The Coolidge examiner., 1934-08-10

hoId everybody in town, as warn
ing" IS local saying.
Through the suburbs you meet
more groups coming TO work. In
flower garden a sandal-footed man
Is setting out young plants to make
a fancy pattern OF birds and flags.
Workers in Clay.
From the tail of his big black
dog. asleep beside him. an old In
dian artist plucks a few hairs,
twists them deftly into his tiny,
frayed brush, and resumes painting
eyebrows on clay head of Pancho
villa, master outlaw.
Other heads. new and shiny
stand on a board: Obregon, Carran-
IN. George Washington, Henry
Ford-and an American Shriner In
red fez.
Pose for your own bust. II you
like, and watch your nose and ears
form swiftly from the mud. In half
an hour old Pandura (Hard Bread).
famed Indian sculptor. makes q
fair likeness.
This Guadalajara clay art is
fragile and hard to ship" says a
buyer from the States. But IL
| sells well Not the busts so much
but these urns, vases, and water
bottles. In old Aztec patterns. These
dancing girls are good. too, in their
wide skirts and big sombreros"
Around Tonala village and the
suburb OF San Pedro Tlaquepaque.
Indians have worked I'm clay frou
time immemorial The Spanlards
found them at II, making dishes
for domestic uses. making idols.
images, and figurines of men and
beasts.
Untaught, and working far from
the patter of studios and talks on
art. these Indians produce excel
lent sculpture. Tiny pack mules.
street hawkers, market women
with chickens and baskets of fruit.
vaqueros on rearing horses-all are
formed and painted with fidelity to
life Sophisticated and erotie
pieces also appear, with miniatures,
ornaments, and vessels carrying a
raised fretwork of deer, rabbits,
ferns or palms. A fat clay pig, hol-
low, with a slit In his back through
which coins can pass, is much sold
as a chlld's savings bank. Happily
for the child, these figures break
easily; all you have to do is drop
! them.
San Pedro Tlaquepaque, once the
retreat OF Spanish wealth and fash
lon, is linked with the city proper
by tram, through an old customs
gateway. Country people taking
| things into town to sell had to pay
a tax in the old days to pass this
gate.
A tiny, brlght-eyed nurse girl, GER
tainly not more than ten, comes by,
carrying big rat baby. You feel
the baby should get down, for a
change. and carry the tired little
girl
Gambling is Prevalent.
On the curb's edge, three soldiers
are playing cards with a greasy
deck. One man deals, calling "Ocho
de espadas," eight of spades, and
other faces as they turn up.
Gambling is not thought vice.
Men accost you. holding up yard
long strips of colored lottery tick
cts. You can buy a whole or part
| ticket. Such peddlers work on a
, commission for the official lottery,
which holds regular drawings, is
run in a strictly busine"s manner.
and devotes net profits to charities
Police appear dragging two dis
orderly men, one badly cut in a
street fight. Certain knives here
are made to fight with. Any battle
SCARED mining or cow-ranch vet
eran will tell you he'd rather face
a gun fighter than a Mexican
trained with the knife.
After the knifemen comes a hoy
leading a very skinny horse. ''Play
us tune on your harp" shouts "A
clerk, a Mexican witticism implying
that the horse is so bony his ribs
look like harp strings!
Up the street past your hotei,
late in the night. comes a squeal-
ing orchestra, preceded by three
young men. One of this trio is
celebrating his birthday. Hiring
musicians to play in ones honor is
good form, in keeping with estab+
lished social practice. If you write
a poem, win a horse race, or van
quish a rival, 1t is customary to
hire a band and stroll from one
cantina, or saloon, to another, or
past the homes of your friends,
with the music playing.
Here music seldom ceases, and
most Of 1t Is good. This makes you
wonder how the many organ-grind-
ers earn a living, till one explains:
''They are subsidized by a fund
willed to the city to insure free
hand-organ music In perpetuity."