The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-15
More About Romantic a,1d Picturesque Guatemala

use pins. The prices of hotel washing are about the same as at home
 But let us leave the market and take walk through the streets. We are. now in the business section. The shops are notl.- ing like our stores at home. Most of them rave no glass windows and some have no windows at all. The ndors open light OH the streets ana the only light comes from them. The counters are at the backs Of the stores instead O. in the middle, ard they usually run across the room facing the front. The goods are poorly displayed and the prices, as a rule, are not fixed. Much of the buying is done py bargain ing and less price is taken than is marked on the goods. And no wonderr For, look at the marks. That cotton is s2 yard. and that 5olt of sill, is marked at SIS per yard. It is not so bad when you remember that g Guatemalan is only 9 cents and that tue price of the silk Fer yard is about an American dollar
 Business in these stores begins about 5 o'clock ill the morning and ends at night fall. Everything Is shut for two CT three hours in the middle of the day, when both employers and clerks go home for their luncheon or breakfast and the siesta Which comes after it. The stores are shut at night and padloclSed, Cseat iron bars being fastened over the doors.
 A Look at the Girls
 And now stop and look at the girls as they go through the streets. They are Of all classes, but there are more hali- breeds and Indians than anything else. The pure whites dress much as we do, but nearly all go bareheaded. What heaps of hair. Some girls have it eoiled in great masses over their ears and piled high at the back. There is so much that t seems unnatural, and it makes me a oli, the ladies they wear a great mass
 of hair
 You'd think twould make their heads
 ache;
 But if you think they grow it themselves.
 Why, there's where you make your mis-
 take.
 Playing the Bear" and Eating Iron''
 As to the white part of the population I find that it has it's own customs O. courtship and marriage. The Indians have other ways. and I will write of them in future letter. As tc the city dwell CTS, the lover never calls upon his sweet heart He has no moonlight walks with Ter, and even after his engagement he can only talk with her in the presence of the family, including the sisters, cousins and aunts. Going along the street the other afternoon, I saw a young mar standing before 8 window feasting hls eyes upon a girl who sat inside behind the bars. It made me think of Don Quix- ote and his Dulcinea del Tobosa. Don stood on the sidewalk graspng the iron bars of the window, which were just about even with his head, and the pretty bl blown-eyed girl on the window ledge looked languishngly at him. The two were talking in low tones. They did not notice me as l passed.
 This custom of counting is called play irg the bear,' or eating iron" It is the regular thing which precedes every mar riage, and when young man walks up and down in front of a certain window and makes sheep's eyes at it he is sup posed to mean business. For little while there may be some doubt about the girl in question, but he stubbornly turns his eyes away from all but his sweethear and she soon understands. After prac- ticing the bear act for a while he is ex- pected to go to the father and tell him he would like to call upon the family with a view to marrying his daughter If papa says yes, he comes, and sits with the girl in the living room. He gets &C., quainted with all the family. and he mnst prosecute the remainder of his courtship in the presence of all. lie may take the girl off in a corner of the room. bI. mamma and papa, grandma and auntie ere always there to see and hear tha. what he does or says is eminently proper. and there is no hanging over the front gate upon leaving. From this time on he may pay attention to no other woman. and if he goes to 9 dance or party Ia must come early and wait for his sweet heart and spend the evening with her only.
 After marriage both husband and wife have quite as much freedom if not more than in our country, and some of the men, I regret to hear, are not quite as gcod< as they should be.