Evening star., 1941-08-31
BY JACQUES FUTRELLE, Jr,
Travel Editor


Unlike the Yankee, who takes his
business circumspectly, the Mexican
has a flair for imagination and, to
the American, humor in naming his
commercial enterprise. William S.
Harwood has made a delightful COL
lection Of samples In Mexico City
and other communities. He passes
them along to Americans through
the Pemex Travel Club with the
suggestion that travellers look to lit
tie establishments-the pulouerias
and the estanquillos (the former dis
pensaries of the mildly alcoholic
beverage. pulque, and the latter tiny
general stores)-as the chief source
for originality in names. Some
knowledge of Spanish is necessary to
catch their meaning, but here an
Interpretation let's non-Spanish
speakers in on the entertainment.
For pulouerias: LOS Efectos de la
Batalla 1.-The Effects of the Bat
tle'). La Lave del Parsiso c'The
Key to Paradise, lei Caminito de
al Gloria" c'The Little Road to
Heaven. La Consentida" 1.-THE
Betrothed'O, Mis- Dos Amores"
c'My Two LovesD.
A small grocery store: THE
Coloso" 1.-The Colossal and an
other, Eel Triunfo Nuevo" c'The
New Triumph.
According to Mr.. Harwood, Eel
Faro is frequently met in signs on
small stores, the name meaning
The Lighthouse" Walt Disneys
film characters have been seized
upon for names, with Miguel Ration,
PATIO Pascual. Los Tres Cochinitos
and Blanca Nieve represented.
The coffin-selling ablishment,
"Quo Vadis';; the butcher shop.
Jesus del Gran Poder" C"Jesus of
the Great Power; the drug store,
Eel Sagrado Corazon de Jesus"
c'The Sacred Heart of JesusD; the
blacksmith shop. Eel Infiernito"
("The Little Hell'D, and stores Co
titas de Rocio C'Little Drops of
Dew and "El Nuevo Eden" ("The
New Eden').
But the name over which Mr.. Har-
wood laughed longest was that Of
the carboneria. or charcoal dis
pensary. Necessarily dirty, the little
black hole in the wall was raised to
aesthetic heights by the grandilo-
quent name, The Glory of the
Arts"
Time clocks, alarm clocks and
stop watches are inventions of the
white man and even at this late
date are mere curiosities to the
tribes of the American Southwest.
Clinging to the rudiments of their
primitive past. the Indians not only
tabo the pressure exerted on the
economic world by the frail, tell
tale hands that race ineXorably
across a face of numbers, but coolly
ignore the rhyme Thirty days hath
September" and the rest OF the CAL
endar. AS result, tourists who
want to catch sight of some of the
Indian ceremonials are dangled in
suspense as TO when to arrive, for the
dates are set as tardily as the spirit
moves and few are tied in sys-
tematically with an equinox or the
moons sliding scale that fixes
/ Easter.
! Some of the dates have been
stabilized on Christian feast days,
but as rule the transportation
companies, interested in whisking
the traveller to Arizona and New
Mexico for the strange rites, are II!
the dark until as late as a week be-
fore they are staged. The game of
outguessing the Indians bears q
striking resemblance to forecasting
nature for another great tourist
attraction-the blooming of Wash
ington's cherry trees. Eventually
the attraction SINNERS down to a
week or a day. the news flash is car
ried to all parts of the United States
and the expectant public flocks in.
Though clocks and calendars are
absent, the Indians are not without
their means of recording time, but
on hit or miss basis. The sun
serves by day. the stars by night. and
the simple process of knotting a cord
or tossing a small stone on a heap
marks the passing of days. A crude
sundial serves as timepiece for
the Zuni Pueblo Indians in South
west New Mexico A stone slab
lies on the ground and, carefully
placed, another stands vertically
upon it. Its shadow on a mark
heralds II noon, accurately enough
for the Indians. But generally they