Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-03-25

! ana covered with a blanket, which
serves the double purpose OF bed by
night and sofa by day, an Oriental Gus
tom come down TO them from the
Moors. / excuse myself, being in NOR
tai fear Of old settlers in the mattress.
There lovely baby, with no clothes to
speak of, is tossing up its heels. ask
some questions, thinking of bright eyes
far away; and she prettily says baby
! has no year yet, and her name is Lola
/ Juanita Eloisa.
The earthen floor ia swept with a
bunch Of broom, without handle, lean.
ing against the mud fireplace in the
corner of the room. There are no and
irons, shovel, or tongs, and when fire is
made the wood isplaced on end against
the back Of the fireplace. A chest, a
few pieces of crockery on pine table
| complete the furniture. Can You i'm
| agiue love in such cottage? Undoubt.
edly there is love, and in the poorest
ham there is no brawling man, scold-
[ ing, slipping wife, or crying baby II
the walls crack, they are daubed by
Mugdacua kosalio with a fresh plaster
OF geso, or gygsuat. put on with n glove
/ oi Sheepskin. Ii the outside flakes and
cracks too badly, it is smeared with
new coating Of soft mud. In the spring
the ground floor has another layer OF
/ clay, the fireplace thin coating of
( hcrra dDtariHd, or yellow wash,
and house-cleaning is ended. Does the
roof leak, dab of mud is slapped on.
| Is the outer wall in holes, lump of
/ clay will stop the wind away. There is
no window, and when the door is closed
7 IA hn Il NIL .ttl atsn
dungeon. Above the fireplace, done in
hectic chrome and framed in tin, is a
copy Of the divine Madonna in the
Louvre, named "Queen Of Heaven" :" Il
! band of blue stars across her forehead,
a tinsel crescent under her feet Hang
ing below it is a plaster cruciliX, under
glass. When the bell chimes, Magda-
lena Rosala will seek the old cathe-
dral, whose vaulted interior is filed with
shadows and silence--among them
few figures, motionless as the dead
asleep under the foors--say her PRAYERS
across the rosary, confess and be alb
solved. But Trinidad Gonzalez Ribera,
in the gauzy blanket and vanishing
pantaloons, will sit doing in the sun,
deaf to the ringing music, unmindful of
bell, book, or candle. / pass from un-
der the hospitahlc mud roof with re.
peated ddiOs and feeling of unreality.
| look for garden. There is none.
There are no chickens, no pig, no COW,
no grass within the gravelly inclosure.
The only sign OF life is a famished
donkey, browsing on the strip of grass
which borders the dce9IHa by the road
side. He is the property of our new
friends, and occasionally the man of
many names takes him TO the mount
aims, loads him with limbs of dead
PinOHGS, and sells them for twenty five
cents backload. Stopping on the plain,
he digs n few roots of GBi0le, or soap
weed the yucca dlOitoiia, which we
cultivate for its rich cream-white bios
SONS. This is for the washing done by
Magdalena Rosala.
DO not think she briskly knocks so
early Monday morning or comes Sun
day night for the clothes, as wicked
PrOtestants have been known TO do.
No, this daughter of proud line will
not shame her high ancestry by vulgar
haste. She saunters along about noon,
seats herself at ease, makes affectionate
inquiries as to every member of the
household, with n gift of continuance
and native talent for rigmarolo that
would do honor to a legislative body.
She deliberately ties the bundle of
clothes, balances it on her head, and
departs with sweeping courtesy and
majestic ilirt of the pink calico train.
After walking a few blocks, she stops
for a rest, adjusts her bundle into a.
cushion on the ground, takes from her
pocket little package OF corn-husks,
fills one with tine-cRt tobacco from a
paper box, rolls it into cigarrit0, and
enjoys a smoke. A Monday picture in
Santa Fe is the long row of wash
women, with the everlasting black
shawls over their heads, sitting in the
shade of mud walls, quietly gossiping
and smoking. TO get the clothes home
is eXertion enough for one day.
Tuesday she repairs 10 the Rio Santa
Fe, weakened by irIigating bitches to n
shallow brook, and on It's sandy bank
makes "a little fire for washing. Her
machine is one bucket and a square tin
box. She pounds the clothes between
two stones. Flannels fall, buttons fly,
embroideries are n dream of things that
were. She boils them in the box, set on
ilat stones; rinses in the pure snow
water of the Rio; and spreads them
on the rocks TO dry, as the
young Roman girls do along the Ii
Der. Friday, in comes Magdalena
Rosalia, with clothes beautifully white,
folded in an Indian basket shaped like a
deep saucer.
The proceeds of this labor buy bag
of blue corn-meal and the necessary TO-
bacco. Twice week they can afford
stew OF chill con edrae (our old friend
hash, made fiery hot with red pepper)
and the living is made As respects