uncommon thing to see horses and mules lie down and die in the street, belaboured the while by their task-masters in Cruelty to
Animals.the attempt to galvanise them back into life. These wretched animals are usually starved and present a shocking appearance. This abominable cruelty is, unfortunately, extended to children, who, when of tender years, are sent on errands which necessitate the carrying of heavy loads. This sort of thing often ruins a visit to Mexico, for people of compassionate sensibilities and even the more hardened will frequently feel the flush of indignation arise to their cheeks at recurring exhibitions of inhumanity. What is to blame? The deadening influence of pulque and the brutalising sport of the bull-ring—which of these more than the other it would indeed be difficult to say.
The Mexican, like other Spanish-Americans, is a true citizen of cities; and this would be all the more surprising, Preference for
City Life.considering the Colonial antecedents of the race, did we not find that in many lands it is just the country folk—those who are brought up with the smell of the meadow in their nostrils—who press towards the town with the greatest determination. But the country is abhorred by your Mexican cockney as dearly as it is loved by his London prototype. If a rural pilgrimage becomes necessary, it is regarded as nothing short of a disaster, and condolences crowd in upon the unfortunate who must perforce tempt the rigours of such an expedition. It must be remembered, of course, that a sharp line of demarcation exists between city and country life in the Republic. The rural population is rural indeed, and is in no manner sophisticated as with ourselves. Many country people in Great Britain, and especially in Scotland, are more up to date and wideawake than even Liverpudlians or Glasgovians. But this is by no means the case in Mexico. Quit the confines of the towns and almost at once you enter an environment of absolute ruralism, unless, perchance, you
