The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1886-10-21
eooNs OF THE TROPICS.
A Banana misunderstanding Wild
Peas-Abundant Leisure.
Wild


Peas-Abundant Leisure.
Humboldt estimates that an area Of
land producing wheat enough for one
man will yield bananas enough for
twenty-five, and, moreover, the tw enty-
five rations of tree-food can DO raised
with ten times less trouble than the unit
of cereals. In other words. one hour OF
work in the latitude of Acapuies will
produce as much as $50 hours of >vo-l,
in the latitude of Minneapolis. A ba-
mana orchard once stocked, q boy OF u
can attend to the rest, the yearly ex-
cision of the stem and the harvesting OF
the fruit: and many collateral comssti-
bles can be had for the mere trouble OF
gathering them in the forest ~
Ga all sunny slopes of the foothills
the uaderbrush is matted with the vines
ofaspecies OF wild PEA, Towering in March
and ripaning its pods before the end of
May. With rake and an instrument
shaped like a wide wooden comb a.
couple of handy girls can gather years
supply Of those peas in single week.
And their work seems pastime rather
than a task; they pick peas as bevy of
picnickers would pick huckleberries, tax
ing their time, and ready to interrupt
their fun for any better fun going. The
poorest squatter of the Goscad as can
oask in sunshine unclouded by the shad-
ows of coming evils. Why should he
worry? Are his provisions running
short? The forrest will furn ish fresh
supply. Has his large family been in
creased by pair of additional twins
The more the merrier. Is our cabin get
ting crowded? Let's enlarge it to-mor-
row or build new one for Juan, if he
consents to board the pickaninnies till
he has youngsters of his own.
The casuchaS, or hutches, Of the poorer
classes can be put up in q day with the
help of kind neighbor, and under cover
# thick patchwork of palm leaves are
tolerably rainproof, though not storm
proof; but even the solid cabanas of the
wellto-dosquatter have cost him little
but the sum invested in the purchase o
an Ak. The entire structure, roof, doors,
floor, chimney, and walls, is a combina-
ton of rough-hewn posts and square Or
dovetailed shingles, about the size of a
"weather-board" ("clapboard," as they
call it i'll West Virginia), fastened with
pegs. There are native carpenters, who
seem to pride themselves on their skill
in dispensing with iron nails. Weaving,
too, is done in a primitive fashion, on q
sort of carpet loom. The Mertizos of the
TERRA ca!iente tan leather with great
skill, knit their own fishing nets, plat
their own straw hats, and there are fam
lilies who indulge themselves in all their
conceptions of luxury without spending
cent OF money from New Year to
Christmas. A minimum of what New
Highlander would call work suffices to
the beauty Of nature supplying all nat
ural wants.
Life thus ceases to be socage duty.
The problem of existence becomes man.
ageable by easy-going methods, leaving
abundant leisure to be abused by sloth,
or utilized by provident love Of. indie
pendence. In the mountains OF southern
Mexico there is, indeed, no lack of men,
Caucusians and Motizos, who carry their
heads as high as any descendants of the
British non conformists who sought q
freehold in the wilds of the Alleghenies.
During his wanderings in SpanishsAmer-
lea, Garibaldi fell in with Mexican
officer who so fully shared his social
views that the two friends resolved TO
retire from a world of fun kies and pass
the rest of their lives en- lonely noun
tain farm, not far from Cordova, in the
state Of Vera C:uz. Under the impulse
of a strong appeal to his ruling passion,
Garibal,ii finally returned to his native
land, but his friend stuck to his post,
declining Office, and content to educate
his sons in the spirit of a principle
which Denis Dideror condensed in tho
aphorism: .sQue cette Wis est trop courte
pour ramper tous les coions meprisa-
bles." Seif-independence is not an ex-
elusive product of the higher latitudes.
DIR. Felix L. Oswald.