Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-04-07

the entire length and nearly as wide as
long. In fact our parlor is nearly square,
like huge box, for the vaulted ceiling is
twenty feet high. In the blue-painted
beams overhead, and in the white-washed
walls are innumerable wooden knobs-not
pegs upon which to hang our effects, as we
at first supposed, but for use in fastening
up the hammocks of sweet-scented Pan
ANA grasses, which constitute the usual
chair, sofa and bed of Central America
At first we found these hammocks de-
cidedly awkward, and it required consid-
cradle practice to learn to get in and out
without tumbling upon our noses or expos
ing the color of our hose. None but those
ito the manor born" can ever hope to ac-
quire the graceful and killing pose that
native woman viii instantly assume in one
of those swaying, sack-like abominations-
fan in hand, the dainty toe of one slipper
Just peering from beneath her skirts, raven
hair falling about her face, and lustrous,
dreamy, love-lit eyes looking up at YOU IN
a manner calculated to produce most vio-
lent pit-a-pats beneath any masculine
waistcoat.
Beyond our sala is a broad, arched cor
ridor, opening on a courtyard. The latter
Is thirty feet square, surrounded by high
stone walls, and with fountain in the
center. Around the fountain olive trees,
lines and bananas are growing, with more
hammocks swung in their branches, and
flowers blooming beneath in boxes.
At one side of the corridor is an i'm
mense sleeping apartment, and back of that
is the comedor, or dining-room. 1t is sin
Z To-. thot Ill
trail America, the beds are invariably
single" ones-barely wide enough to ac-
commodate one person-the sleeping apart
ments are generally dormitories vast
enough to hold regiment-an idea too
social in one sense and not social enough
in another to satisfy the average Amer
| lean.
All the floors are beautifully cemented,
the windows securely barred, like all the
rest in Yucatan, and there is no wood
work whatever except the little around
doors and easements.
Behind the courtyard are the store
rooms and kitchen, with sleeping apart
ments for the servants, and back of that
another courtyard, deeper than the first
and with walls equally high. Were we
the proud possessors of mules or horses they
would be stabbed here-all :" in the house
so to speak; but as it is, the great space is
given up to half dozen hens, belonging tc
the old woman who takes care of us, some
itinerant cats and pair of splendid pea
fowls-the property of some neighbor
which insist upon staying there for rea-
sons known only to themselves-not tc
mention the several millions of bright.
eyed, shiny-backed, harmless lizards that
are perpetually darting over the wall:
with inconceivable rapidity.
The rent of this establishment costs us
$40 per month-more than the usual price
we have since learned, and that the land.
lord is chuckling at the thought of his
smart bargain with Las Americanas OuI
two servants mestizo lhalf-breed) and
his wiie-charge us quatro reales CSC
cents) per week for their combined serv-
ices. Provisions being very cheap here
the living for our little family, including
the numberless relatives of the servants, is
an item hardly worth mentioning. And
oh, the blessing of perfect weather, which
money cannot buy-the cloudless blue OF
the sky, the balmy breezes from over the
ocean tempering the warm air of endless
summertime FANNIE 3. WARD.