The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-05-26

Is sold everywhere, and often as many as
Twenty or thirty vendors are seen on Tho
streets on PLANS after dark selling 1t. IL is
done in this way u customer comes along
and pays his 0,cdi0 ave cents. Inc ven
der hands HIM two "tortIlias," a sort Of a
pancake, and he sits down on the grouHd
+ near the pot lie cuts oil little bits Of the
''lortllla," doubles 1t up in the shape OF ii
spoon, dips out as much of the "chiii' as
he can and eats them together. This is
what they call eating the spoons, and a.,
long as the "tOrtllla' lasts he can keep on
eating chill" but when The "tortilla' is
gone the contract ceases.
TORTILLAs AND FRGJOLEs
20 together. Frjules are little brown
beans that grow everywhere in Mexico.
Quantities of them have found their way
north, and are sold as Mexican beans, pos.
sesSlng some wonderful cure, or chain.
When cooked they look like chocolate
drops, very rich brown A "torulla" is
something like q pancake. The modus
operandl OF making "tortiIla' 10 very
simple, but ii requires considerable nerve
to eat one after you see II made. THIS /,
wherein "distanCe lends cnChanlment," or
"lgLorancc is BLISS" Blu, the process of
making "tortillas" is the same today in
MeXicoa rs 1t was in the days OF Pharaoh, or
Palestine, in the long. long ago. The corn
is stepped over night in water Or until il
| gets soft, then poured onto Hat stone AID
ground with another stone TIL it is re
duced TO corn meal THIS is the Mexican
grist mil. After IL is reduced to meal il
is put into II dish and mixed with water
| Clean water Is not NJ all necessary tor
good "tOyullas." Mixing it right well an
It'll becomes dough. The required size or
wad ~ taken up and spanked or palted
untl 1t Is converted into IL round, thin
cake, lhen il is placed on the hot ashes
and covered over with more ashes, and al.
lowed to remain there for about five min
utes, when 1t is taken out, tull
lledgcd "lortlla." The ashes are blown Oft,
that Is what Will come OIL in that way, and
VIVA. sticks is rubbed off with the hand,
or on the skirt Of the cooks dress. But
then, even though they are half ashes,
that makes no difference to the average
Mexican. A little ashes savers the tor
| I'LL, anA .,iuau IL Tho lu u
the staff Of life" among the MeXicans,
but the average American would consider
them unfit food for civilized people to eat.
Their qualities are lasting and indigts.l.
bic.
Chill, +" "tortlllas" and "irijoles" Is the
food Of more than two thirds of the people
of Mexico, and whatever else may be said
OF the country and its defects, you are al
ways sure Of IL hot meal in the republic
But because half the population eat
"chih" and two.thlrds OF them live on
l"tortlllas," 1t IS not to be supposed that
there are no luXurles among the rich In
deed there are, and rich man in Mexico
lives like prince, comparatively speak
ing. He not only liyes on the "iat of the
land" but on the fiat of many lands"
And now that have touched upon the
stall of life" III Mexico, 1t may not be out
of place, for the good of the temperance
cause, TO state how they smile" and what
the internal stuff is ike that they smile
with. Some bard has SAID,
when women meet
i They always greet
i With kisses heard
| Across the street.
/ But m en- more mild
Don't get so wild
| They meet, then part
When they have smiled"
That is the way the Americana do 1t,
but
When the Ncxicans meet
! They always greet
! With lighted match
| And cigarette.
And over II bottle of pulque or mascal
they will sit for hours and drink and
smoke. 1t is Il common thing 10 see IN
every Mexican town groups of sen0rtas
SQualteu IN uOorWays OF "ttnln tnelr
adobe huts or hachals, smoking and chat
ting They love TO smoke, and are seldom
without cigarette in their mouth. Al.
though handsome when young, they begin
10 fade at eighteen or twenty. They are
very graceful IN their movements, but are
not intelligent while few care for books or
literature of any kind-not even the 70.
mantle literature of dime novels-and few
are musicians of any account, but like the
negroes, are singers. But of Mexican
senoritas anon, and to return TO
THE DRINKS.
Mexicans are the thirstiest people on
earth, except perhaps the Spaniard5. Like
their own desert land, they are always
dry, and their only ambition in life Is
enough to satisfy that thirst with liquid of
any kind However, they have many