The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-13
LOVE And TAMALES.
Prom mo san Francisco Arronaut.

rom inc san Francisco AfEUuAlA.
Jesus Orfila strobe down the street like
an animate caryatid Of the wrong Sex.
He was clad in white, from crushed cap
20 canvas shoes. His loosely lznotted kerr
chief fell away from his bronze throat
and showed the muscles of his neck,
grown thick and strong under the weight
of the heavy bucketohe carried upon his
head. At intervals his voice rang out
sonOrous and clear:
''Tamales-tamales- tamale-e-s-cliene-
esp
His way led through the Spanish town.
of the city; and when the dark rOwed
Mexican women hailed him, he dealt out
iests and compliments with his peppery
wares.
Early mass in Our Lady Of the Angels
was over, and many rebosO-covered
head bent in salutation, for besides his
fine eyes, Senior Orfila had substantial at
fractions.
Sonora Orfla NOW with the saints of
Paradise) had deeply offended her father
when she ran away with the handsome
Jesus, and, as a consequence, at his death
her share Of the great rancho and the
little house on the outskirts of the town
had been securely settled upon her little
daughter. JeSusa had been sent to school
and had learned some English; but her
associates had been mostly of her own
nationality, and American ways had not
entered the little house where she and her
father lived alone.
1t was only a short time now to the
pretty Jesusa's majority, and at eighteen
the property would be hers. Though she
had many admirers, she loved only her
father What then2 Had he not expec-
tations4
On the morning in question, Senior ORR
la had canvassed the streets of Spanish
town with Indifferent success, and he
turned his steps toward another part of
the city. The adobe houses grew fewer
The dwellings were more pretentious In
stead of dooryards, hard and smoothly
swept as floor, with scraggy red gerani-
inns sprawling over the fences, green
hedges and little patches of grass APP
peared with callas and broad-leaved
plants in lunches.
OF all the things he looked at, the only
object which Setior Orfila saw was the
big brick building on top of a hill. It was
the high school of the city. He kept
doggediy on his way, although he knew
that humiliation awaited him. Formerly
he had closed out his stock among the six
hundred pupils at the noon hour; former
ly-but now his custom had been basely
stolen.
He heard the clang of the waffie-mau's
bell ahead, but another sound In the rear
made him furious.
ut is that son of devil, - he muttered
in Spanish
A yellow cart, with a white awning,
came up the street behind. The back
part was filled with large canvas-cover-
ed box, from the end of which rose the
tank of a gasoline stove, brilliant with
scarlet paint. The high tone paled the
drivers hair still further, and it was of
pale shade already. He handled the yell
low reins with flourish, and chirruped
gayly to the sleek white horse.
"Mornin', Haysus," he called, with
slight drawl as he passed.
But Senior Orfila held his head more
stif1y than before at the insult of being
addressed so unceremOniously by his first
name, and ignored the salutation.
The man in the wagon touched up his
horse as he heard the wafile-man's bell
and saw the pupils swarming down the
walk, and with little runs and trills and
shakes, he began chanting in u high, thin
voice:
Hot tamales, tamales, tamalesi
Here's yer fine hot tamales
Nice, hot Texas Spanish,
A-h-uu Chicken thualeSl
He was received with shouts of laugh
ter, but no one greeted Senior Orfila as he
lowered his heavy bucket and wiped the
perspira tion from his face. Impudent
little boys from the school beyond, on
their way home to luncheon, called out
in passing, while they kept at safe dis
lance:
Hey, Mexicannyl No savvy United
States, Mexicannyn
Two or three girls, Spanish students,
came timidly UP, with hope of improv-
ing their pronunciation with a little con-
versation: but he answered them so saw
agely that they fed fortunately without
understanding his vigorous remarks.
Meanwhile the cart Of his rival was
surrounded by noisy group. He lifted
the cover of the mysterious box and as
he handed the tamales right and left
great clouds Of steam pulled out upon the
air
at is of the devili It is all of his
father, the devill' Don Jesus muttered
with sulphurous maledictions, as he stood
without a customer.
Then he lifted again his heavy bucket
and turned his back upon the aggressive
cheerfulness of the whole outfit.
1t was several hours later when he
reached his home. He had tarried awhile
at the wine shop of his friend, Jose Gar
cha, and it was not altogether the sun and
his wrath that set his blood boiling
Jesusa sat within the house in her low,
white bedroom. Her rosary and a bottle
of holy water suspended by the neck
hung below a tiny shrine sunk in the
thick wall. The little Virgin had received
abundant offerings of heartfelt ayes and
choice flowers of late; but Jesusa looked
| into her placid, bisque face with doubt
born of despair. Why did she not help
her troubled daughter and straighten
mattersl
She jumped up hastily as she heard the
click of the gate and Bonita's yelp. She
knew that her father had come home, and
that the dog had been kicked, and drew
her own conclusions. Her heart beat suf-
focatingly. Had he found outl
Senior Orfila slammed open the screen
door and came in. Fumes of Zinfandel at
once mingled with the faint odor of garlic
which always hung around the low-ceiled
room from the preparation of tamales.
Jesusa ventured a timid remark, but it
was drowned in a torrent of invective. 1t
was with a faint sigh of relief that she
found that she was not the object of his
wrath. The occasional flowers of speech
which Senior Orfila had culled from the
! English language seemed to be only those
which could most easily be woven into a
choice nosegay OF profanity, and he sent
the rival tamale-seller anatomically and
as a whole to his father, the devil