Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-05-13


telling of the work being done
81 down In Panama, lauding Col
a onel Goethals for the speed and
excellence with which he has
accomplished the task set him and re-
viewing the story Of the big ditch
That there should be another side to
life down on the isthmus, that not only
the engineers wives and daughters
and sons, but the engineers them
selves should come to miss, more and
more keenly with each passing week,
the Injuries and manners and customs
of their homelands seldom enters into
the heads Of even the most thought
full.
For a fortnight's visit, the Isthmus
of Panama Is indeed delightful! TO
wake in the morning to hear the boys
calling freshly-caught iguanas Tor
sale for your luncheon bouillon; or to
let the silvery fute-music Of the scls-
sor-grinders come through the line
meshed screen at your window, TO
have orchids on your breakfast table
and perhaps pluck your own bananas
or guavas, and then to stroll down
among the quaint Spanish-Americans
Is, indeed, a treat. But after only i've
days of it, you've quite enough; given
years of it, and the pail is indeed
great one.
A "TipIess" Hotel.
All the world, to a man on the
isthmus, must center for the term OF
his stay at Panama City, the capital
and metropolis of the republic. Your
first peep of this unique city unfoids
itself almost as you leave Uncle Sans
big hotel on the heights. Governor
Goethals has made this a "tipless"
hotel
Uncle Sam has laid out park here,
the gentle turf sloping down hill to
the city itself, and where American
soil meets Panamayan and the quar-
tiers of the poor there is school for
Spanish children. 1t is obvious that
the business of the future in Panama
will be with folk from the States; but,
while the school is of boys alone and
OF WuIGGS OL1yS Of Lnu$S A. 30 ~OAN~~SON
throughout in Spanish.
Follow the little, white-clad lads
from the school yard into the neigh
boring native quarter and you find
streets with verandas overhanging, as
they do in old Madrid. and here wom-
en- wash the weeks laundry out under
the tres, while little sons play about,
nude as Adam. and daughters loiter,
wearing just calico slip. Children
are numerous and the animated
chocolate drops" fairly get iuto ones
way. In places the older women
hoist water from old-fashioned wells
out under the palm trees; carrying the
pail on the shoulder to the house.
Not a courtyard so poor or lowlx
however, that does not support its CO.
coanut palm or two. Up this the dusky
native boys Shiny" to get the great.
green-hulled fruit on demand. With
the handy machete they split the rind
and bring out the nut. Then, with a
pocketknife from some Yankee trader,
they plug one Of the three eyes at the
end of the nut Zone of the three is al
ways softer than the others) and
drink the lukewarm, refreshing milk
After that they devour the fruit, and,
be one ever SO hungry or thirsty, the
appetite is quenched. This ease of
satisfying the prime demands of life
accounts, Of course, for the lack of in
centive to work, the laziness and idle
ness of the Panamayans.
Wander further away still from the
Escuela Publica, out of sight of the
big park and the Tivoli on the heights,
and in among the palms and you will
meet little boys coming to school
chatting in Spanish. They wear slip
pers, but not stockings, and suits of
light wear, with quaint straw hats and
ties. Some of these children are very
black; others are brown; all have the
soft, gentle voices.
In the old quarter are the shops, In
teresting to tour, but pitiful to rely
on Drug stores, or boticas-dark.
Ineasly places-make one wonder
what percentage Of germs and CRIME
are added to each prescription. Odd
little fruit shops neighbor them
shops with very diminutive tomato.
wrapped in bark and seeming like so