The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1896-04-02
oesTlNAcY' OF LLAMAS.

= ossTINAcy' OF lLAMAs. e
Mule. Are vaoillatluC Compared with
= These stubborn Brutes.
The boy called pal" to the llamas,
lifting his finger as if to point them up
the trail. Ordinarily they would have
obeyed; but the aggressive manner of
Barton had reused their obstinacy. and
they did not bulge. The boy put his
shoulder to the ribs of one, and heaved
hard; but the brute stood it's ground.
'Well, it is to wait!" said he; and ran
about the path, gathering upv very small
pebbles until his shabby hat was full.
Then he sat down on q bowlder that
jutted from the bank, settling himself
US if for q long rest. Then he threw
q mild and measured pebble ut each
llama. They turned their heads lit
tie and wrinkled their disagreeable
noses. He waited for some time and
then pitched two more pebbles-which
had the same effect. So he sat, slowly
and mechanically tossing his harmless
missiles upon the dense hair of his
charges. Evidently he was in no hurry;
and the two travellers, impatient as they
were, had too much wisdom of expert
enoe to try to push him. They sat
quietly in their saddles, watching the
droll scene. 1t was very ridiculous to
need deliverance from two stupid
beasts, and to get it from such an
owlish little tatterdemalion. His
ragged clothing was of very thick,
coarse cloth; and upon his feet were
the clumsy yanquis or rawhide sandals
Of mountain Peru, and he wore thick
stockings rising to his knees. Over his
trousers was q curious garment, half
apron and half leggings; and over
sleeves of the same material, hung
with q cord about his neck, came up
over the elbows of his coat. These
two garments were knit in very strange
patterns, amid which were square,
brown llamas wandering up and down
a gray background. Around his waist
was woven belt, now very old, but of
beautiful colors and workmanship.
And his face-What brown round rid
die!
"How do call yourself, friend?" asked
the professor, in Spanish. ''And have
you ten years or hundred?"
'Ramon Ynga, senior. And the other,
do not know. have been here a long
time-ever since they built the mill at
Casapalca-"
'Y0u must be about Is, then. And
where do you live?''
There, above" answered Ramon,
tossing another pebble.
"A curious habit of the mountain
eers," said the professor. ''These
mountain Indians, instead of living in
the valleys, climb to the very tops of
these peaks, and build there their
squalid stone novels. They seem to
think nothing of the eternal Chamber
ing up and down.
An hour crawled by, and the stones
in Ramon's hat were running low. Sud-
denly the brown llama turned with
snort of disgust, and trode off up the
trail. The gray one hesitated a mo-
ment, snorted-and followed. ''That
way they get tired, sirs," said the boy,
upon his thatch of black hair.
: "I'd take good club to them!"
growled Barton, who had great conf
dence in the Saxon way of forcing
things.
mo, the boy is quite right. It is
another case where you must not try
to be smarter than nature. The llama
is the stubbornest brute alive; a mule
is vacillating, compared to him. fyou
put pound too much on his load, he
will lie down; and you might beat him
to death, or build a fire beside him, but
he would not get up. Nobody but a
Peruvian Indian can do anything with
a Peruvian camel, and Ramon has just
shown us the proper tactics. Hurt the
animal, and he only grows more sullen;
but the pebbles merely tease him until
he can bear it no longer. And really,
he repays patience when he behaves
well, for he is the only animal that can
work effectively at these terrific alti-
tudes, where horses and mules are prac-
tically useless. But adelante (for-
ward!)" the professor concluded. -
Charles F. Lummis, in st. Nicholas.
! = "
City Conservatories.
The modern conservatory is not in
tended for the cultivation of flowers,
but merely as a place to advantageouslv
display them, says an exchange. Trop-
zeal foliage is preferred, not only be-
cause it is decorative, but because it
comes from the shadowy, sitting jun
giles and can be appropriately housed in