The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1900-12-28
MADRE MAR|A'S magic
The Black and White Charms
That Reconciled Two Rivals.
BY @. CUNNINGHAM TERRY.


On the very corner of Gale de los
'Pescaditos Blancos (Street Of the Little
White Fish just where 1t juts into the
little Plaza de San Pablo is the shop of
bona Antonio. 1t is a clean, tidy little
place, and in 1t you can buy the best
cigarettes to be found in all Mexico,
you can be served at all hours of the
day with thick Spanish chocolate, hot
and pasty-for Dona Antonio is Span
ish and therefore knows how to make
delicious chocolate-also you can buy
there pins. needles, lottery tickets, ma
tive Mexican sugar in tall brown cones,
macaroni fresh from Italy, sardines,
olives, Spanish wine and many other
things, for, while the shop is II small
one, 1t contains what the proprietor
proudly calls IAN assortment of the
most complete and finished"
Dona Antonio herself waits on her
varied customers. All of the common
folk in that part of the city patroniZe
her, and so she is kept very busy, with
hardly time enough to attend to her
yellow headed parrot or to keep the
IudElpOSd light puIllnS uuueT Tie
picture of la Virgcn which hangs ON
the wall.
Things were different when Carlos,
the torero, was t~here-gOod looking,
staggering Carlos in his gaudy bull
fighters shirt and tight trousers. with
his pigtailed head surmounted by the
flat torerO hat-but Carlos has most
cruelty been b%anished; not that he ever
did any work in the shop-the gods Of
E%bulltighters forbid!-but he at least
was always willing to lounge in the
door or against the counter, thereby
soaring away robbers, and even on
some occasions so far unbent his digni-
ty as to serve the chocolate to custom
ers of his own fraternity while DOna
Antonio beamed from afar, for she
worShiped Carlos with the alteration
that only q fat and homely woman Of
40 can feel for a young and handsome
Ever since bullfghting had gone out
in Mexico, three years before, she had
waited on Carlos hand and foot, giving
him cheerfully and lovingly from her
savings and working dOubly hard in
order that he might appear gorgeous
on feast days and Sundays. His clothes
We're Of the best that money could buy;
his pointed Mexican shoes were of the
finest yellow leather; his vivid scarlet
necktieS were always of satin or soft
est silk. None of the bulltighters who
tlolled on San Francisco street or in
front of the Cantina del Tic Pope
.cp,D1.nl c,1Ih 1nnr finn h1nsE nj ion ne a =
did Carlos, and none of them could
boast the silver and copper coins which
always jingled in the pockets Of his
braided torero jacket. In short, Carlos
was in the greatest Of luck, the very
highest of clover, and did not realize
his blessings until it was too late, for
all this magnificence and luxury We're
taken away from him through his own
fault and that Of Panchita.
Not that Carlos cared for pretty, CO.
quettish Panchita; not a bit Of 1t!
Carlos loved no one but his own lazy,
good looking self and nothing but his
own ease and comfort. For Dona An
Itonia, who furnished him with he
good things of life which he so much
cared for and appreciated, he had a
kindly, fraternal regard. Being, more
over, aware of the furious temper
(which lurked beneath Dona AntOnia's
good natured exterior, he had always
been careful to avoid entanglements
with younger and handsomer women,
or, at least, to keep such affairs from
her sharp and very suspicious ears.
In the case of Panchita, however, it
.,o - liasa,It ,,,nttnr fnr Shn urnc OIL
Their too careless or too much in love to
dissemble. She could not or would not
refrain from casting coquettish glances
at the %bullighter, ever when Dona An
tonia was by, and finally eve took to
purchasing her thread and needles and
other supplies from Dona Antonia's
shop, refusing there to be served by
any one but Carlos himself.
Naturally this state of affairs could
not last for long, and things came to a
crisis one day when Dona Antonio
overheard Panchita addressing some
coquettish remarks to the torero and,
moreover, caught him In the very act
of kissing her pretty though needle
worn hands; after which there was a
scene, and very nearly battle, murder
and sudden death. Dona Antonio, be-
ing a very powerful woman and, more
over, greatly Infatuated, scrupled not to
fall upon the luckless couple tooth and
nail. Carlos managed to escape with
his life and a blackened eye, while
lPanchita, at the enc of the fray, was
minus one tooth and what seemed at
first sight to be fully half of her pretty
black hair.
The noise of the fight naturally at
tracted attention, and the combatants
were finally separated, much the worse
for wear, but nevertheless still breath
ing forth defiance and slaughterings.
Carlos had most u~naccountably disap-
peared after the first two rounds and
could not now be found, Plying neigh