St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-08-15
BETWEEN LOVE
~ AND DUTY. *;
BY MARGUERITE STABLER.
Observation-Disclosures

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THE deep, bright blueness of g
/ Mexican sky bent low over its
favored children, as if it would shut
away from them, on this one day
every shadow of seriousness or care
and must have been gratified by the
gorgeous pageant the Plaza locale
Mashed back in return. Since early
dawn the vendors from the hill dis.
tricts had been pouring into the city
and tiny booths, like mushrooms, had
been springing up all over the market
quarter. Long before the first sleepy
eyes in the town had begun to Open
the Indian had started ON his journey
to dispose of his wares as his Toltec
and Aztec ancestors had done a
thousand years before. For this was
the great feast-day of the spring
time, and it is only on such day the
variegated City Of Mexico is seen in
all its glory. It is then the market
place is the most brilliant scene the
all-beholding sun looks down upon in
all his course. Out of doors, the bril-
liancy of the colorings is somewhat
tempered by the atmosphere, but even
SO the brain is assailed by such
rude blasts of color as almost to
make it reel. Gay awnings, bright
,rebozos, many-hned serapes, embroid-
cries, spangles, flowers, deep skies,
burning suns, brilliant verdure, all con-
spire to intoxicate the eye. And the
rank, primary hues of their chosen
colorings suggest, to the thoughtful,
something'of the primitive nature of
the Children of the Sunshine.
And yet, amid all this exterior glad
ness, hearts were aching, eyes were
weeping, hopes were falling in the
stately old house of Cardenas. The
warmth of the sunshine and the
brightness of the skies could not
penetrate the gloom in the heart of
Dolores. Her great dark eyes looked
out on an altogether bleak and cheer
less world.
The great old house of the Car
denas family had been the home
of generations of beautiful Car
denas daughters from time imme-
morable. Since the first Senorita Do
lores, the women of this house had
held their stately heads art the pre-
scribed angle, had felt the weight Of
dignity of belonging to the oldest FAM
lily in Mexico, had preserved the family
feuds and friendships unquestion-
ably, had dutifully married the sutton
chosen by their parents; and had
lived, died, and been gathered to their
fathers, with never thought of re-
volt against the family traditions.
But Dolores, the youngest Of the
family, the erstwhile petted darling
of the household, with the blood of
such an ancestry in her veins, the ex-
amples of countless progenitors be-
fore her eyes, now arose in open re-
volt against every tradition of the
family.
The assembled hosts stood aghast
at this unexampled waywardness, and
declared she was not worthy to bear
the sacred name of Cardenas. The
sutton they had chosen for her was,
to the mind OF the family, in every
way worthy alliance for Garden
as, and, as they argued, if he pleased
them, why should he not please her?
Miguel, who since the death of the
old senior, his father, had taken the
reins as the head of the family, had
no thought of being overridden by
slip of q girl; but the old sonora,
when she realized her daughters will
S-H HI hoW n.
most at the point of being lenient.
Now, however, when it was dis
covered that Dolores Cardenas had
defied them all-not because she was
too young to marry or had any tan
gible objection to the choice of her
family, but because she had clandes- |
timely met, loved, and pledged her.
self to an American, miserable up
start Gringo-it was decided she
should be promptly sent into con-
vent to take the veil.
As q consequence, this beautiful
holiday world was bleak and cheer
less place to-day for the little Senior
tia Dolores. As she stood at her win !
dow, seeing nothing but the horror
of convent walls closing in upon her,
she clutched within her hand her
only hope, tiny, crumpled scrap Of
paper, on which she read over and
over:
.Go straight to the Plaza Zocalo. I will
know you under any disguise II you will
wear q white cross on your shoulder.
will wait for you at the pottery stall OF
old Pancha. Then Mexico adios!'
The girl watched the shadows set
thing down over the festive city, and
all her courage for this
fateful step. AS she looked about
her, she felt the very walls that had
sheltered so many dutiful Cardenas
daughters must cry out against her,
hut what else could she do?
The old bishop Of Arezzo, the fam
ily confessor, was holding a solemn
conclave in the room below with
Miguel and the sonora. So, slipping !