The Oskaloosa herald., 1909-08-12

or three couples up in Housekeeping
in better shape than these were In
The men we're all armed with ma
chetes, which are long straight swords
that nearly every native carries.
/ started and got out of the door
but the men rushed ahead OF me ant
stood in the trail. making it yer,
plain to ne that they did not intend
letting me go. Tney did not lay VIC
lent hands on me, but no doubt they
would have il / had persisted in go
ing. 1t was now nearly dark and be
ginning to rain again, so | went back
into the shanty The owner took my
grip and hung it up and made me sit
down on stick of wood while he
went to the other end of the building
and renewed the conversation with
the other two, which seemed to be
more animated than ever. From the
dread OF what might happen and the
chill caused by my wet clothes | was
soon shaking like an aspen leaf.
| noticed some poles and few ashes
on the floor, but could not detect any
! fire, so | scratched around in the
ashes and found spark or two upon
| which L put some wood. The man
| seeing what was doing, came and cut
up some of the wood and then went
back to his companions. soon had
good fire and began to feel more
comfortable. The family consisted
or four year old girl, and sat hug
ging the fire with one eye on the men,
watching for any suspicious moves,
and the other on the woman, wonder
ing if she would soon get something
to eat. Presently the man went out
with a sack and returned with 1t full
of corn, which he husked. The grain
was too hard for roasting ears and
too soft for meal, SO he handed the
largest ear to his wife who put it in
the fire and watched it carefully I'M
til it was done, then she handed 1t to
me, and never did a man enjoy his
Thanksgiving dinner more than l dld
that parched corn. A man who lives
in a land of plenty and fares sumptu-
ously every day, really never gets the
most thorough enjoyment out of eat
ing. The woman roasted many ears
and passed them around to the guests,
taking care that | was well served,
and the last ear she broke in two and
gave one piece to me and the other
to the little girl. My host then cut
the corn off the ears with his machete
and his wife mashed it with stone
roller and then made cakes OF the
dough. She gave me one after bak-
ing them on piece of coal oil can.
Then cEe of the men reached into his
sack and drew ont about five yards
of beef which the woman cut up into
strips and put on to boil
Now in order to make myself under
stood it will be necessary to digress
a little from the narrative. In many
places in Mexico they do not weigh
cattle and beef, but sell the cattle by
the head and then cut them into strips
like ribbon and sell it by the yard. In
travelling through the country You VIII
see many yards of beef hanging out
in the sun to dry. In Tampico their
meat market is a long shed open TO
the street, and while they sell some
meat by weight, most OF 1t Is SOLD Dy
the yard. So when a man goes to buy
meat he does not have to take bas-
ket, but can throw it over his arm or
his pony's neck and go galloplng OH
home. The way the practical Next
cans get rid of the germ-creating, NIL
obe-breeding waste around the
meat market will appeal to the
aesthetic sense of many OF our Amer
leans. They leave it all to the buzz
yards which are protected by law and
are so tame that they roost on the
houses and play with the children.
During the market hours they hop III
and out of the place and every bit OF
refuse meat that is thrown out they
gobble down in hurry. Then when
the people are gone they 90 over the
premises and clean off all the little
particles of meat, leaving the place
ready for the next days business.
Just another thought right here about
the birds. There has been much said
and some legislation against the
slaughter OF birds as ornaments for
women's hats, and a thought came to
me that we might substitute the bull
ribbon" for hat trimming.
To return to the affair at the shan
ty, all the time my host was preparing
the corn he was talking to the other
men and | listened, hoping to catch
some words that i could understand.
Finally | imagined that ! could make
out that they were going to cut my
head off or throw me into canyon
and let the wild hogs eat me, and
many other awful fates. After the
meat had boiled about half an hour
the woman gave me piece about six
inches long and ] tried TO eat 1t, but
the more | chewed the tougher 1t
seemed to get, and after had strug-
gled with it for long time it finally
got started down my throat and all
could do was TO chew and swallow
until the whole thing went down in
chunk. The warmth of the fire and
the unmasticated food had sallowed