HOUSEKEEPING IN THE CITY OF MEXICO.
HOUSEKEEPING is attended with a good many perplexities here, when judged by our standard. In the first place, a “maid of all work” is a thing unknown. The houses are all built with an open court in the center. This court, or patio, is paved, and often contains a little fountain, surrounded by beds of flowers. Surrounding this court on the lower floor are the servants’ rooms and the stables for the horses. A porter is a necessity. He has charge of the great front door, sweeps the court, trims the lamps, runs the errands, and waters the street in front of the house. He is paid three dollars per week and “finds himself.” A cook is the next necessary servant. She is paid two dollars per week. She is expected to do all the family marketing, as it is not considered proper for the mistress to do it. The bread is all bought at the bakeries, and the washing is also an extra, and is done at the public tanks. A chambermaid is also considered necessary, but in small families she is willing to wait on the table. Her wages are the same as the cook’s. Wealthy families have a great number of servants, each child having a separate nurse. All cooking is done over small charcoal stoves. As Mexico stretches over three zones, fruits and vegetables of all kinds can always be obtained. The market place is south of the national palace. Here you see men, women, and children sitting on the flags of the market-place, with fruits and vegetables spread out around them. Fruits are very cheap. A fine pineapple can be obtained for a media (6 cents). Bananas are ten cents a dozen. Musk-melons cost one real (12 1/2 cents) for three. Limes, lemons, and oranges are plentiful and cheap. Beef is plentiful and good, but the mutton is superior, while pork is scarce and dear. There are some excellent fish brought from the Gulf of Mexico. Groceries are very high. Tea is $2.50 per pound. Good butter is one dollar per pound. Milk is 20 cents per quart, and sugar, 14 cents a pound, although a native product. The best coffee in the world is raised here, and can be bought for 30 cents a pound. The chocolate is very fine, but it is all flavored with cinnamon. The vegetables are raised on the “chinampas,” or floating gardens, and brought to the city by the Vega Canal. Flowers are raised in great profusion, and are cheaper than anywhere else on earth. I bought a bouquet of roses containing 250 roses for three reals, or 37 cents. The restaurants here are very good, but they have a way of cooking onions with all other vegetables that is not pleasing to an American palate.—Good Housekeeping.