Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1913-09-05

Colon, G. For the American res
ident of the Canal Zone life is not all
beer and skittles. There is plenty of
beer, but have not seen skittle here.
Perhaps | would not have recognized
one If had seen 1t.
The American in a foreign land is
not so tenacious of his home customs
as is the Englishman, and in, Panama
he finds himself not only in a tropic
cline but in the midst of civilization
much older than his own. Conse-
quently he yields in many particulars
to the customs Of that cline and that
civilization. The midday siesta OF
two hours, when he disrobes and dozes
in cool room, the dip in the ocean be-
fore dinner and the evening stroll in
the plaza all appeal to him as to the
native and have become a part Of his
life there
At the same time the influx of no III
erners has had it's effect on the Pana-
manians, especially, perhaps, in the
matter of sports. Bullfights no longer
are to be seen here and cock fighting
has suffered marked decline. In
place of them the native now. enjoys
frequent wrestling matches and prize
fights, INDUCES in tennis to some ex-
tent and has taken kindly to the ma
tional American sport OF baseball.
1t is the American woman on whom
the changed conditions OF life bear
hardest, for housekeeping on the 18TH
10 Of NV
A good many people have the idea that
woman in the tropics lies in ham
mock all day and at meal time picks
her food from the branches of trees
that shade her resting place. AS
matter of fact she must do her house
hold shopping az at home, and the do
nestle problem is with her here as
there, only more so II possible. For
clothing and standard groceries she
usually goes to the store of the COM
missary department, where she can
buy well and cheaply. But for fruit
and many Of the vegetables there is
the daily trip to the market. In that
spacious building-I am speaking now
of Colon and Panama-are scores of
booths and tables, attended by Jamai-
cans, Chinese and native Panamanians,
and piled high with taro, breadfruit,
soursaps, guavaB, papayas, bananas,
plantains. alligator pears, mangoes. or
anges, cocoanuts and a dozen other
tropical products. The layout is tempt
ing, but the purchasing is a task Such
thing as fixed price is unknown and
one must bargain diligently or get the
worst of 1t. And the insolence of the
negro women is often commensurate
with their ignorance. The native meat
market is quite impossible" for white
people from the United States, for the
meat. roughly hacked. is sold immedi-
ately after slaughtering, and the
screening enforced by the American
sanitary department is rendered inef-
fective by open doors.
The domestic servants employed by
Americans in the zone are almost all
Jamaican negresses. They are neat
and clean, but their stupidity usually
is monumental. Every detail Of the
household operations must be driven
into their heads, and their minds SEEM
ingly are on the island home they have
left, for their memory is almost nil
and their eyes see little close at hand.
Then, too, after year or so of service
and saving they begin to think of re-
turning to Jamaica and grow weary"
why, Blanche" said one shocked
housewife, here 1t is eleven o'clock
and the breakfast dishes and kitchen
things not washed, and the ants all
over themi"
"Oh, marin. couldn't do them. I'm
so exhausted this morning" was
Blanches reply.
That's a mild sample of what must
; be contended with.
Speaking of ants. there is another of
the annoyances of housekeeping in the
tropics. The ants are everywhere, in
unbelievable numbers and most extra
ordinary activity. Screens do not keep
them out nor insect exterminators dis
courage them. They must simply be
endured. If they take fancy to a
nicely growing garden of young vege-
tables, they cut and carry of all the
leaves in a night. 1t is the so-called
leaf ant that does that. All over the
isthmus he is to be seen, moving in
professions along we'll beaten paths,
each individual carrying a leaf or
other bit of foliage. One day saw a
long line of them moving through the
sparse turf, all carrying tiny red bios
SONS cut from small weed. It was
a very picturesque miniature parade.
No place and no age has been free
from the eeclroach, and in Panama he
grows to an enormous size and spends
some of his time and energy eating
the covers of bound books.
Rust and mould add to the woes Of
the American housekeeper, and many
articles she must keep in dry closets"
in which electric lamps are kept burn
ing.
: There are not in Panama a great
many or the old pure-blooded Spanish
famlIIes, whose members possess edu
cation and refinement. and those thaS
are there are not especially fond of
Americans. Consequently there is not
much social intercourse between the
two races. The social activities of tde
Americans have three general eenters
the Tivoli club, the Washington Co
tillon club and the Young Mems Chris
tian association. The first two are
dance organizations and give balls al
ternate fortnights at the Tivoli hotel
in Ancon and the Washington hotel In