The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-12-15
The Joy Of the Banquet
By Charles Fleming Embree.
WV nn-.H.a4Al

VNTHEN the mule car line was il.
w augurated in the state capital
four bands playing different tunes
gathered in front OF the treasurer's
house on Nezahualcoyotl street.
Three of these were Indian aggrega-
tons. The buffers looked like ami.
mated mummies. Indian patriarchs
in tattered and dirty white cotton
wheezily inflated the melody with in
dustrious lungs. They had wan
dered in from mountain districts,
where the people live in matched
huts and have pottery corn bins.
round like sugar bowls. A lawyer
with a dirty collar got up in a win
dow opposite the t%reasurer's house
and addressed the p%opulace, rasping
out ~adulations of the great Senior
Ortiz. treasurer of the state. whose
untiring industry had dragged prog
ress and civilization on to the point
of tramways.
just then six secondhand cars ire
painted and made Handsomely came
hurtling out of the barns a block be-
yoTd. charged down the street, all
covered with green, white and red
bunting. the mules trying to run
straight away from the track. The
crowd gave forth ~"vivas' indolently.
Cenobio. Senior Ortiz pet servant, a
lad of Il. stood up in the door and
wrung his body and shrieked "Viva!"
till his throat failed him. The bands
all stopped playing and looked at him
in mild Aztec surprise.
Behold the cars all stopped; Senior
Ortiz window flung open; the great
man himself, Warwick of the govern
ment, dictator. funny little jolly gen.
tleman appearing. He was dressed in
a flannel shirt and had a black mus
tache. He bowed and laughed, and
said a few jocund things. Some peo-
pie cried "Viva!" A desultory process
sion wa formed. and round the cor
ner, following the giddy six cars and
three lawyers with a flag, went the
four bands. packed in n mass, with
four tunes buried somewhere in the
density of discord that rose up united.
Senior Ortiz had retired within. &C.
nobio sat down in the zaguan, defect
ed. CONCEAL" called he.
She did not hear. She was second
kitchen girl to Senior Ortiz. or some
times waited at table.
Cenobio arose. adjusting his pink
sash, and passed through the stone
passage from the street. The walls
were decorated with paintings of
~Popocatepetl and the death of Maxi
milan. He continued through the
large central court of flowers and is
sued at the kitchen. "Concha!' muir
INJURED Cenobio, 'come to the stable
and talk"
She caught up a striped rebozo.
wrapped it round her. and followed.
A dark. yet pinkish, oval face. framed
thus so modestly by the rebozo, shone
out upon Cenobio. Large, soft. brown
eyes, with a timid expression involv-
ing that mysterious Aztec sadness,
beaIned on after him.
Having come to a t~ile-covered shed
in a bare lot. Cenobio said. speaking
with profound sincerity: "Concha.
want to drive a mule car"
Concha marked in the dirt with her
toe.
"Concha." said he. solemn and sad
and determined, IF 1 cannot become
the driver of one of these mule cars
I shall die"
at would be the will of God" said
Concha.
81 love you" continued Cenobio.
81 was going to marry you one time;
and you have often r~eproached me
because / never did it,"
"Yes." said Concha. raising fond
Eyes to him.
"Well. Concha. Conchita, you are
Don Mariana Ortiz favorite servant.
I will marry you if you get him to
let me drive one of his mule cars. All,
to crack the whip and blow the
horn!"
"And leave me-" cried she. with a
sudden spasm of grief. clasping her
bands. |
$40; to return nights" said he.
"And if | succeeded, you would
you would then really-marry mel"
Immediately"
"Then l shall try. Tonight they
have the ball in honor of these mule
cars. Tomorrow Don Mariana gives
his banquet to the government here.
Don Mariana and Dona Maria have
uuarreled bitterly over the mole de
guajolote. The nina says the banquet
shall be new. a la Americana. without
this Indian dish of turkey. But the
senior wants mole. Well, 1 shall make
it. ANYHOW. 1 myself shall carry it
in and set it before him. Then he
will give you a mule car"
"Concha," He caught her hand in
blind enthusiasm.
Don Mariana had withdrawn into the
presence of his wife. She stood in a
large bedroom whose brick floor a red
and blue carpet concealed. The canvas
ceiling, decorated to match the painted
walls, heaved gently up and down in
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