Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-07-09
BETWEEN LOVE
~ AND DUTY. Of
! BY MARGUERITE STABLER.

THE deep, bright blueness of a
l Mexican sky bent low over it's
favored children, as if it would shut
away from them, on this one day, |
every shadow of seriousness or care, |
and must have been gratitied by the
gorgeous pageant the Plaza Zocalo
flashed 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 ware 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 a day the
variegated City of Mexico is seen in
all it's glory. 1t 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-hued serapes, embroid-
cries, spangles, flowers, deep skies,
burning suns, brilliantverdure, all con-
.,@,,,a Is rfNxysanfa thn wv IND tho
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 at the pre-
scribed angle, had felt the weight of
dignityof belonging tothe oldestfam-
ilyin 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 a 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-
ample 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
SulbOT llCy uuu CIooCH Sl "uS,
to the mind of the family, in every
way a worthy alliance for q 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 a
slip of a girl; but the old sonora.
when she realized her daughters will
was as infiexible as. her own, was al
most at the point of being l%enient.
Now, however, when it was dis
covered that Dolores Cardenas had
defed them all-not because she was
too young to marry or had any tan
gible objection to the choice of heI
family, but because she had clandes.
timely met, loved, and pledged her
self to an American, a miserable up
start Gringo-it was decided she
should be promptly sent into a con
vent to take the veil.
As q consequence, this beautifd,
holiday world was a 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 hcl
only hope, a tiny, crumpled scrap OF
paper, on which she read over ant
over:
go straight to the Plaza Zocalo. ] will
know you under any disguise If you vii
wear a white cross on your shoulder.
will wait for you at the pottery stall o.
old Pancha. Then Mexico adios!"
The girl watched the shadows set
Ting down over the festive "ity. ant
summoned all her courage for thi'
fateful step. AS she looked abc'U'
her, she Mt the very walls that bat
sheltered so many dutiful Cardena'
daughters must cry out against her
but what else could she do?
The old bishop of Arezzo, the fam
lily confessor, was holding q solemn
conclave in the room below will
Miguel and the sonora. So, slipping