The Washington times., 1920-06-04

than one deficiency in the Mexican
military system.
ICED rec Bss LAsst.
/ Not only does she look after the
soldier. Sometimes her attention -
needed by the chief.
Have you a bite 10 sparer the
captain asks one. of his men during
halt on march. The ofncer. not pro
vided as a rule with 'hard tack" is
much worse on than the private. NO.
| ca ptain, but the Indian will be back
soon and she'll be sure TO have some
thing" The Indian" Is another pet
name used by the soldiers when they
get tired OF the "old woman"
when the troops are on the march
the "soldierettes" form the advance
guard. They keep several miles
ahead, so that when the men arrive
meal ready, The TOWNS and villages
are more AFRAID OF the women, than OF
the soldiers themselves, though the
latter have only the vaguest notions
OF property rights and the value OF
human life.
The "soldberette" viii march for
| whole days with a brat clinging to
either hand, another invisible one
awaiting its call into the world. a
pack OF clothes and bedding on her
head. and often. 10 top Off the outfit,
a parrot
with SO much impedimenta, you
would think that women had trouble
enough. In point OF fact, she passes
over the country like a scourge OF
God. Along her path not tree re-
mains with piece OF fruit, not a.
garden with a turnip, not a coop with
a chicken, not a bsrnyard with a pig.
She sweeps everything before her, and
| the landscape behind has the psrched
barren aspect OF the desert. Ii IL as
though a plague of locusts had settled
on the land
That woman can pick up a good
meal in sterile places where any ordi-
nary human being would starye. A
village may have been sacked seven
times in one week Give her the
chance for an eighth time over, and she
VIII turn you out a regular Sunday
dinner, ....-..... =
I e, wossen. ssIrt Melee. ',
Sometimes as they march long dis
| tances ahead OF their husbands the
| "soldierettes' Of one regiment Will
| meet the "hard-tscks" OF another
laroop which Is advancing to give bat
Tile. II both bodies OF women are not
i Especially hungry, iff some previous
pillage has satisfied all immediats
needs, the passions OF patriotism and
| politics find occasion to express them
selves in noble animosity.
| The women and children throw
sticks, stones, and epithets at each
other till the males come up and start
the real show. More often, however,
both crowds OF "soldierettes" are
short on provisions of one Kind or
another. Then they get together on
| friendly terms.
People have got to live. Why
| should civilians have to scratch each
others eyes out ::'P'~ And the ones who
have food share it with those who
have only money. But Mexican money
! is often worthless. They much pre-
| fer to Sell supplies for cartridges.
| The men" of the "soldierettcs" are
| running low on ammunition. The
| government troops, on the contrary,
have Just received fresh and lavish
supply. The federal "soldierette" will
walk back several miles looking for
her man" They won't take money
she reports. They say you get moth.
ing TO eat unless you can pay in cart.
, ridges" Her "man" expresses no par-
| ticular interest in the matter. He has
been in the same fix himself. well.
here you are then" And he passes
over a handful of AIS, one of which
may kill him two hours later in the
day. The one thing certain is tRc
dinner. Death, at the worst, is only a
possibility.
Indifference Not Courage. (
| The Mexican's Indifference to death
| is mot courage; really. Courage Is
that positive compulsion the man in
| commodious circumstances feels when,
| voluntarily and fearlessly, he goes
| out to meet sclf-sacrifice and danger.
| The Mexican has. rather, a. mere
contempt for life. 1t is fatalism. alb
sence of fear, more exactly. Death.
~ matter inflow terrible. a form. viii
not prove much worserth life as he
is living it! That is the feeling.
| Mexico is peopled by music lovers
nd it's inhabitants turn to poetry and
| song by instinct. The most respected
men in any regiment arc the ones
| who can play a guitar well and sing
a song for the bedtime hour.
The musicians comrades look after
| him and vie with one another in doing
| him favors. They keep him away
from the firing line. and their first
/ thought, as battle begins, is to see
| that the guitar is in a safe place.
what would happen If We lost our
music?' =....
Name Songs For Women.
! Another curiosity. With the excep;
ton of an air sung by Villas men
called "The Cockroach" LA Cucas
racha), all the songs of the revolution
arc named after woman. There are
La Adelitat and La Valentine" for
instance The valentino" Is the
'Marseillaise" of present-day Mexico.
When you hear that song around a
Mexican camp, look outl A revolu-
ton is about to break out. And yet
its lines arc not SO bloodthirsty, after
all. It is the lament OF a wandering
| drunkard addressing himself to n girl
NAMED Valentino. The last stanza.
| however. is alone sufficient to justify
! the immense popularity OF the song:
Valentino, Valentino,
Rendido .cstoy a tus pics.
| 81 me han de matar manana g..
Que me maten dc una vez '.'
Valentino. Valentino, PROSTATE lie
| at your feet. II they are going to
kill me tomorrow. they might as well
| kill me now"
The whole psychology OF the Mexi-
poapIc fat a at n