Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-08-17
CHAPTER I.
THE OLA rOpRIDA.

CHAPTER I.
n OLA rODR1DA.
1 am q Spaniard on q tour around
and around the world. During tive atty
If the sixty ears of my life l have
trave ed aimlcssly, or at least with no
other purpo G than to find pleasure in
new and shifting sights. Long ago l
exhausted tho novelties of the big
citics.o all lands, and then l took to
stopping in my journeys whenever and
wherever the within seized me. That
par i.ipatcd in tho events which l
have set my pen to wri ing cut.
In New York 1 read u newspaper
pa agraph about tho building of q
church in Montreal alter the model of
u cathedral in Madrid, and within O
few hours l started toward the Cara
dian city. There are two drrect ard
rapid routes in ommon use for thrOugh
traffic, but 1 chose to take q slower
and loss usual journey midway between
the better and swl,ter lines. l had
~travcrsod two or three come: ting
railroads, and had spent eight or nine
hours i'll going 10 miles. when a sign
board fixed my Spanish eyes Interest,"
edIy. am so much of q cosmopolitan
that three or four languages arc quite
us apt to my utterance and my vision
as my native one. Yet, when l saw
"Oliu Podrida" lettcred on the frsnt of
q small house near the station ut
Hcosa" l WAS positively thrilled by the
naming OF Spain's national dish in
rural New York, and l ha tily decided
to visit tho premises.
The restaurant had not prosperousiy
introduced the ola podrida to Ameri-
cans, for the establishment was a
crude, cheap eating pace, although
neat enough. But Moa Barrios was
the.c, and alter a visitor got sight of
her tho rest of the things in the house
stantly that Spanish blood coursed
through her veins. She was tall, nobly
formed and beautiful. Her foot ca
rcssed the earth when she trod, n
might have poured water under the
archcd instep. Her hanCs were small,
though hardened with work. The
chestnut eyes with the golden tinge,
the chestnut curls with the sunbeams
they imprisoned, TIE pearly tooth, the
sea. let lips, were all ca eles, in their
loveliness. But the features We're
straight, and the levsl brows had lost
their childish curves, and her voice
was deep and full, like that OF a born
queen. Her blue bodice held her 1.-the
ASuIG llhG OIL bSSs LOAoo Vi WllkG0
linen inclosed her softly heaving DO
son..
What was Moa Barrios? Merely a
girl of twenty-five, who helped the
Widow Dawers and her son Albert to
keep the little make-shift inn to which
the placard "Olla Podrida" had brought
me.
10, I'm Spanish only in name and
.parentage," she said to me when /
asked questions about herself. MY
father and mother came from Srain,
but | was born in this country and was
left an orphan in childhood. l don't
even knew u hundred words in m;
mothers language@"
And two of them are 'olla podrida?:'"
i suggested.
"Yes."
And do you know how to cook the
dish"
Eyes; for We used to eat it when my
mother was alive, and | remembered
how to make it-after q fashion. When
| came to work hcle, u cheap and pal
atable speciality "a desired, and 1 pro.
-duced it,"
So this Spanish princess of my dis
covery was only u mental cook. l eX-
pressed my surpri.e ut that.
70. I'm Il sort of partner" she smil-
ingly explained. And it is only for u
month longer, anyhow. l am to marry
Albert Dawers, and We are going to go
to farming by ourselves"
That seems more. like what you are
fittel Tor, and yet not all you desire.
tcliigent-you are beautiful"
had presumed upon my age to pay
IL broad compliment, but a 5lale of red
in her checks, and Il flash of fire in her
eyes. stopped me. Her emotion was
hardly anger, for in Il moment she
calmly said: II have had enough of
trying to rise in the world. We won't
talk about mo. Are you going to stay
to supper, and cver night. This ism t
SO much of u hotel that We can proper
.ly a for o unwarned."
| answered that | would like to be
fed and lodged. Then 1 lounged out
on q veranda, which adioined the bit
of q bar-room, and found the saloon
part of the premises shut. Only in the
long winter evenings did the bibulous
neighbors congregate therein. AT this
summon q The interval between
their field work and their bedtime was
too brief to permit of sociability.
Therefore the business Of the house
consisted of selling chance meals and
Dawers explained this to me, in a some.
what surly manner, and left me to pre-
pare q bedroom for my occupancy.
Then Moa came to ask whether Iwould
prefer bacon and eggs or fried sausages
for supper.
Neither" said l. "Give me ola
podrida."
Does my reader know what that is:
The OLA podrida, or national hot-pot,
ordinarily eaten every day by the
Sraniards in every part Of Spain, is
really more OF o dinner than u dish,
and therefore many eat nothing e.se.
Spanish cookery is reported by your
travellers who have roughed it in the
Sierras to be nothing but q question OF
sufficient rea and, truly, they mix
things q tritle too much, and season