Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1901-10-09

+ nv" 'hN oViloldS anu ScnOreS
over the carcel?" 1t was the peni-
Tertiary, Of course, but the inmates
preferred to hear it called carcel.
Morelos' face lighted with graft
tude. He came out from the cell.
the door of which stood open from
sunrise to sundown. The super
ntendent presented him with cere-
mony. Morelos only remembered
one name-that Of Josefna. whose
apellido was Gonzales.
Being introduced to a convict and
having him shake hands was a new
experience to the excursionists. One
of them said so, and Morelos flushed
and withdrew into his shell. But
the intendente himself was a con-
wet on parole, a state prisoner of the
great statesman who understands
ms own people as well as the laws
of foreign lands, and the convicts
loved him as a father and spoke of
HIM by his first name Morelos ac-
comPanied the party through the
carcel.
"Why dost thou not speak Eng
Ish with them, Natcho?" the inten-
dente asked in his own tongue.
The gringos would have been sur
prised If they had understood the
disdainful import Of the convict's
little shrug and his amiable Il have
forgotten my English today. senior"
The Intendente smiled, and his
kind gray ewes twinkled. To have
displayed his knowledge Of English
would have entailed answering the
thousand and one questions of the
active minded excursionists and
would have prevented speech with
Joseiina. The intendente watched
things. He saw how Norelos stood
lonely and discOnsolate i'm the long
stone corridor looking after the girl
In the pink dress and black shawl.
He saw Josefna as the gates changed
behind them, the guards called out
and the great gong pealed three
times I'm signal that the visitors were
gone; he saw Josefna. ever so little.
turn her head and glance back
under the heavy white lids. And
the intendcnte forthwith made his
plans. "Natcho Will be free on the
day he l. 81. i'm two months" he
SAID 10 his wife. "IIe viii be rich:
he is a good boy and handsome. 1t
would be good marriage for Jose
fina."
Gle poisoned his uncle" the
sonora objected, not in the least
strenuously.
The intendente tossed that away
with a gesture. "Sin duda," but
what of that? He had been a mere
child, only 1t, and the uncle had
been n wretch, who was iii treating
the boy and wasting the fortune
which was rightly Natcho's. The
Morelos hacienda was the finest in
Jalisco, and Natcho was a good boy.
So the intendente sought out one
excuse and another to take Joselina
to the penitentiary again. He
found frequent use for her services
as interpreter, and always Morelos
was called from his cell or the work
shop or the patios.
There is not much obnoxious dis
ciplining of a sweet humOred and
idle people in a Mexican peniten-
tiary. The convict wears the gray
garb over his own linen or tatters,
as the case may be, does a little
work, stays within the confines of
the prison, and is locked up in his
cell at sunset. He employs his lei
sure in agreeable converse, wander
ing freely about the courts and cor
ridors, making lace and carving
trinkets if he cares to. On feast
days and Thursdays he may do
pretty much as it plcases him. 1t
was usually on Thursdays that Jose
fna was brought with the visitors,
but as Interpreter neither she nor
Morelos was notable success.
They Jagged behind and fell aside.
The other convicts took an interest
in the matter and approved.
"She is charming, the sweetheart
of Natcho," they said, and they gave
her carved peach and chico stones,
and made her presents of yards of
the lace they knitted Themselves
for her trousseau, they called it.
Morelos could not carve stones
nor vet make lace, but he could act,
and his talent had sometimes an
outlet. There was a Spaniard in his
same corridor, pleasant young
fellow, who had stabbed his novia's
other lover in jealous rage and who
could write plays. He had written
one to be performed upon the in
tendencies fiesta, which was always
a gala day in the penitentiary, and
Morelos was to have the leading
role. There could be no women in
it, of course, for the Mexican never
puts his female offenders in the
penitentiary proper. For the pur-
poses of the play stage was built
at the end of an unused corridor,
and benches were set I'D along the