Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, W.T. [i.e. Wis.]) 1843-1844, 1843-04-01
mo. 8.
TEXAN SANTA re ExpEprrIoy.

speaking Spanish hoenily, obtained permission
TO leave The convent without guard. accom-.
panied by myself and one other person. F;rs,
asceriaining the name of the street in which
Our quarters were situated, we s,rolled off a,
random into the hear, of the city A walk Of
but few squares brought US 10 the marke,
which was now filled with the vendors of ev.
cry species ofeatabe, drinkable and wearable
articles. Seated upcn the ground female
might be seen with few red peppers for sale.
her merchandise dmly lighted by a small FIRE
besife her. Blu, few steps of another wo.
man, with scanty supply OF frejoles, or beans,
would be quietly awaiting customer, and
her next nelghbor was probably sitting by a
pot OF chile g'sado, or pepper stew. very com.
mon dish OF the country. In her lap would
be small pile Of forfilas. and ever and anon,
as hungry customer gave her call, she
would throw two or three Of the tortilas upon
the fire to warm dip a saucer of the guisado
from the pot before her, aud after receiving her
quartiAo IN advance, would hand the eatbles
over. The quartiHo is copper coin abcu, tho
size Of one OF our pennies. and is worth three
cents. There is small! portion of silver in
the Mexican COIN just enough to make il an
object TO counterfeit ,hem.--and il is said that
large quantities OF spurious quariiios have been
manufactured in this country and in England
expressly Tor the Mexican market,
The market space for San Luis occupies
large square, and every part Of |, was in some
way occupied by females. twenty-five cents
would have purchased the entire stock 10 trade
of a large portion of them; ye. they seemed
perfectly happy, and would chat away while
smoking their cigartos with the greatest vivae-
ity and cheerfulness. There may not have
been as many languages spoken as In the New
Orleans market, but there was as much talking
and even more hustle and confusion. The en-.
tire square was filed with soldiers of duty,
loafers, market women, girls, monks, gsmb.
lers. leperos vendors of oranges, graudas, and
other fruits, robbers, friars, fellows with fight.
ing chickens under their blankels.--in short
one of those miscellaneous collections always
TO be found about Mexican market square.
The adjoining buildings were occupied as
drinking and segar shops, retail fancy stores,
and dwelling houses Of the poorer orders.
Entering q" esfnn7ssiIe, or shop licensed 10
sell cigars, we met Two or three faces 30 dc.
cipedly Anglo-Saxon in complexion and fea.
ture that we at once accosted them in English.
We Were answered by ono Of them with a
1 drawl so peculiarly SHOWN Enst' that Marble
or Hackot might have learned pure Yankee
pronunciation by taking lessons OF him. We
soon asceraned that they belonged TO tho
American circus company then performing at
San Luis, aud on finding out who we wero they
at once invited US TO their Joade 10 supper.
The first speaker, who proved TO be regular
Vermonter. was not little surprised TO see Us
out without guard. and asked us if we had
received permission TO that effect. We told
him that we woreIallowod 10 leave our quarters
on parole, which relieved his aslonishment.
Cbipmar, for that was the name of the Yam
kee, was one Of tho quaintest specimens of
the race have ever seen, and have encoun-
tered not few samples. He told an excel.
lent story. played tho trombone, triangle and
bass vioi, spoke Spanish well, drove ono Of
the circus wagons. translated the bills, turned
an occasional somerset IA the ring, cracked
Jokes in Spanish with the Mexican clown. took
the tickets al the entrance, was an excellent
whistler and made himself 'generslly us, fI."
Alter paraking ofan excellent supper we spent
an agreeable hour in his room, listening 10 sto-
~ after story Of his adventures. lilo "comy
out" to Mexico, to use his own words. by way
of chihuahua; accompanying the traders from
Jonesboro'. on Red kiver, in their first and
only expedition across tho immense praires.
They were some eight months on the road.
and suffered Incredible hardships for want Of
water and provisions. &. was stout man at
the lime We saw him, bat be informed US that
he was perfect transparency when he first
arrived at the Mexican settlemenis---so poor, IN
fact, that. TO use his own words, "a person
might have Tesd the New England Primer
through him without specs"
When 10 O'clock came we rose to depart;
but before leaving The droll genius insisted that
we should psriske Of a glass Of egg oog with
him, and then assist him TO siog "Old Hun
dred. !" in remembrance Of cid times. There
are few persons 10 the New England States
but can get through with this ancient and well
known psaIm.tune after some fashion, and al
though neither the time nor place were exactly
bshttiny, we could no, resist complying with
his coinico. serious request. Chapman really
had GOOD voice, agvOsnpap'ed himself 0D
double bass that stood up Ia one corner OF the
room, and gave great effect to the piece. This
singular scene over, scene which 10 probably
without parallel in the hIsio OF San LoIs
po,osi, we took leave OF our singular freud,
-rh, o,cu,ised 10 call al the convent early tho
next morning, and do every thing 10 his pow
er 10 assis. those among the Texans who were
The most desliiute.--[N. U. Pc.
REPUTATION. ---"Wst you tink oh dis TsPa-
disiion, msssa Jonsinl' said Pete Gnmbo' last
evening.
wall, fac is" said Sam. '1rS VERY un-
sarlin keslion TO get de hang ob' fe'e. DsrS
Homer Brown. de MississiPpef hiegef, MN
unersians II like book. J. inks myself, now
eber, It's wa, de lawyer folks eau DC genera
denial" a.,
Il ,loesn'. know nOffin oh dc law myself.
said Pete. shut reckons you expianihed oe
ting about right, boss"
Prom the roll which Sam gave bis shining
...r.. La hal