The Lamar register., 1901-02-06

MIX door and ten feet WIDE a swing
CIkS Ing double monster. with great
60 rivet heads protruding. Where
the brass hand has hung these years.
looking limp. knocking the paint on the
metal plate. There also little Ines goes to
and fro. Ines admired that heavy knock
er. and used 10 stand and knock by the
hour delightedly. The patio was grand
and gloomy. with an ancient fountain
and vines dropping from a hundred trees
The peace that sleeps in Oaxaca was
deepest here The corridor was wide
shadowed. bounded by an interminable
row of pillars. all white and three feet
thick
"orphan! orphanr taunted DeIhno. a
demonlike neighbor boy who was run
ming after the water mans burro. as
Ines stood and knocked and knocked. for
fun, In the morning sunlight
I'm not an orphan, My papa Is only
dead!" shrIeked she, stamping her FOOT.
imagining that orphan was something
else much worse.
She iushed In hot temper She went
into the corridor running She dived
through three long. dark drape1 rooms.
She found her young mother. weeping as
she had wept these long years. in her
bedroom. Am / an orphan?" sh-icked
Ines. and threw herself all tousIed and
pink. on the bed and kicked.
Her mother, sweet, slender. dark-eyed.
turned toward her a face like that of
Mary of Sorrows. She put her hand on
her breast and sighed. She made no an
swer.
81 want some dulce." cried the wilIful
and bad Ines leaving the matter Of the
orphan
NO. Little Tnes-darling darling Ines"
"I'm not. I'm lung-y!
lines, you are all | have; be good to
me: be good to mother. Ines"
81 WON'T I want that dulce-that jam
which the cook made out OF yellow haws
and sweet potatoes"
Her mother. scarcely more than a girl,
threw herself In passion upon the child. |
and hugged her.
ut made you sick before!' she cried.
the chld's head rubbing against her
slender. fair neck.
This was too much for Ines She was |
called an orphan. She was denied dulce.
she Jumped up and ran out. fierily deter
mined to break things. And her mother
sank to the bed behind her.
I'll buy jam In the MARKET" swore
Ines to herself. Tipping her short pink
dress here and there.
She came to the big front door. She
suddenly remembered she had no money
Delfino flew by again You're an or
ptan! You're poor." gioated he, indeli-
cately.
This drove her Immediately into crime
The hanging hand glittered there before
her in the morning light. These vast
knockers are fashioned into many shapes.
This brass ones fingers were delicate.
long. dead looking. They had ever fasci.
mated her. 1t suddenly occurred to her
that the hand was gold She knew moth |
Ing of the falseness of brass. OF course |
1T was gold-all Yellow shiny things are
gold.
Her eyes Sashed She ran down the |
street and stole hammer and n chisei |
from a carpenter who was drinking pull
que at cart in front of his shop. The
shop was called "Laughter:" the car
penter was lean. His tools whisked out
behind him. as whsked her pink dress
and two wicked little legs.
For an hour Ines tugged hammered
fumed at the hanging hand. Tremendous
was the task Her black eyes flashed.
Her. black hair flew wild. Vicious were
her little lips. The knocker finally came
on: the hand fell dead In her own. She
had the gold.
So she leaped away into reckless,
.crime-laden future toward the plaza, lsav-
ing that bad mamma buried back there. !
She wound through narrow and twisting |
streets. She came to the big double park |
cathedral gave forth lazy hours with
.mediaeval chimes. lethargy-like life !
moved to and fro under the trees. be-
meath the Southern Sun. Candy men
cried their wares. fountains tinkled. On
der the portals deep shade walked a
stately priest in black.
!. She halted at door over which the
word "Empeno'' was printed. 1t was a
pawn shop. and. bare headed. flushed.
a .,..I 1t.
want a pawn ticket. She sold the hang
ing hand outright for 10 cents
, An hour latcr the dropping mother.
brushing her sorrow YEARLY from her
eyes. stepped INTO her patio and sat DOWN
under a bousanciea vine. which poured
its cataract of purple over a fountain.
Little Inez, her mouth suspciously
smeared. sneaked hen and there among
the ahrubbery and wiped her hands on
her skirt. eyeing her mother euiltily ARD
swallowing.
lines, come" cried her mother. her face
dreamy: 81 must tell you--oh! my little
one-I must tell you at last more about
your father
Ines, wide-eyed. half forgetting the yell
-haw-and-swectpotato jam which filled
her crept up She sat down and curled
her body, kittenlike. against her mother;
the latter's arm encircling her.
''YCur father was good Your father
was the noblest man In all the earth
Ines swallowed some final remnants
down under the arm.
"Your fathcr-oh. Ines! 1nes!-l was
jealous once!" She wept. On Ines fair
cheek where the jam smeared tear fell.
'I made him wretched!" cried the moth
ter "we--we did not live together hap
pily Ines-we-oh! It was all my fault!
still love him!'
She could say no more. Ines lay with
her head on the slender mothers lap med
itating. The long hour gone by. 1t seemed
~ ,,,othor ,,,as ,,onnfer Sine bent down,