The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-06-25
THE SCRATCH PAD
BY THOMAS EWING DABNEY.

They may be little loud, but you /
can wear them in the city---if you |
have a muffler.
81 remember, he said "the first
and last silk shirts I had in my life. |
They didn't cost quite SO much then
as they do now-but they handed an
awful wallop to my bank roll at that.
There was a robins egg blue
one, there was lavender one. and
there was a pink one. Solomon in
all his glory didn't have anything on
me, | thought one night, as I :ried
them on, one after the other.
swell I went down to Mexico
that's what l got them for, for 7
heard the Senoritas had an eye for
color and femme tell you, son,
knocked 'em cold. When appeared
on the streets of Monterey, down n
the State of Nuevo Leon, where, by
the way some of the fighting is liable
to be, you could have heard them
gasp. Hear it? You could feel it.
The air actually palpitated with adj
niration. Those poor greasers in
their red and blue blankets primary
colors, sir, coarse shades-were SIM
ply not in it. I had on the robins
egg blue shirt, yellow necktie, green
socks; white flannel trousers, and
white leather shoes, and I was the
kiddo and then some.
"All the houses down there have
heavy iron bars before the windows
just like the Jail here. The men
can't call on the girls, but the girls
stand in the windows-and the bucks
parade up and down in front. Ever
see rooster walking up and down in
front of chicken yard, and the hens
looking at his through the wire net
! ting? Well, that's the idea entirely.
when a sport makes a crush, he
stands out in the street-generally
on the other side-and looks at the
lady and she at him; they smile and
talk to each ot4er, with people end
carriages and Gdrros loaded with
/ charcoal trailing past; they call this
playing the beaS When he is very
intimate, he crosses over to her side Of
the street and sps her the question,
hanging on to IL, bars, and if it IS
his parents Eson't mind, and
the mayor don't ..lind, there is a gen
eral caucus of Se two families some
day-a sort of sUnvention-and they
let the gent foEov his hat into the
ring and be introduced 70 The lady for
the first time; al put a week or so later
i +hoxY 4y.n Jsl.is,rSt Al.
pocketbook.
"Well, / paraded up and down in
front of those little flappers, just like
a boy at a circus in front of the ami
NAL cages, and made some hit, some
hit. Even if am little stout
but, pshaw, they. didn't mind that. A
discriminating woman looks further
than mere avoirdlpois.
''The next dag came out in nv
| pink shirt. There was one little chick
l-Castillian type-very fair-snap-
ping eyes. Boy, I'm telling you; she
was therei I hs1 on purple neck
| tie and striped socks.
Il got her going now" I thought.
IF | could only talk the effervescent
lingo. couldn't talk, but / looked a
whole lot. /:
"Well, the next day / went the limit.
| noticed she had some lavender about
her costume, and determined to show
her that two hearts would beat laven-
| der as well as one So I put on nv
lavender shirt and garnished it with
a green necktie. My socks were a
creation, sir, creation. They were
brown and were covered with red stars
about the size of the tin stars on the
chewing tobacco; they were hand
embroidered, and stuck up like warts
My feet felt warm in spots. And she
smiled at me. Yes, sir, she smole
a smile as glorioas as a sunset. She
waved her fan-say, have YOU ever
seen Carmen? Had her faded a mile
sir; over mile. Fad Carmen backed
out on limb calling for help. II
this keeps up, said, I'll soon know
her well enough to send picture
post card to her.
Well, 4 had-to leave next morn
ing on trip to mininS camp to see
about a machinery order. | sent al
my shirts to the washwoman, so
would be ready to finish my drive
when / got back. I was gone severa
days, and was pretty busy.
There were a lot of interesting
things to see. / remember at one
place where we forded a river, a lot
of women were standing knee deep il
the water washing clothes. They
didn't have on anything to speak of
but every now and then of them would
get overheated and take that little
bit off. There is fortune for tht
man who can sell washboards in Mex
leo; and another for the man VIII,
can sell tubs. The way they wasl
. is this: they soap the clothes, Lar
them on a fat rock ans pound tn,
) dirt out with another rock. It is YER
laborious, but they keep at it unit
they get them clean.
"Well, when got back it was lat
, and I was tired. ! slept until nool