Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1905-05-26
PERPETUATE OLD CUSTOMS
Ways of Their Ancestors Are Still
Adhered To by the Me1-
leans Of To-Day.

leans Of To-Day.
While Cortez destroyed q civilization
and people in Mexico, many OF the Gus
toms of the Aztecs have been perpet-
uated by their conQuerors and may be
seen and marveled at to-day by the Wis
itor to the land OF 1.-The fair god" Not
the least picturesque Of these, says the
Chicago Chronicle, Is the method of stor-
ing grain in the conical houses which
dot the land for miles around in some
districts and are practically uniform In
size. Instead of increasing the size of
the house more were built, and In some
places 1t is difficult to make out at q dis
lance what an aggregation Of these huge
cones may be-
One of the questions asked by the OBJ
servant visitor is: did the Mexican,
or rather his Aztec ancestor, design the
grainhouse first and then, pleased with
Its shape, pattern his hat after It, or
vice versa?"
Though within a few hundred miles
OF the most progressive country In the
world, where little is done by hand that
can be accomplished by the aid of ma
| ch1nery, there are many places in Mex
leo where the medieval civilization OF
Spain reigns as completely to this day
| as IT there were no modern world out
side.
History is silent as to the date Of the
origin OF the primitive bellows which Is
in use in many parts Of the sister repub-
| lie. 1t was brought over by the Spaniard
several centuries ago. and 1t has never
been changed or improved upon since
then. How many centuries 1t existed
in Spain in identically the same form
before Columbus sailed westward Is un-
known, and how long 1t will be before
I the Mexican realizes that he can buy a
modern bellows not far from home and,
above all, will consent to use it, is q
| problem
| The apparatus is manipulated by q
boy, who alternately pulls on ropes held
In both hands and shoves with his feet.
The bellows itself is directly beneath the
cumbrous frame which supports the op-
orator. The result Of the boys labors IL
about One-tenth the wind that Is O
dinarily supplied by the small rotary
blower used on a modern portable forge.
The Spaniard or his descendants In
the Americas would look with scorn
upon the -year-old plow OF the Chi
nese agriculturist, but there are thou
sands and thousands Of plows in Central
and South America in daily use which
are built on pattern go nearly Identical
with that Of the favorite pillow OF the
disciple Of Confucius as to make 1t rea-
sonably certain that their originals both
came from the hand of the same crafts
man some time in the dark ages.
Oftentimes not SO much as q single
nail is to be found In the whole crude
construction, and when used In these
ancient plows 1t is only present In the
shape Of shoe for the point Made of
lignum vitae, "Quiebra hacha" (hatchet
breaker), or wood equally heavy, 1t
taxes the strength of good man to hold
the rlow upright and guide It, and the
novice who tries 1t makes about as poor
a showing as hen does swimming.
Then the services of boy are required
to tend the team of oxen. At the best
acre or two a day, merely scratching the
surface at that.
That saints are useful in war no less
than in peace has been fully demon
strated by the number OF ikons sent to
the front by aussia In the last few
months. AS to their theoretical value
the true believer has no doubt, but 1t is
to be feared that in this instance prac-
tical results are lacking.
An odd custom still followed in Mex
leo and parts of South America is carry
ing the image of the patron saint of the
district about the fields to bless the CON-
ing crop. 1t is gone through religious
ly year after year, and no crop could pos
sibly succeed without it. That many fail
in spite of it apparently does not de-
crease the efficiency of the blessing in the
first instance, in the minds OF the In
habitants.
In the land of luxurious vegetation
bordering on the equator and as far from
it as ten to Is degrees north latitude the
fruits and vegetables of more tenn.
perate zone are at their worst. The
watermelon is siclzly, pale, tubular af-
fair of less than foot in length, the mon-
strous pumpkin northerners are accus-
toned to hardly attains the size Of a
baseball before arriving at maturity.
and SO on through the list until one
comes to the potato, which is mere
marble so valuable in its diminutive
state that it is sold, not by the peck OF
bushel, but by weight. 1t is seldom that
the entire stock of dealer in potatoes
will aggregate more than bushel.