Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-02-01
PIONEER DAYS.
My First Spanish Song and What Came Of it; or a Surprise that Worked both
 Ways.
BY JOHN A. SPRING.

MY SDanlsh OOhS anu AAHo ON |
 it; or a Surprise that Worked both
 Ways.
 BY JOHN A. SPRING.
 Lieutenant Harrington overcame the painful consequences of the tur- pentine cure in a short time and be- gan to display such lively vitality and ubiquity as to put to, shame the proverbial liveliness of the very cricket. In the first place, as soon as his sitting-in-the saddle possibilities returned, he organized a severe cavalry drill consisting of jumping ditches and hurdles, sabre exercises while on full gallop and in fact introduced every feature of fhorsemanship, etc, prescribed by the army regulations relating to that arm of the service. Although he was a commissioned officer and the writer only a non-commissioned one under his direct orders, being in fact his Quartermaster and Commlssary Sergeant, there sprung up between us a pretty intimate friendship, although, as a matter of course, in the line of duty the decorum of military discipline was always strictly observed. When not otherwise engaged the lieutenant would spend the greater part Of his time in the A. Q. M. office where held full sway, and quite frequently we would go hunting and angling to- gether; about once a week he would ask me to put his desk in order which he kept with the different funds under his charge, in his tent. This was al most invariably complicated opera ton involving some expenditure of time, as I would find in one and the same drawer the following articles A broken spur, fish hooks, buck shots, bird shot, caps, gunwads, bobbers, a cork screw, greenbacks, fractional currency, bits of sealing wax, red tape, penholders, steel pens, pencils, 2 broken pocket knife, triangular file, a screw driver, postage stamps, car tridges, photographs, etc. In another drawer where the different funds were
 kept in separate envelopes, the Post fund would be in the Commissary en- velope, the A. Q. NJ fund in the Post
 fund receptacle and all this without
 the least reference to the correctness
 of the amount supposed tohe on hand.
 I will however state right here, that
 MT. Harrington was never found short,
 although the royal game of poker
 would occasionally cause the above
 named temporary disorder of things
 If Lieut.. Harrington knew how to
 do one thing better than any other, il
 was to play the fiddle; excuse me,
 must say the violin, because the music
 which he produced on that melOdiou:
 instrument, precludes the use of the
 common term fiddle. He played every
 aria of every known opera, and if oul
 commanding officer, w. Harvey
 Brown, who possessed neither a poetic
 soul nor musical ear, failed to appre
 clate the innate talent and nice exc
 cution of his junior co-oflicer, he could
 not be considered as fair criterion.
 am sorry to say that it happened sey : eral times to my musical friend wher he was issuing forth sweet melodie upon the balmy breezes of the silen moon-lit night, to be roughly inter
 rupted by the coarse voice of tn mighty commander coming from tn neighboring tent requesting him, t. "please stop that noise." At such time MT. Harrington would gather up hi , beloved instrument and hie himsel to my office where he could indulg in his melodious pastime without fea
 of interruption, being besides, sure o my unqualified admiration and aI plause, for he certainly played well an with feeling.
 Now it had happened previousl that the commanding officer (unque' tionably with an eye to roasting ear 1. to come) had given permission to Mexican family named Mendoza, t t plant a patch of corn on the BabocC ? mari creek about 2 of mile south ( the fort and to erect for their accomC l dation a small adobe house which wa s built upon 8 little hill to which le 2 several rather steep and rocky arroyo 1 Said family consisted of Mendoza, 5 man of mature years, his mother-ir 7 law rather aged, his wife and daugl . ter of from 15 to 16 summers name Q Trinidad; this latter was unquestior
 ably (when washed) a very pretty gi ! with a clear olive skin and large blac eyes of unsurpassed beauty and fir l The family was very poor but, as fs | as we knew, strictly decent. MT. Ha l rington and myself had visited thel s several times during our frequer
 rambles and had discovered that tE '- girl Trinidad had very pleasant voice d in fact she had regaled us with severt n several songs Gnnocent love dittie r. which she accompanied with more ( q less skill on a superannuated guita r Our conversation had been extremel ,, limited on account of the difference d our native tongues; but we both ir s mediately resolved to precipitate ou } selves with great fervor into the stuc
 of the Spanish language, rather d T. fcult undertaking in the absence d all needful books. There was howev e at the fort one Marigildo, Mexicf o who spoke fairly well English and WI ,e undertook the task of being our i t. structor at odd times; I will confe y here that his method being rath le primitive and desultory, aur progre I. in that musical language was not ll all satisfactory.
 a. All at once MT. Harrington co
 ceived what we both considered
 brilliant idea. One evening aft
 making the rounds of the stable var
 and having locked the gate, I foul of my friend, upon entering the offiC o- sitting ill an office chair before t n fire, apparently in brown study h ter some minutes of dead silence ,a broke forth with: "See here, Sergeal if I have been thinking of giving the of Mendoza people great surprise" st knew that these Mendoza people us 1s thus collectively meant simply t ,e dark eyed daughter.) "How much H. a vocalist are you? Could you sing as simple tone fairly we'll, if I study of with you on my violin for some time IT I informed him humbly that h of fairly good voice for eating beef, | us as for singing I apprehended cons ,h erable difficulty.
 p- "Bah," he exclaimed, "anybody c n. sing with the accompaniment of Inf violin which comes nearer than a h. other instrument to being perf' no imitation of the human voice. c t stlldv of the lanpuape nrOpresses yt