Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-07-16
LITTLE BROTHER. Z"
A Girl. Adv.ntur. in . Mexican Town

| the vendors 10 the plaza, stopping once IN
a while % give some whining beggar or
| tstterei mOnstrysity centavo, when she
/ felt her skirt pulled Looking, she saw
| tiny hand held out, and a childish voice
piped the usual formula for aims The
little creature was no taller than g child If
four But the face il was Old and with
cred ] he eyes we're sunken and so Old
Miss Stanley Fu'led back the rebozo-the
hair a. gray.
"a dwarf" she thought, with little
feeling Of repulsion How old are you"
"Ffty-fourn piped up the wee thing.
! Then, true 70 her sex, The priest will tel
| you ffty-eght but / am not am only If
ty-four' She said her name was Rosta.
Bosita it appeared did nearly anything
for a living. begging preferably, although
that j. a somewhat overcrowded prOfes-
sion in Mexico. Sometimes she sold chick
ems or vegetables on q commission. She
had another source Of income, being pen
sioner on tn. bounty Of a young mana
centavo a week-but she confessed sadly
he made her jump for the coin, and if he
held his arm out straight she might Jump
in vain, she could not reach it,
The brute" said Miss Stanley. Rosta
did not know the meaning, but she looked
up pleased That was good, the English
lady was taking an interest in her, for the
eKpletive sounded profane, and profanity
from a feminine source indicated strong
emotion, which she construed favorably.
The poor in Mexico are always hungry,
and Miss stanley, knowing this failing,
took Rosta 70 little one-room restaurant.
The menu was confined strictly TO Mexican
dishes
Miss StanleyGotced that ROsta put half
her dinner 70 one side, wrapping the carne
and frioles in tortillas. When she came
% a dulce Of some tropic fruit, boiled in a
syrup Of cane sugar, her little wrinkled
eyes looked wistful.
"Iiow can / take some 70 my little broth
ere she asked.
Miss Stanley asked another question is
this food you have put away for your
brother"
"Yes," answered Rosita, in her squeak y
voice, 81 take all the care Of him. We are
alone, and ] work for him. He is locked
in the room, now, see, and she held up the
massive key peculiar 10 Mexican doors
why is he locked in - asked Miss stan
ley, as She directed the mozo TO put the din
ner IN a couple Of Ollas for ROslta 70 take
10 her brother
"He has combats with the children in
the street, and am afraid some one will
get hurt, she answered
Miss Stanley watched her trot away.
laden with the dinner for her brother So
little and 80 old, unlike many dwarfs not
bulky-indeed pitifully thin. II was not
until she reached home that Miss STANLEY
remembered she had not asked where the
little brother was.
She often met Rosta after that, some
times in the Jardn, where the roses nodded
overhead and violets bloomed under foot.
and the band PLAYED softly and sweetly as
u Mexican bands do. Rosita would dart from
the circling stream Of pelado into the inner
circle, where the quality walked under the
trees or sat On the iron benches. Miss
Stanley could seldom resist the little, dirty,
badly worked square Of drawn work held
out by the tiny hand.
Sometimes in the plaza, where the ven
doris called their various fruits and vegeta
bles with long-drawn, wailing cries, Miss
Stanley would suddenly hear at her elbow
the -hrill squeak Of Rosita she praised
the virtues of an attenuated hen. "Muy
gordo nina,--take it-weigh il in your
hand-it il heavy beyond belief she
would insist, holding up the unattractive
bundle Of feathers to the Child
Constance Stanley had no father or
mother, and, living with a brother, who
was endeavoring 10 effect the drainage of
''the richest silver mine in the world, ~ she
wandered unchecked through the crowded
narrow streets Of the old town, with a
young criada her only safeguard
She had often longed to explore a dark
street that plunged downward from the
paved and civilized one. 1t was damp and
murky. staircase Of stone, with crum-
bling adobe walls, two and three storie.
high Across the streets narrow width
. ! d. .F -
, with their red petticoats and blue rebozos
made bright blots of color. The mer
loafed aLout, lean and ragged. 1t remind
ed her of Naples. The doorways swarmed
I, with babies and dogs-poverty marching
always side by side with those innocents
Down she went. The street made ar
abrupt turn. At the corner she was star
tied by seeing, protruding from a hole cut
2 in squalid doorway, several long, black
! fingers. They were withdrawn and sh,
saw as she passed the door two bloodshot
; eyes peering out like beasts eyes.
| "Nha, militia! The good mother of Goo
sent you, and see what gain will be yours! =
t Turning, Miss Stanley behed Rosita at her
t heel. She had plate to sell-a coarse
/, ironstone china plate, Clipped and cracked
% There was "A look of intense anxiety on heI
e old face, and her wee hands shook as sh,
drew her treasure forth from under hel
t rebozo The plate was impossible, anC
Constance, breaking that fact gently to tn,
: dwarf, was astonished to see the tears gath
er and fall over her shrivelled cheeks.
"For two days, senorita, l have no
dared unlock that door" and she nodded
toward the mean portal where the eyes haC
shone and the fingers protruded restlessly
"I.ittle brother has nothing to eat, ex
= cept the few tortillas the poor around here
I could give, and many of these go hungry
= from the suns coming up until the sun
> going down"
= Constance sent her servant and Rosita t,
70 the plaza for some cooked food, and, Will,
she waited, she talked in the doorways will
. Pepita and Lola and Juana. They told he
how Rosita worked and starved for he
. brother
"How old is hei" asked Constance.
"Quien sabei" they said.
''Is he child or is he big enough to worl
for her" she asked, impatiently.
"Ah he is grandote, but also he is loco
y un manidtco. See, that is Jose now VIII
q glares from the hole to the door,"
\ Miss Stanley listened to them with tina
I rapt attention we all give to tales of tn
+ mad. He dug deep holes in the earth floor
d burrowing like an animal; sometimes he es
= capped in that way and then there was fea
r in the narrow street, and the police, afte
h bloody fight would drag him shriekinl
Y back to the one poor room Rosta cale,
e home. She had always put food through
y the door to him before venturing to opel