News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1915-11-10
BETTY AT THE FAIR
Letters of the Panama p acfiC Expo
sition by Florence Livingston
LETTER XIII
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL, Oct 27, 1915.

| pan rhANCloSO, Chb.f wv iolcs
Concluded from last week)
like to think that but foi the en- broil-
ment with which various nations are at
present occupying their attention, you
might soon send me off for personal in
vestigation; but whether that comes
about later or not, am giving my imag,-
nation an almost daily preliminary task.
Every country sends here her raw mate
rals, and I'm sure it's not asking too
much of me to piece them together. AL
low metberefore to Introduce 10 you
Guatemala as | saw herin this building.
You may imagine first great many
mountains, intermittent mosquitoes, and
an earthquake or two each day-these
not being indicated in the building, but
| supplied by my previous conception of
tho country. You must put in many
trees, not to fill up space, but to show
what can be done in the way of growing
beautiful and valuable wood with appar-
emily no effort. Think of mahogany SO
common that canoes aud rude household
implements are made of III Think of
rosewood and oak, logwood and cedar,
pine and sapodilla, wood SO tough that
splinters of it may be used as nails in
other woods.
From the branches of many of these
trees we may swing chains and pendants
of orchids and other Towering vines,
like strings of popcorn on the Christmas
fir. For variety we have the enormous
palms with leaves so broad and long that
they must be cut in thatchng the huts.
There are inguanas scattered freely
about, bat these big lizards are so near
the color of the branches on which they
b4sk that you may not see them at first.
But you will be sure to notice the bril-
liant birds, dressed in vivid reds and
green's and blues, and you may even be
so fortunate as to get glimpse of the
quetzll, a magnificent and fashionable
bird, which is the national emblem and
has perch of honor in the arms OF its
country. The quetzal has round furry
green head, irldescent green wings, red
breast, and sweeping green tail feathers.
Two of these feathers are very long,
sometimes three feet, and iii former days
could be worn only by the royal family.
This gorgeous bird refuses to live in cap
tivty, 50 it is particularly fitting that t
should be included in the symbol OF lib
erty.
There were many owls along the bal
cony, as well as pelicans, herons and tur-
keys. Smaller mounted birds filed nu-
merous cases, but there were only few
wild animals, in which 1 am led TO be-
lieve that Guatemala does not abound
l recognized some members of the cat
family and several kinds of monkeys.
Guatemala didn't say anything to me
about it the other day, but we'll put in a
few snakes and scorpions-not' many, but
enough to remind us that it is a tropical
country we are working in.
Now, father, I may have jumbled the
vegetation and the attitudes, but what do
we care about that from this distance?
All we were trying to do was TO get
general setting for edible or marketable
products. l began with wheat. corn,
beans and squasheS, as being the common
link in Guatemala and the section in
which l have lived. Oranges and lines
came next, because they are abundant in
the state which l am visiting.
Then plunged into the tropics in the
midst of pineapples and pOmegranates;
coffee and cacao; bananas and pawpaws;
peanuts and ,potes; rice and sugarcane;
cocoanuts and granadillas, the large yell
low frnit of the passion-hower; anonas
and nanzanillas, or small crabapples.
This does not exhaust The list, but the T,
others were so new and strange that ;
cannot describe them intelligently. There =
were also many jars of vegetable greases /,
and of syrups or extracts made from diff /
ferent fruits.
The manufacturers were of little con- |
sequence in comparison. Evidently Guat-
emala has not the population or capital |
to make the most of her rich natural
products. There were coarse woven fab
ilOSi inato III NhliOtJi OoShOISs iOOOSA 49,
Giles, rude wooden saddle, shoes, in
Guiding tango slippers deliberately laced,
soap, candles, beer and few musical in
struments, chiefly modified guitars and
banjos. On the walls were paintings of
scenes and photographs of cities and
schools. There were pictures of the curl
GUS prehistoric monoliths of Querigua
and of the ruins Antigua, which believe
has been several times destroyed by
earthquakes.
1 have admitted to you that my Spanish
makes very infrequent stepping-stones,
but 1 managed fairly well till l came to
minerals, but it gave out and let me
down into the black depths of incompre-
hension. Quartz crystals, Ignite, galena
and mica were the only things l had rec
ognized, but as 1 went under l caught a
,,li,o,sa Of savaral other ores which will |