Arizona republican., 1922-03-10
POKER? FINE! BUT MEXICAN
HEN LAYS EGG IN HIS BED
SO HE GOES BACK TO WIFE

in his own company and when he was
mustered out he had $50, 0,000-and him
only Kid. He. picked up a niger
| that was sure a wonder on playing
! cards aud they cleaned 'em up at
Mexicali. The niger, he said. used
TO wear an extra pair of glasses when
| he played cards. He could see the
marks In the corners of the cards
clean across the table. Then he got
married.
Paid. but Not Hampered
$50 then l come down here" he
said: II bought my wife a Ford to
play with up home and / thought I'd
see how they're breakin' down in this
| country"
He had not invested any money, he
said. He got a job of work first, to
see how things look down here. The
guy he was working for was all right,
but he didn't aim to furnish his men
any luxuries. They could live where
they wanted to. He didn't furnish
'em any clubhouses or Saturday night
dances to keep 'en contented. Not
him. They got their pay reguIar on
Saturday night and that was all. AT
first the grub knocked out his stom-
sach, he said. He could stand an army
cook, but these Mexican cooks put
onions and peppers and garlic and
stove varnish and anything else they
happened to have about the place in
their food. So he and another guy,
they found an old woman and taught
her to cook.
Had Been Used to Better Things
She had been a rich woman until
the revolution came. said the red
headed one. Never had touched a
pan or stove. All she had had TO do
was to clap her hands. and a mozo
came arunning and she told him. But
they burned down her house and
killed off her folks in the revolution,
and when the Americans found her
she didn't have nothing. No food,
even. She was a nice old woman,
too. The incest. softest voice you
ever heard, and awful glad to do
something for those Americans who
had rescued her. She'd just work her
head off for 'enl. said the red head.
But she didn't know nothing.
"But / taught her how to make
napjacks and hot biscuits" he said,
and how to keep the onions and
garlic and grease out of things. So
we were doing pretty we'll OF course,
the house where we're living is pretty
queer. There amt any glass in it,
and it has mud floor and the door
is never shut. and them folks that
own it have a pet deer and a pet
snake, and a pet wildcat and a lot of
chickens and a lot of pigs, of course,
running all over. the place. They use
the house as much az the folks do
that own it,
He was sort of getting along,
though. he said. The country is sure
l..t-F -Fs.J g.
thing you want TO and the climate is
perfect, and he never seen any poi
Sonous snakes, or scorpions or moth
ing.
Then Wife Got Lonesome
But his wife got lonesome and said
that either he was coming back to
her or she was coming down to him.
He'd been sort of stalling, he said,
not wishing to make up his mind one
way or another until that morning.
Then he got a letter from his wife,
saying that she wanted to hear from
him by wire. and if she didn't she
was coming down to join him. And
that day the old hen laid another egg
in his bed and he made up his mind
in a hurry.
'.If / had a nice house to take my
wife to, it would be all right" he
said but to- bring her down here to
an Indian Joint like I'm living in,
with snakes and hens and pigs run
ming all over it. that wouldn't do. So
I'm going back to Los Angeles and
get her and wen go somewhere else"
The red headed one said that, after
ALL it was all right about the hen. He
wanted to go back to his wife, any
how, But he couldn't get out of his
mind the way the old woman cried.