In Mexico there are socially but two classes, which are widely and impassably separated, the very rich and the very poor. The domestic life of the Mexican poor is marked by much the same features as characterize the manner of living of the lower classes of the south of Europe. The family cook, eat and sleep in a single room of some one of the populous houses which, divided by squalid alleys, abound in the cities, or in the only room of their hut in outlying villages. The main problem of life, the obtaining of a sufficient quantity of corn, beans, and Chili pepper, for a day or two ahead, is easily solved, and the luxuries are a little meat for Christmas and Easter, and a few ribbons and silver bangles on the holiday occasions, for the mother and grown daughters, and a heavy silver-adorned hat for the master of the house. The garments of the members of the household are light cotton, and the sunny climate supplies all that is lacking in their weight and quantity. The mother looks mainly after the domestic concerns providing and preparing the food and drink, incidentally assisted in the former by the husband, who, however, does remarkably well if he succeeds in providing himself with the pulque, (fermented juice of the maguey plant), with which he daily stupefies himself. The children grow up anyway, rendering some domestic assistance as they grow older, and, in their community, find their mates and marry at an age that would seem surprisingly young in the northern climates.

Among the ricos, or rich, the class, comparatively small in number, that possess practically all the property in Mexico, life is a more complex and formal affair. The whole structure and traditions of society favor the seclusion and isolation in domestic life of the Mexican family. Their houses, covering as they do, with their enclosures, a great area of ground, present on three sides a blank outer wall of stone or adobe, and on the front toward the

IN MEXICO.

street some grated windows, as strongly protected by iron bars as those of a guardhouse. There is no entrance to the house from the street save through a great covered gateway usually large enough to admit a carriage, and from which a paved passage leads into the patio or courtyard. Upon the patio open the portales (verandas), windows and house doors, and within its limits is passed most of the out-of-door life of the family.

From the patio the female members of the family pass through the great gateway only under protection. The senoritas, or young ladies, attended by their mother, or some elderly female guardian, and the senora or the lady of the house, when accompanied by her children, husband or some friend. The Mexican woman of good social position, spends but little time.in the streets, and then it is on a specific errand. To go to mass or prayers in the morning, and with her husband and children for a sunset drive on the paseo (boulevard), with visits to distant relatives, comprises most of her life outside the walls of her house.

The servants in Mexican families are many in number, and are invariably Indians, whose ancestors, in many cases, served in the former generations of the same family. A certain quarter of the house and patio is allotted to the humble retainers, and here they have their separate domestic life, marry and are given in marriage, and rear their families. Those who have been guests in a Mexican family will recall the brown, sadeyed maids, with black hair hanging in two braids down their back, silently attending to the household duties.

The rooms occupied by the family are large and high with ornate and massive furniture of European and antique pattern, and in the dining-room the table and sideboard are set with heavy silver

ware.

Early rising is the rule in the Mexican household, and the first meal of the day is a light repast of fruit, bread and choco

la

te. At noon a substantial breakfast is Erved, and from six to seven o'clock dinner. There is an abundant variety of dishes, the meats and vegetables being highly flavored with garlic and Chili Colorado, the red pepper pods of the country. The table is liberally supplied with sweetmeats, of which the Mexicans are very fond. Tomales, a mixture of cornmeal, chopped meat and Chili, divided into portions, each of which is boiled in a corn-husk; enchiladas, a combination of chopped onions and Chili served on tortillas; and boiled meats garnished with beans and other vegetables, For prominent in the cuisine. bread there are sweet fresh loaves, or tortillas, the national dish, made by grinding boiled corn by hand between two stones, the paste thus formed being quickly baked in thin round cakes upon a hot stone or piece of sheet iron. Fruit in all its forms is greatly esteemed. For drink, there is pulque, and on state occasions wine, native or foreign, the Spanish being preferred of the European wines.

are

Through the day the head of the house and the older sons have been mainly abroad at their places of occupation, the hacienda, office, warehouse or school. At home the lady of the house has supervised her domestic matters, and the daughters, who are not at the convent school, have practiced their music and perhaps worked a little at some fancy embroidery; the children have been at play within the patio.

At dinner the family reunite for the day. At the conclusion of the meal the carriage is waiting, and there is a drive on the Paseo or in the suburbs. After the return the family sit in the cool of the evening-and all evenings in Mexico are cool-under the portal. There are usually visitors with the family, for the ties of friendship among the Mexicans are strong and their ramifications wide, and the bond, whether by blood or marriage is binding and sacred. Perhaps some of the neighbors have joined the party in an informal call. A guitar is brought Out, and some one of the group plays and sings the sweet pathetic songs of

Andalusia. The Indian servants across the patio sit on mats beneath their portal listening to the guitar or talking in undertones. When the guitar is silent they may sing in a low monotonous chant, to the tapping of a native tambourine, an Aztec melody.

The children, in whom filial feeling and decorous behavior seem inherent, and who have sat in silence among their seniors, or played noiselessly about the patio, are getting sleepy and are taken by an Indian maid to bed. Later, the neighbors take their leave, and soon the company on the portal have retired to rest, and quiet reigns through the great house. The outer gate is barred, and all ingress or egress is to be had only through the porter who is asleep in his lodge with the keys beside. But, perchance, there is one in the house who remains awake and whose ears have caught the tinkle of a guitar from without, and intoning a Spanish song of love. As the lover looks up he sees only the grated window and its half-closed shutters; but he sings on with good heart, for he believes that with the close of his song there shall come the drawing of a curtain, the rustle through the stillness of a white garment, or the instant flash of a dark eye through the parted curtain that shall assure him his serenade has been heard by the object of his adoration.

With this encouragement the cavalier sings again, and again, and finally departs with manifest unwillingness, his guitar under his arm. The senorita creeps to bed, and falls asleep smiling, and peace and slumber prevail throughout the Mexican household.

ASSOCIATION INTELLIGENCE. A GENERAL Conference of the Young Men's and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations will be held in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, Thursday evening, October 6th, 1887, at seven o'clock. All officers and members of the associations are requested to be present. It is expected that important instructions from the General Superintendency for ths approaching winter's

work will be given, and reports received,. showing the condition of the societies.

Conference of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations of Utah County Stake, was held on October 1st and 2d, at Provo. On the first day, a business meeting of officers was held, and arrangements made for the resumption of work for the ensuing season. Vacancies in the offices were filled; missionaries assigned fields of labor, and every provision necessary made to start regular weekly meetings on a progressive and systematic order of exercises. The Associations of Utah Stake have adhered to the original order of exercises and system in the government and control of the Societies, and to-day stand in the foremost rank for the perfection and harmony of their work and the substantial results achieved thereby.

On Saturday evening a grand national concert was given under the auspices of the Associations in the Provo theatre. Nearly all of the Societies participated in repreresenting by flag, costume, national air and domestic ballad, the prominent nations of the earth, from which our people have been gathered. The following countries were represented:

America, Provo Third Ward; American Indian, Santaquin; England, Provo Second Ward; Scotland, Spanish Fork, No. 1; Wales, Spanish Fork, No. 1; Pacific Isles, Lehi; France, Provo First Ward; Germany, Payson; Switzerland, Lehi North; Italy, Provo Fourth Ward; Denmark, Spanish Fork No. 2; Sweden, Pleasant Grove; Norway, Pleasant Grove, South; Hindoostan, American Fork; China, Springville, and Brother W. C. Dunbar, in the dress of the Scotch Highlander, performed on his famous bagpipes. The concert was a pronounced success, and raised revenue sufficient for the current expenses of the approaching

season.

Sunday, October second, two meetings were held. In the morning verbal reports were made by the Presidents of Lehi, American Fork and Spanish Fork Associations; and interesting remarks by Elders R. C. Badger and W. S. Burton.

In the afternoon the general and Stake officers were sustained, and the conference was addressed by Elder Junius F. Wells and President A. O. Smoot.

A large attendance and excellent spirit characterized the two days proceedings

It is expected that the Y. M. M. I. A. will everywhere resume meetings for the winter season during the present month, and that officers will be chosen to fill vacancies or to succeed retiring officers, at the first meeting. If Superintendents of Stakes and Presidents of Associations will carefully review the instructions that have been published in previous volumes of the CONTRIBUTOR, and be guided by them, in planning the work that they propose to accomplish this winter, it will prove of great advantage to them. A system that is progressive and thorough should be inaugurated in all of the Societies. Its absence has proved in the past the greatest drawback to substantial improvement.

Reports are required upon the work that is done in the Associations, and they cannot be made comprehensive or significant unless system obtains and is consistently observed in the forming of programmes and distribution of exercises to the members. Lectures upon Scriptural, historical, scientific and other subjects should be classified, and record kept of the number delivered, under each heading. The variety is illimitable, and opportunity may be given for the members to exercise choice of subjects, to any degree and yet come within the range of the Association records. A lit tle care on the part of officers in the be ginning of the season, in mapping out the work they propose to do during the winter, will cause them to realize great satisfaction later on, in the real progress they will have made. We commend the order of exercises hertofore suggested by the general officers for the Societies, and believe that the best results have been secured in the past where they have been followed; we do not doubt the future will demonstrate that the greater good will be accomplished by adhering to the system therein outlined.