ies
has perhaps only borrowed a tale of misfortune which she has heard her
neighbor tell. Those who reproach these poor unfortunates with being
beggars, thieves, and liars, forget that they have been made such by
oppression. The greatest amount of suffering caused by the civil wars
falls upon the poor; and among the suffering poor, the women are the
greatest sufferers. If they are more intemperate than the men, it is
their misfortunes, too often, that have driven them to seek a temporary
solace in _pulque_. The slight hold they have on their husbands is the
cause of their jealousy, and if they take part in bloody affrays, it is
because they are under the influence of intoxication, and not from any
inherent inclination to cruelty.

Never did a white skin cover a kinder heart than that of the poor
Meztizo women of Spanish America. Their primitive hut by the wayside is
as much at your service as your own castle, and you are heartily
welcome to their humble fare. I never was so unfortunate as to need
their assistance, but I have often been astonished at the ready charity
of the poor to those poorer than themselves. I once encountered an
Irishman who had begged his way from the Gulf coast almost to the
Pacific, and I was greatly surprised at the cheerfulness with which a
poor widow woman, keeper of a _venta_, accepted of a blessing instead
of more tangible coin for a night's entertainment. In delicate health
always, and not without a full share of experience among strangers, I
know full well how to appreciate the kind offices which a woman only
can render. When death stared me in the face, and she could do nothing
for a perishing heretic except to solicit a passing procession to chant
a _misericordia por un infirmo Americano_, that kindly office was not
wanting. When, with returning health, I ventured out into the street,
leaning upon a staff, a poor Indian woman, forgetting her native
shyness, begged me to sit down under the shade of her roof while she
prepared for me a little orange-water, and when, a little refreshed by
her orange-water, I tottered on, I shall never forget the look of
sympathy which she bestowed upon an unknown stranger. An Indian woman
is always kind, but the kindest of her race is the poor despised Indian
woman of Spanish America.

It is too common to look down coldly, and not unfrequently with
contempt, upon those who occupy the humbler walks of life, and to speak
only of their vices. The _peon_ has