hear a mexican play. the prompter pronounced every sentence before the actor did, and it was heard all through the house. it completely spoiled the play for us, and we left before it was over. what we liked a good deal better was the arrangement of the office, where there were five or six ticket-sellers seated in a row behind a grating, so that there was no delay in getting places.
"they showed us a plan of the theatre in which the seats were marked by pegs in holes. we selected three places, paid our money, and then the ticket-seller drew out the pegs and handed them to us. the pegs were numbered to correspond with the places, and we handed them to the usher as checks for our seats. we found that we could buy seats for a single act or for two acts, or three, just as we liked, on the same plan as in some of the cities of europe.
"in addition to the theatre and opera, the mexicans inherit the spanish love for the bull-fight. this form of sport has had its ups and downs in the capital. it was abolished in the federal district for some time, but was recently re-established or permitted, and now there are bull-rings at the northern end of the paseo and in san cosme. there is always
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a large attendance, but it is chiefly of the lower classes of the population.
tivoli garden, san cosme.
"we have seen a bull-fight, but it was not a real one. it was given at a marionette theatre, and was said to be an excellent representation of the actual performance. the figures were about four inches high, and operated by cords invisible to the audience. it was interesting and funny, and we had a good laugh while looking at it. during lent this marionette theatre has exhibitions called los processiones, in which long processions of various church dignitaries and characters are drawn slowly along a stage or walk extending the whole length of the room. at the time we saw the miniature bull-fight the walk had been removed, and the stage was at the end of the hall. the audience was of the lower class of natives, and we kept a good watch over our pockets.
"the real bull-fight was something we did not want to see, and we refused several invitations to witness it. it is a brutal, degrading sport,
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from our point of consideration; but probably the spaniards and mexicans would not agree with us.
teasing the bull.
"mr. brocklehurst, the author of 'mexico to-day,' says the bull-fight here is almost as attractive as in spain, and the sporting men of mexico have their preferences in regard to the ganderias, the farms on which bulls are raised, just as the same class in england have their favorite stables for horses. the bulls are of proper age for fighting at from three to five years; they are reared as carefully as race-horses in other countries, and brought to the plaza during the night before the day on which they are to do battle.
"on their arrival they are shut in a dark pen, and when wanted for the fight they are driven from this pen, one by one, to the toril, which opens into the arena. the ring is a great amphitheatre, without a roof, and the seats al sol (on the sunny side) are only half the price of those al sombre (on the shady side). to the discredit of the people be it said, the seats are generally well filled to witness this cruel sport, and the great mass of the people seem to be more interested in it than in the choice of a president or the opening of a new railway.
"the performance begins with a procession of the fighters, and then the master of ceremonies asks the judge for the key of the toril, which is thrown to him. he then goes to the toril and lets in the bull, the band and all other persons not concerned in the fight having judiciously retired from the ring.
picadores.
"the picadores, or mounted men, are on miserable horses, whose eyes are bandaged so that they cannot see the bull; as the animal enters he looks around in astonishment at the horses and their riders, at the capeadores, with their scarlet cloaks to attract the bull's attention, and at the banderilleros,
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whose duty it is to stick darts in the animal to enrage him. sometimes the darts have fire-crackers attached in addition to the long ribbons with which they are always ornamented.
the matador's triumph.
"the most cruel part of the performance, and one which generally sickens the foreign spectator, is when the poor, broken-down, and blindfolded horses are gored by the maddened animal which has been brought into the ring only to be killed. the most interesting part of it is when, after killing several horses, and being worried for half an hour by his tormentors, the bull is turned over to the matador, who, after several feints and skilfully avoiding the charges of the animal, plants his sword up to the hilt between the bull's shoulders. the matador is a hero who is worshipped by the populace as much as is the champion base-ball player in the united states, or the jockey in england who wins the derby. once in a while a matador is killed by his four-footed adversary; an occurrence of this kind adds interest to the sport, though it may plunge the whole country into grief.
the final blow.
"next to the matador, the men who run the greatest risk are the picadores, the fellows who fight on horseback. they are protected by leather armor, which impedes their movements, and when a horse is thrown down by the bull they often fall with him, and are unable to extricate themselves. when this occurs, the capeadores, who are also called chulos, endeavor to draw away the bull's attention by waving their cloaks in front of him; the ruse generally succeeds, and the unfortunate picador is assisted
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out of his dangerous position as quickly as possible. sometimes the bull will not be diverted from his attack on horse and rider, and it is in such cases that the picador may be gored, perhaps to death. if he is hurt but not killed, the spectators show their appreciation of his bravery by tossing silver dollars into the ring; and a wounded picador has been known to gather up a hatful of these welcome coins before retiring.
scenes at a bull-fight.
"a priest is always waiting in a room near the toril, in order to offer the last sacrament to any luckless combatant who may be fatally injured. when a bull is killed his body is dragged off by a team of richly ornamented mules; these mules form part of the procession that opens the performance, but they never seem to manifest any special pride in their work.
"we are told that the spectators are often wild with excitement over the incidents of a bull-fight; they smash the furniture and railings, and have been known to wreck a considerable portion of the wood-work of the ring in their fury. sombreros by the dozen, of all kinds and values, are thrown into the arena, and a gentleman tells us he has seen hundreds of
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spectators leaving the place bareheaded at the end of an exciting day. from four to six bulls are killed at a performance—four being the usual number—and ten or twelve horses.
a bull-ring of the highest class.
"that will do for the national sport of mexico," concluded the youth; "it is only given because a description of the country would be incomplete without it. doctor bronson says that bull-fighting was originally a compromise with the roman custom of gladiatorial combats, and furnished a substitute that met the desire of the populace to witness bloodshed. it was brought to mexico by the spaniards, partly as a reminiscence of their home country, and partly to take the place of the human sacrifices of the aztecs. it has become a part of the life of the people, and the government that endeavors to suppress it would run the risk of being overturned."
a school on the old model.
from theatres and bull-fights the conversation naturally turned to the other amusements of the mexicans. that the people are fond of gambling the youths had already learned, also that one of their sports was cock-fighting. game-cocks are carefully trained for the work they are
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expected to perform, and fights between them are of frequent occurrence. a traveller in mexico tells how he once visited a school where each of the pupils had a game-cock, which he carried constantly with him, and during school hours the birds were supposed to be tied up so that they could not get at each other. the noonday recess was generally devoted to a battle between two of the feathered champions, and sometimes the teacher, who possessed several game-birds, joined in the sport with his pupils.
cockpits are more numerous than bull-rings, for the reason that their construction is inexpensive. only a few posts and a thatched roof are necessary. the birds are placed in the centre of a ring, and the excited spectators crowd as closely as possible to the ropes in order to witness the sport. pretty nearly all the money in their possession changes hands during or at the end of the performance, and sometimes the peons are so warmed up to the business that they wager their hats, coats, and nearly all their garments, together with everything else they possess.
the religious observances of the country are closely mixed up with amusements, as the festivities established by the church are almost invariably combined with entertainments in greater or less variety. in this respect they have their counterpart in the christmas festivities of most protestant countries.
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"they can't have christmas here as we do," frank remarked to fred, while they were discussing the subject.
"why so?" fred asked.
"because," was the reply, "they have no chimneys, and consequently no way for santa claus to get into the house after the time-honored fashion."
"that's so," answered fred; "but you may be sure they have their fun, and quite as much as we do. we'll look into that subject, and find out about it."
fred investigated, and here is the result of his inquiries:
"the mexicans have a longer christmas than we do, as it begins on the 17th of december, and lasts until new year's day. during their christmas they have an amusement called the posada, or inn; it is based upon occurrences of the time when cæsar augustus ordered the whole world to be taxed, and joseph and mary came to judea from galilee to be enrolled. bethlehem was so filled with strangers that they wandered from inn to inn for nine days without finding accommodations, and then sought shelter in the stable in which christ was born.
the figure of joseph (procession of the posada).
"in commemoration of the nine days of wandering, mexican posadas last nine days. in many houses processions are formed, and the people of a family join in it, carrying tapers and singing litanies; figures of joseph and
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mary are carried in front of each procession, and every door that is passed on the round is knocked upon in the effort to obtain shelter. the sound of the litanies is to be heard all over the city; court-yards and windows are hung with numerous lanterns, and all the public places are richly ornamented, and abound with pleasure-seekers.
"the principal sport of the posada is breaking the pinate, an earthen jar filled with dulces. the jar is richly decorated on the outside, and ornamented with ribbons of paper. the pinates are made in the shape of all known and many unknown birds and beasts, and also in the shape of dolls, some of them being of great size. peddlers go about the streets with these things suspended from a pole, and the number sold at christmas-time is very large.
"when the ceremonial procession is over the party goes to the patio, or to a large room of the house, and there the fun begins. a pinate is suspended from the ceiling, or from a cord stretched across the patio, and then one of the party, blindfolded and armed with a stick, sets about breaking the pinate; sometimes half a dozen are blindfolded at once, and then the fun is lively. when the pinate is broken the dulces fall to the floor, and everybody scrambles for them. altogether, the game reminds us of blind-man's-buff and some of our other home sports.
"a good many people omit the religious part of the posada and come at once to the jug-breaking. in wealthy families posadas often cost many hundreds or even thousands of dollars; the ladies receive handsome and valuable presents, and the broken pinates have been known to yield showers of rings and gold coins, instead of the regulation sweetmeats. the affair concludes with a grand dance, and the participants do not reach home until a very late, or early, hour.
"all through the christmas and new-year festivities there are grand balls, dinners, theatre parties, and the like; everybody indulges in festivity according to his means, and not infrequently beyond them; and when the affair is over, and the realities of life come again, the tradesmen who seek to collect their bills make the time doubly serious. in some parts of the country the pastorela, or pastoral, takes the place of the posada; the amusements are pretty much the same, the principal difference being that another incident of the nativity is taken as the ground-work of the ceremonial.
the railway judas.
"another popular festival is on the last day of holy week, which is devoted to the death of judas. effigies of judas abound everywhere; they are hung on trees and from windows, on lamp-posts, balconies—in fact, everywhere they can be made to hang. you see them on the front
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of every locomotive on that day, and on many another vehicle; in fact, it would be easier to say where judas is not than where he is. the figures are of all dimensions, but usually of life size. they are filled with fireworks of various sorts, so that they explode when a match is touched to them. if from any cause they do not explode, they are torn in pieces when they fall to the ground. in thus destroying them the people indicate their detestation of the betrayer of his master. not infrequently the figures that are hung from private houses have thirty silver dollars pasted upon them, as a reminder of the thirty pieces of silver which were the traitor's price. of course there is a lively scramble for these coins when the judas falls to the ground."
