Page:Mexico, picturesque, political, progressive.djvu/68

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
66
MEXICO — PICTURESQUE

of his contract, and patronizingly accepts the timid douceur you offer as a sop to Cerberus. We were amazed by meeting a race of beings who anticipated needs, and suggested luxuries; who were interested in your night's sleep and your morning aspect; who were grieved over your ailments, and sympathized with your loneliness; who were always within call, and whose bright, dark eyes showed that they had a joy in the service they rendered. Open doors, and the careless disorder of forgetful travellers in leaving money and valuables about, offered no temptations to an integrity as incorruptible as their other virtues. Over and over again we were met by such evidence of this as would call for special mention in other places, but which here was an every-day occurrence. The lost art of honesty seems to have been found again in Mexico. And this was among the people against whom we had been warned as a race of born thieves, and specialists in the profession of robbery and trickery. We were a party of seventy-four; we had come, as most people do, with preconceived notions gathered from men and books; so that I am the more happy in being able to record this total difference