Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1894-12-12
A Story Of New Mexico.
BY n. l.. MORTATNE.

BY r.. l.. MoRTAINE.
In New Mexico the principal na.
tural growths Of the soil are cactus
and the "greaser. The cactus is
possible or even probable elsewhere.
The "greaser" is New Mexican pro,
duct, pure and simple. He hourishes
as an exotic, translated from old Mex.
leo, and having undergone deteriors.
ton by the transfer.
There is strain of American blood
somewhere concealed about him, for
the most part, but he is ashamed OF
any such admixture. The ''greaser"
is a Latin to the core, n degraded
Latin, with full and perfect knowl-
edge of the vices of two of the con-
tinents and an utter willingness TO he
ignorant of all other things, Amer.
leans in New Mexico tolerate him al a
necessary evil, just as they tolerate
Cinnamon in California. He is cheap,
even if he is nasty, and he makes
farming possible by his exceedingly
low self-valuation.
Sometimes he shutfles off his servil-
ity and becomes Spaniard. Then it
requires nerve to deal with him, and
also quick hand on the trigger. l
became aware of that fact few
months ago, when | was staying with
Jack Henderson.
Jack went ont to New Mexico five
years ago with bride and n dream
and $3, 900. When | saw him the
bride had become mother to the ex-
tent of Jack, Jr., aged 3, the dream
WAS on the verge of evanescence, and
the $3, 600 had gone,
Jack had settled on what purported
eventually to become fruit farm,
when company had worried out an
irrigation scheme, thirty
miles from Santa Fe and seven miles
from Il white man. There were far
to the east, with white tops
that purpled at sundown. All round
him was the dreary prairie, monoton-
ous as the sea, mile beyond mile of
brown parhced grass, with here and
there bunch of crawling bushes.
Roads, in the English sense of the
term, there were none. We rode to
the place over the baked mud tracks,
seemingly without end or object, past
the greasers "dobies," as they call
their little homely mud huts, past
myriads of prairie dogs, scampering
into their holes as we approached.
And then at last we reached long,
low farmhouse of planks, sitting in
the midst of vegetable patch that
had literally fallen into the sere and
yellow leaf. That was Jacks home,
and presently came Mrs. Jack, with
Jack, Jr., clinging shyly to her skirts,
to give me welcome.
1t was broiling next day, hot after a
fashion that we in kindlier cline
not whit No white
man could lift his hand to his head
weariness resulting there
from. Only the olive-hued greaser
was available, and, indeed, Jose SEEM
ed from the short period of my OBJ
servation to be more on the qui vive
than any other living thing.
Jose was Jacks cook, moist. un.
comfortable looking greaser, with
quivering paunch and long limbs that
seemed inadequate to support the
| ventured to remark
upon his unprepossessing counten-
ance, but Jack became eloquent upon
his culinary virtues. Even Mrs. Jack
had something to say on the subject,
and / felt at once that | was interfer-
ing with family IDOL.
When, therefore, Jack told me later
in the day that he had been obliged
to discharge Jose, with instant orders
TO depart, it was a matter of no small
lstonishment to me. | felt, however,
that it was delicate subject, and to
this day | have no idea what was Jose's
cause of otfense. ! conjecture that
Mrs. Jack was concerned, and that
the insult was deep, for Jose's accom-
plishments were unparalleled, and no
slight matter could have caused his
In the evening the temperature grew
endurable, Not that it was cool or
pleasant or anything like an English
version OF summer evening. But
there was an Intellectual breeze, and
the dobies cast long shadows as the
sun died.
Jack and l decided upon ride. We
set out upon our way, talking so
earnestly of Iknow not what that we
barely noticed Jose as he mounted his
pony at the back door of the house.
When we were twenty feet further
on there was whirring noise and a
sort of muffled thud. Jack was de-
livered of sound that appeared to
have begun life as an oath and turned
, oi1o IN ba N ouroal Aloo b;s ho,,o