The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-10-15

as cheeky and impudent as monarch.
Dean Swift was of the opinion that a man
OF moderate means might, perchance, be
the possessor of one dog +; a poor man, by
some inscrutable law, was always owner
OF two dogs but a-using bad word
poor man was never content with less
than three dogs. Well, this Mexican's
standing in the scale of riches was indi-
Gated by five dogs, any one of which, fat
and yoraciouS, would require more main-
tenance than his long-suifering and starved
little donkey.
s- DINING WITH AN APACHE.
On the whole, though, our relations with
the Indian have been most pleasant and
amicable, and | am glad of it. Many a
prejudice resulting from contact with the
faWnees and Sioux, rascally and dirty, is
vanishing before the influence of the Pue-
bios, clean and orderly, and even the
Apaches are not bad sort of fellows when
they behave themselves, as many of them
do. The Doctor imported one of these
into camp one day in order to learn his
language, using the Spanish tongue as a
medium. 1t was most picturesque sight
when these two ends of the earth met. A
soap box was their table, over which they
crOnied and hObnObbed with the greatest
of sociability. The Indian forgot his re-
serve and the Doctor forgot his dignity,
and doubt If so, much nasal twang and
confusion Of tongues ever before took
place outside of a Boston conference of
philOlOgy. After an hour of linguistic
study the Doctor invited his subject to tea.
As his opposite 4 had an excellent Oppor-
tunity to study him, and | have cOpiOus
notes in pickle fora treatise on the manners
and customs of the Apache. There were
two items in his costume, a shirt and
about quart of tin earrings; the latter is
anecessity to your true warrior, the former
is assumed in Difference to certain squeam-
ish notions of the people who sell him his
whisky. His posture was an Imitation of
the Turkish, and his table etiquette was
not Chesterfieldian, for he had bad habit
Of inserting his fingers for his portion
into the soup bowls or tureens, or, to be
more accurate, into the tin pIatters and
basins, and then, when there was too great
an accumulation OF moisture and grease
thereon, he had another very bad habit of
using his bare feet as a napkin. After
some hesitation our guest was beguiled
into the consumption of sharp cucumber
pickle, the like of which he had never seen
before. Ere it had passed his palate he
felt himself deeply aggrieved. vet the noble
man seemed to entertain no feelings of re-
venge toward those. practical jokers, his
hosts, but simply begged couple more of
the same acidified vegetable, that he might
take them to his home and fool his squaw
and papOOse with them.
PUEBLO LIFE AND SCENES.
In the suburbs of San Juan, an Indian
town, or pueblo, we saw the women at
work, patient and sad, like bOnd-servantS,
grinding corn in the mills, threshing grain
on the ground, weaving blankets at the
loom. Favorably as | am impressed by
this ancient clan, | shall never people my
Utopia with them until the men become
more chivalric and cOnsign less of llfe's
drudgery to their wives, who are more sOr-
rOwful than nature made them. Through
out the valley were little dOt-like huts,
which were perfect cubes about ten feet
along the edge. with a ladder leading to
the roof, which was shaded by swing of
pine boughs. Before the door the branches
of the trees were Topped off, and on the
DrOngS were hung melons at dry in prepa-
ration for the winter. Everywhere in field
and town was cleanliness, everywhere in
dustry, and cannot but esteem the Indian
of the South superior to the Mexican in
every respect, not excepting their intOna-
ton of their adopted, the Spanish Ian
guage, to which they gave a mellifluOus
and musical accent less foreign to its ma
turc than the snarl of this degenerate
stock of CASTLE known as greasers.
Through OjO Caliente and San Juan
to San Lorenzo our route lay once more
through an inhabited country-that is,
there was narrow ribbon of corn and
melon vines along the river, sheep or
two on the knoll, jackass or two in the
gulch, q goat or two on the roof, and two
or three women leaning against the shady
side of the house, statueSque in position,
statuesque in apparel. When camp was
located in the evening there was a scrub
race of the people of the Surrounding re-
gion, each laden with whatever of truck
his or her garden-patch afforded, musk and
watcrmelOns, green corn, red peppers, APP
Piles, and plumS, with here a sheep and
there an apron of eggs, all of the prOprie-
tors of which were anxious to run their
stuff in while the market was brisk
"What do you want for that string of
beans?n "HOw much will you give -
"What will you take - 1.-Two dollars"
"I'll give you fifty cents" '1t's bar
gain.' So we had bacon and beans for
supper.
At the break of every morning, with all
the regularity Of a Mussulman at prayers,
they came again, headed by the alcalde,
who was to receive a share OF the profits,
and escorted by gang Of perjured wit
ncSSes, ready to swear that our sedate
mules had been on rampage in the shades
of the night; had devasted their fields
had eaten their peppers, broken their corn,
and squashed their melons. Frequently,
presuming on our chivalry and putting
faith in woman's power of parley, they
would send forth some brawling female
to recover damages. But Barbara, the
dOuble-tOngued wife of Ojo Caliente, pre-
sumed Just hairs breadth too far on tho
courtesy of the little but plucky Doctor. as
any pilgrim of our band can tell you. Not
content with sOuring the digestion of our
early breakfast, they would come when the
hours were small and our slumbers were
sweet, and our ears yet ring with the
screams of the grandam Barbara, with
which she drove the midnight echoes mad,
shouting: " OigGn! O5gaase! Las muLas
estan en- mi naiipGi Hacon nuchO dano
lfuchO ddno ~ Then every roll of blank
cts became vocal with the murmurs of
those who were awakened at an untimely
hour, and the old witch Barbara who came
clamorous for damages, returned so:ely
rebuked for thus mentioning business out
side Of office hours. '...-
Therefore it was, that when we again
halted in the peaceful solitudes at the
grassy source of the Rio del OsO, our abid-
ing place was named Camp Sin Dano (the
Camp Without Damages), and to this day
it stands. and to all coming time it will
stand, thus recorded on the archives of
the expedition. With thirty days rations,
and Santa Fe for destination, we are off
now in the wild woods, going through
chasm and canon, over mesa and mountain,
monarchs of all we survey.
Aboriginal Surgery.