“And I have said, and I say it ever, As the years go on and the world goes over, ’Twere better to be content and clever In tending of cattle and tossing of clover, In the grazing of cattle and growing of grain, Than a strong man striving for fame or gain; ... For these have the sun, and moon, and air, And never a bit of the burthen of care; And with all our caring what more have we?” The distinction between the American and Mexican Indian is not one of colour alone. There is also a difference in nature. The American Indian has never been fully subdued, but the Aztecs were conquered by one overwhelming blow and their spirit crushed. The conquest wrought vast changes in the lives of these people who once roamed over large estates which they could call their own. The lands then tilled by their slaves, they themselves now cultivate for others. Yet they are a satisfied people, and no one ever hears them complain. Though poverty is their lot they are content, believing that some people are born rich and others poor, and that this contrast is in the very nature of things. Centuries of neglect have not improved either the moral or physical condition of the peon, but it has not made a misanthrope of him. Neither has the fact that he bears no part in the government made him an anarchist or filled his pockets with bombs. So long as a beneficent providence provides present needs he is supremely content. The mania for the almighty dollar has not yet entered into his life so that envy of others does not exist. It is this envy that makes poverty a menace and element of danger in our own land. The peon neither feels shame for his own lowly condition nor desires pity from others in more prosperous circumstances. [Illustration: A PEON AND HIS WIFE] Fully one-third of the population of Mexico are full-blooded Indians and another one-half are _mestizos_, those of mixed blood. Many of the latter and a number of pure-blooded Indians have reached high positions. A number of the presidents also, including Guerrero and the noble Juarez, were pure Indians, and more of them are representatives of the _mestizos_. This is proof that there is no prejudice against the Indians as a race such as the anti-negro sentiment in the Southern States. These illustrious examples are, however, the striking exceptions. Most of them are in about the same category as the southern negroes,—a race without ambition. Content to be the servants of another race they neither court nor welcome change.