MANUELI? MEXICO ITTLE PEG LITTLE-P1DQPI MANUEL IN MEXICO UME SAN IN JAPAN RAFAEL IN ITALY KATHLEEN IN IRELAND FRITZ IN GERMANY GERDA IN SWEDEN BORIS IN RUSSIA BETTY IN CANADA DONALD IN SCOTLAND MARTA IN HOLLAND HASSAN IN EGYPT JOSEFA IN SPAIN RESEARCH LIBRARY 4Ub HILGARDAVE LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90024 213-206-6052 MANUEL IN MEXICO BESERVtu [RESERVED MANUEL AND BENITO LITTLE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE MANUEL IN MEXICO BY ETTA BLAISDELL McDONALD AND JULIA DALRYMPLE Authors of "Utnt San in Japan," " Rafael In Italy," " Kathleen in Ireland," etc. Illustrated BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1910 Copyright, 1909, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. All rights reserved 8. J. PARKHILL & Co., BOSTON, U. S. A. Los Angeic RL ?2 7 PREFACE Mexico is a land flooded with sunshine and decked with flowers. Its scenery is magnificent. Snow-capped mountains rise amid scenes of tropical beauty. The climate varies from that of the torrid zone on the lowlands, to that of regions of per- petual snow on the lofty peaks. Its people are kindly, courteous, and hospitable. It is a land of tradition and romance, and of picturesque contrasts. Nearly half of the inhabitants of the United States of Mexico are Indians, descendants of the Indian races which were conquered by the Span- iards. Many of them are poor peons who live on the haciendas, tilling the soil for their masters as their fathers and grandfathers have done before them for many generations ; but there are those who have become famous men and have accomplished great deeds for their country. This story tells how Manuel, a little Mexican lad, who begins his life on the hacienda, has an opportu- nity to go to Mexico City, taking with him his friend Benito. Here the two boys have many interesting adventures and Manuel, at last, realizes his great v VI PREFACE ambition of becoming a cadet in the military school of Chapultepec. In telling the story the most picturesque customs of the people, both in country and city life, have been introduced. On the hacienda one sees the boys playing games and riding burros, the little girls going to school, the peon laborers working in the fields, the women patting tortillas ; the simple, daily life of the poor Indians. In the city is the greatest contrast. Here there are the streets thronged with gaily-dressed people, the markets, the street venders, the parks beautiful with flowers, fountains and electric lights, the canals crowded with flower-laden boats. Manuel and Benito become pages to a great lady and take part in the Christmas festivities. They learn a little history and see many of the interest- ing sights in and near Mexico City. The pronouncing vocabulary at the end of the book will help to make the reading easy for children, and if they live Manuel's life with him for a little while they cannot fail to find a charm in this land of flowers and sunshine and happy childhood. The authors acknowledge their indebtedness to Mrs. Arthur L. Finney, of Orizaba, for valuable information concerning life and customs in Mexico, and to Mr. William Avery Cary for the use of his photographs. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. MANUEL'S BAND i II. PEDRO RIDES A BURRO 7 III. THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN 10 IV. DONNA HULITA'S BOOK 18 V. BENITO JUAREZ 21 VI. JUANA'S BEDSTEAD 25 VII. TORTILLAS AND TOMATO SAUCE 32 VIII. MANUEL, THE TEACHER 38 IX. JUANA'S MEMORIES 44 X. DONNA HULITA'S CALL 48 XL CASTLES IN THE AIR 55 XII. A RIDE ON THE TRAIN 61 XIII. THE END OF THE JOURNEY 66 XIV. MORNING IN MEXICO CITY 72 XV. CHRISTMAS SHOPPING 79 XVI. GABRIEL'S HOME-COMING 89 XVII. THE BOYS HAVE AN ADVENTURE .... 98 XVIII. MANUEL'S FATHER 102 XIX. SIGHT- SEEING WITH SENOR GABRIEL . . .105 XX. JUAN'S LETTER 112 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Manuel and Benito . . . . FRONTISPIECE Burro Carrying a Load of Pottery . . . Page 13 Old Juana Making Tortillas .... "28 The House Where Benito Lived . . . " 33 Washing Clothes in the River . . . " 56 Carrying Luncheon-Baskets .... "56 Pepita in the Gateway . . . . . 58 " Many Burros Toiling Patiently over the Plain" "64 Patio in the House of Sefiora Gomez . "72 Market-Place in Mexico City .... "99 MANUEL IN MEXICO CHAPTER I MANUEL'S BAND Nowhere, save among the brown children of Mexico, could ten little boys have gathered so quietly for such a noisy game. It was Benito who called them together, and Manuel who lined them up against the hacienda wall. " Vamonos ! All aboard, boys ! " The call in Benito's soft Spanish was taken up and echoed by one after another of the band, wher- ever it found them. Some of the boys were bouncing ball, others ly- ing idly under the trees. All answered the call and hurried toward the gateway where Manuel and Benito were waiting for them. There were three who heard as they played leap- frog in front of the blacksmith's forge. They straightened themselves and turned in the direction of the others. 2 MANUEL IN MEXICO The largest of the three repeated the call, " All aboard, boys ! " but he made no move to follow. Instead, he put a hand upon the shoulder of each of his two companions, holding them when they would have run after the others. His face was heavy and sullen looking, and his voice hard as he said, " Tell me, Pedro, why must we run the moment Benito Diaz calls ? " " Because it is Manuel who wants us," answered Pedro. " Yes, Juan," spoke the other boy eagerly, " let us hurry! Perhaps Manuel has the burros ready for us." Juan turned angrily to Jose. " More likely he will make burros of us, by driving us about," he said. " Let us stay here and play leap-frog as we were doing before Benito called." " All aboard, boys ! " came the call again from the gate, and with an answering call, Pedro and Jose shook off Juan's hand and ran quickly to join the others, whose voices rose in happy chatter. Juan, " Black Juan " the boys called him because of his scowling face, followed slowly, kicking little stones out of his path. It was easy to see that there was rebellion in his heart, for his scowl was heavier than usual. In the meantime, Pedro and Jose had joined the group by the adobe gateway. " Here we are," MANUEL S BAND 3 they said, not to Benito who called them, but to the larger boy who stood outside the gate. It was Manuel, the leader of the band, who, with- out waiting for the reluctant Juan, said quietly, " All aboard ! " and the nine boys ranged themselves against the high wall. The bright Mexican sun looked down upon a pleasant scene in that Tlaxcalan valley. A rolling plain covered with maguey and corn fields stretched away from the white adobe wall. Inside the wall rose the low buildings of the haci- enda. Against the wall stood a line of ragged little Mexican Indian boys. From the foot of the line, to which he had been crowded by the others, Pedro looked far and wide with a disappointed face. " Where are the bur- ros ? " he asked. " Stupid ! Who said anything about burros ? " asked Benito from the head of the line. " Jose," answered Pedro. " Jose said perhaps Manuel would have the burros ready." " Manuel would not have them ready ; he would tell me, and I would have them ready," said Benito, turning- a cart-wheel for joy. Pedro looked as if he were at his wits' end be- tween disappointment at not seeing the burros and bewilderment at trying to understand Benito's words. 4 MANUEL IN MEXICO " But if the burros were here," he said, obstin- ately, " it would be Manuel who would have them here." " Very well, Stupid," answered Benito, seeing that Pedro thought him of little use except to ex- plain. " The burros have all gone to the station with loads of corn. Manuel could have no burros this morning, so we are going to play Cat and Rat/' Pedro's face grew cheerful at once. Next to burro-riding he liked to be the cat in the game of Cat and Rat. " Let me be the cat," he cried. " No," said Manuel, " we must count out for it," and he began pointing his finger at one boy after an- other, saying: " De una, de dola, De tela, canela." The choice fell upon big Pedro to be the rat, and by counting out again little Benito was chosen for the cat. Then the boys formed a ring with the rat inside and the cat outside, and the game began ; the cat trying to break the ring and catch the rat. Juan took his place in sullen silence while all the others scuffled and pushed one another good- naturedly in finding places to their liking. Benito threw himself again and again upon the clasped hands, but to no purpose. The circle bent MANUEL S BAND 5 as it swayed back and forth, but it did not break. Big Pedro watched the struggle with a slow smile on his flat face. Often he said, " Non! " as Benito was pushed back and forth. Sometimes, when the boy almost broke a link in the chain, it would be " Si ! " only to be changed to " Non ! " again, as the hands tightened and drove Benito back. No one heard Pedro. The boys were all intent upon the motions of the cat. " Here, old cat, here is a weak place. Try this ! " was their shout ; but Benito never found it weak enough to break through. Suddenly the rat could wait for the cat no longer. Pedro gave a roar like a gentle bull and threw himself upon a pair of hands. They fell apart under his weight and left an open space. " Here, little Benito," he cried, " come quick ! Here is a chance for you to catch me ! " But the boys closed upon Benito like bees, and now he was the rat, inside the circle, while Pedro, outside the ring, found himself the cat. Then it was that Manuel proved his leadership. Where before there had been only play, every- thing now became in earnest. The laughing and careless chattering ceased and every boy looked to the leader for directions. There was a pushing to- gether of two slender boys, and a stretching apart 6 MANUEL IN MEXICO of two sturdy ones. Jose was changed into Mar- tin's place, and Manuel diverted Pedro's attention while the change was made. Or, just as Pedro thought himself breaking through, in some way he found himself somewhere else, beginning all over again. There had been a quick signal from Manuel, a sudden clamor from the boys, and the slow-thinking Pedro had been con- fused. It was a long game. The moment arrived when he was ready to give up the struggle, but at that moment Juan's treachery gave the battle to him. Pedro, tired out, threw himself half-heartedly upon Juan's and Jose's clasped hands. Juan loosened, instead of tightening his hold, and the link broke, the cat jumping upon the rat with a shout. CHAPTER II PEDRO RIDES A BURRO It had been a hard-won victory, but even slow Pedro knew that it was not his. " It belongs to Manuel," he said. " I would have given up, but Manuel would never have done so." " That is true," said Jose. " Juan let go of my hand when Pedro fell upon us." The boys looked indignantly at Juan. Angry words rose from them all, until the boy, feeling himself in disgrace with the band, turned and skulked away. But Pedro sprang after him. Pedro was never slow in his anger, and now he had become roused to punish the offender. He threw Black Juan into the dirt, fell upon his body and lifted his fist to strike the boy, when Manuel interfered. " Use him for your burro, Pedro," he said, " and let him put you down at the blacksmith's forge." So it came about that Juan found himself doing the very thing he had feared when the game began. It was a common thing to see one boy play burro 7 8 MANUEL IN MEXICO for another, but it was usually as a forfeit, and not as a punishment. Juan's heart was fierce with anger as he crawled the long distance over the ground between the gate and the forge, carrying Pedro on his back. He could not throw the boy off. When he tried to do so, the band laughed to see Pedro dig his heels into the burro's sides, until Juan was glad to go on. They went past the walls of the great casa, past the church, store, and school-buildings, and past those buildings where the corn and other provisions were stored. The earth over which he crawled was worn bare with the passing of many feet. Over this earth, rough with pebbles, Juan crawled with his load, while the birds in the trees sang as if in mockery. A charcoal burner, driving his own heavily- loaded burro through the gate, laughed at the sight and said, " He would make a good match for my old Sancho." In front of an open doorway an Indian woman crooned a song before her charcoal fire to make the pot boil sooner. Juan thought she sang to shame him. He would have liked to hide out of sight among the shrubbery by the duck pond, but Pedro drove him on with hard blows from his fist. The other boys called scornful words after him, and their PEDRO RIDES A BURRO 9 laughter grew louder as Juan, hot and tired, moved more slowly. One called above the others, " He is a lepero ! " and Manuel, hearing him, interfered once more. " It is enough," he said in his short way. " He is one of us, and we have no leperos among the band." To Pedro he added, " Let him go." Pedro sprang to the ground and set the tired boy free. Juan rose, and so kindly had Manuel said, " He is one of us," that Juan felt a change in his heart. No tramp could have felt more miserable and vengeful than he, while he was crawling as Pedro's burro, but that force in Manuel which held him chief of the band had conquered Juan at last. It was a master's voice that sentenced him to play the burro. It was a master's voice that called to the best in Juan, when Manuel said quietly, " We have no leperos among the band." A silence fell upon the boys. In the silence, Juan looked at Manuel and the look was like that of a grateful dog. From that moment he rebelled no more. The sun shone over the hacienda walls and filled his heart with happiness. Just then the great bell in the tower rang out the hour of noon. The peons crowded through the gate, returning from their labor in the fields, and the boys joined them for their daily lunch. CHAPTER III THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN It was a queer-looking group of Indian boys that separated to join their peon fathers at the noon-day lunch. Not one among them wore a whole garment save Manuel. Thanks to his careful old grandmother, Juana, his blouse and trousers were clean and whole. Thanks to his own pride he wore a som- brero on his head, and that also was clean and whole. Every Mexican man and boy who can buy or beg one, wears a sombrero. Looking over the ten who made up what was known as " Manuel's Band," its rank showed at once in the pitiful fact that only one other boy beside Manuel wore any part of a sombrero. That boy was Benito Diaz. Benito's sombrero, however, was now only the crown of one. It had parted company with its brim many weeks before. Benito's blouse and trousers, also, were torn and weather-worn. 10 THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN II Once in a great while old Juana caught the boy and changed his rags for something clean and whole. Then for a few days he rivalled Manuel in the eyes of the band. He slept at night wrapped in the half of a dirty scrape on the floor of his father's hut, where many others also slept. For his daily food he ate what has been the food of Mexicans for hundreds of years, corn-cake and beans. Instead of corn-cake and beans he called it tortillas and frijoles. Sometimes he fried his tortillas for himself, sometimes he took them from old Juana's hand, and sometimes he went without. " It is no matter," he would say merrily, when Manuel offered him a dish of frijoles for dessert, " I am not hungry so long as the sun shines and the earth is covered with flowers." The Mexican sun is almost always shining, and the Mexican earth covered with beautiful flowers ; and, certainly, Benito's laughing face never looked hungry. Perhaps he was too busy attending to Manuel's wants, ever to know any want of his own. Not that Manuel said much about his wants to Benito, for that would drive the sunshine from his face, and one missed the sunshine when it went from Benito's face. It was when Manuel lay quietly watching the 12 MANUEL IN MEXICO clouds drift over the mountain-top, as if he would like to follow after them, that Benito felt the time was ripe to attend to Manuel's wants. Once or twice, at such times, it happened that Manuel's voice spoke the longing in his eyes. " On the farther side of the mountain lies the great City of Mexico," he told the wondering Benito. And Benito answered vaguely, " Si, Man- uel." He would have said " Yes, Manuel," if the other had told him that George Washington was still alive and lived in a great hacienda on the far- ther side of the mountain. So he said, " Si, Manuel," and waited, watching a group of mounted police as they turned and wheeled in the distance. Manuel continued, " Somewhere near the house of our President there is a school where generals are made. I should like to go to that school." This was the longing that Benito had seen and puzzled over in the boy's far-away look. In all Benito's ten years he had never reasoned much, but it did not take him long to come to a con- clusion. Manuel's love for fine clothes must be at the bottom of the trouble, he thought. No doubt the bright red scrapes worn by the mounted police when they rode over the plains had taken his fancy. Benito's common sense told him that a boy who owned only half a sombrero could never manage THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN 13 to find a red scrape, so he turned his thoughts to the mounted police. There were plenty of burros to be had for the asking when they were not carrying the hacienda loads, and there were plenty of boys, children of the peon laborers, to ride them. Benito decided that Manuel should become a general at once. That was how it came about that Juan, Pedro, Jose, Benito, and six other boys, found themselves formed into a sort of company, which became known in time as " Manuel's Band." Whenever Benito saw Manuel's eyes follow the clouds over the mountain-tops, he called the ten together. They were often to be seen playing Mexican games ; leap-frog, known in Mexico as burro-corrido, or the game which the Spaniards carried to Mexico when Cortez conquered the coun- try four hundred years ago, the game of bull fight. But the game the boys liked best was to mount the burros and gallop out over the plains. What riders they were ! The poor burros hardly knew themselves as they were driven here and there while the boys lassoed one of the band, or tried to pull him from his seat. It was a life that Benito loved. That which lay beyond the mountain had no interest for him. He never gave it a thought, and little by little it became 14 MANUEL IN MEXICO his great aim to keep Manuel from thinking of it. Manuel led the band, but Benito led Manuel. At the railroad station of Santa Ana, three miles away from the hacienda, the train guard called in Spanish, " Vamonos, All aboard ! " when it was time for the train to start. The band took the word for its own use. " Vamonos ! " Benito's soft voice would call, and the boys' bare feet would run from the far corners of the hacienda enclosure to the spot where Manuel waited for them. " All aboard ! " he would say quietly from under his sombrero, and they would range themselves along the high wall. The great Spaniard, Cortez, when he took away their liberty, took everything else from the people of Mexico. He tore down the wonderful palaces and temples, where monarchs had held royal court, and laid out great farms. On these farms, or haciendas as they are called, the Mexican Indians work to- day. These humble Indians are the descendants of a race that was once among the proudest on the earth. The hacienda where Manuel and his ten playmates lived belonged to Don Felipe Gomez. At the time this hacienda was built, four hun- dred years before, the Spaniards were still fighting to establish themselves in the country. To secure THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN 15 themselves from the attacks of the Indians they built great walls all around the settlement of houses, forming a protected village. This was also a village for protection. At night anyone within sound of the great bell in the tower could enter the enclosure and find hospitality in the casa, where there was always food and a bed for the traveller. Outside the walls, between the little village and the distant snow-covered mountains, were low hills and long valleys. Hundreds of acres of pulque plants and corn dotted these hills. Mile after mile stretched away before the white mountains lifted their peaks and yet Manuel's eyes seldom rested before they reached the mountain- tops. Benito could never understand why the boy must always look so high. " See, Manuel," he would urge, " from the very gateway there begins a pleas- ant path for your feet. Here are more flowers on the ground than there are stars in tfre sky." But Manuel would answer, " We can always have flowers for the picking, but to get to the stars one must climb to the mountain-top." " Of course, Stupid," Benito would reply, " there is no other way." But for the life of him he could not see why Manuel should want stars when there were so many flowers. 16 MANUEL IN MEXICO Every event, big or little, that made up the daily life of the hacienda, was to Benito like the picking of flowers. First, there was the ringing of the bell in the tower. At the sound, all the peons took their way in a long slow procession through the gate and went to their work in the fields. There were hundreds of these men whose fathers and grandfathers be- fore them had answered to the sound of the same bell. After the long procession had passed, there were the many industries of the hacienda to interest the boy. There was the blacksmith's forge with its never idle smith, and the store where there was al- ways an Indian buying or selling, an Indian coming or going to his home on the mountain. Then there was the church with its open door, and the school ; but Benito seldom went near the school. In fact, he said he would never go there if he could help it. It was a good enough place for little girls, with their skirts to their heels, their hair braided and tied with red tape and covered with a reboso. They were well out of the way from early morning until night in just such a place. Benito sometimes held Manuel still outside the door to listen to the sound of their study. Then, after a moment, the two would creep silently away, knowing very well that unless they chose to go to THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN I/ the school themselves, they too must soon join the long procession that passed through the gate to go to work in the fields. It was the dread of just such a future that turned Manuel's eyes to the mountain-top and his longing thoughts to the great city and the military school. At times he doubled his fists and said to himself, " It shall never be ! I will die before I will become a peon to work in the fields and drink pulque." CHAPTER IV DONNA HULITA'S BOOK One day Manuel read the story of Benito Juarez. It was a strange way in which he found the book that told the life of that wonderful Indian. The great casa where Don Felipe lived was seldom open to the children of the peons. The servants of the household lived within the casa and mingled but little with those outside. One day, when the great doors happened to be opened wide, Manuel looked through and saw the fountain playing in the patio in the center. It was as if he were suddenly lifted to the mountain-top and found it within his power to pass down on the other side. Without waiting a moment he slipped through the portal and stood among the beautiful flowers and fruit trees. It was another world to Manuel, but he had always been sure that there was such a world. Columns twined with, flowers formed arcades about the patio. Looking through the arcades he saw beautiful rooms opening inward into the house. 18 DONNA HULITA'S BOOK 19 He walked boldly into the most beautiful of these rooms and found himself looking into Donna Hulita's face. Donna Hulita was Don Felipe's wife, and seldom spoke to the children of the peons, but she spoke to Manuel. Perhaps the boy's clean blouse attracted her. Perhaps she liked the graceful way in which he took his sombrero from his head and held it while he looked at her. Perhaps she could not help her- self, for he was very handsome. He held his head straight and looked at her as proudly as if he were really a general. " Buenos dias ! " said she. Manuel answered with the same softly spoken words, " Good morning, Sefiora," and never took his eyes from her face. Donna Hulita was the handsomest lady he had ever seen, the handsomest and the proudest. She asked him many questions, his name, his age, and in which hut his father and mother lived. He answered briefly, as a don would have done. His father had never been seen since the day he brought Manuel, a tiny baby, and placed him in Grandmother Juana's arms. His mother died when he was a baby, up among the mountains where she lived with her own people. She had never seen Don Felipe's hacienda. Donna Hulita listened to what he said and 2O MANUEL IN MEXICO looked at him a long time in silence. At last she took a little book from the table. " Take this," she said, " and when you have read it bring it back to me again." Then she sent him away, back to the band with its games and burro-riding, back to his mountain- gazing. But he took the book with him, and it led to many things. CHAPTER V BENITO JUAREZ Manuel went to find Benito as soon as he left Donna Hulita and the casa. " Look ! " he said, opening the book before the boy's wondering eyes. " We must learn to read." Benito looked the book well through before he said anything. In one of the pictures was a man on horseback, in several others were guns and the smoke of guns. Benito looked at the pictures with pleased eyes. " They are good to see," he said at last, " but the wooden bench in the school is not good to feel all day." " There is no other way," said Manuel briefly. "Of course there isn't," said Benito crossly. "If one would get words out of a book, he must go into the school ; but he would die before many days." Then the thought came to him that the bot- tom of the duck pond was a good place for the mis- chievous book. He urged Manuel to throw it into the water. Manuel shook his head and took the book away 21 22 MANUEL IN MEXICO from him. " Will you come also to the school ? " he asked. " No, I will not," declared Benito stoutly, and he warned Manuel that everything would go wrong as soon as he learned to read. Manuel, however, hunted up kind-hearted little Pepita and asked if she could read the book to him. But Pepita had been only three weeks in school herself, and half that time had been spent in cry- ing. She was only five years old, and the wooden bench felt so hard that some days she sat most of the time on the floor. " Don't go to the school," she said to Manuel. " It is bad for the eyes to cry so much." Manuel, boy that he was, felt a man's pity for the little maid's trouble, but a boy's scorn for her pity for him. He told her that he should surely go to the school until he could read Donna Hulita's book, and then she offered him the use of her slate and pencil. " Of what use is something else? " he asked her. " It is the book I must read." " There are signs that you must make all day on the slate, when you are not reading," answered lit- tle Pepita. Manuel drew a long breath and looked at the mountain-top. So going to school was one way that led to the stars. BENITO JUAREZ 23 He made up his mind that he would make signs until the teacher's eyes should ache for their num- ber, and he would learn to read. He said nothing to old Juana, but took his place on the wooden bench and held his slate and pencil as the little girls held theirs, and made the signs. But he found to his surprise that each sign held a meaning, and the days were not so long as he had feared they would be. He saw Benito outside the door. After a few days he seldom looked that he did not see the boy busily marking in the sand at first; later he was fashioning with his hands little figures in clay. One day Manuel found that while he had been inside, learning to read, Benito, outside, had made the whole school-room scene in clay. There were the blackboard, study-desks, benches and teacher's table in the scene. Yes, and there in one corner stood Manuel himself in the dunce's place. Benito's skilful fingers had done the work of an artist. Manuel laughed with pleasure, but he said to the boy, " I am no dunce, Benito. The teacher told me to-day that I am learning to read with great speed." Then he turned his eyes upon his friend. " You, Benito, might become a great artist in Mexico City." Benito suddenly spoke out crossly, saying, " I do not wish to become anything but your playmate 24 MANUEL IN MEXICO once more, and how can we be playmates if we do not play together ? " Manuel could say nothing to comfort him then, but the day came when at last he finished reading the book, and went to Benito with kindling eyes. " It is the story of a great man, Benito Juarez," he told the boy. " He was an Indian boy as poor as we are. He wore ragged clothes, and no som- brero, and he studied. He learned to read and he became, as President Porfirio Diaz did also, one of the greatest men in Mexico ! " Benito looked at Manuel and felt the fire of his spirit. " Where did he live when he was a little boy ? " he asked. " Down in the south of Mexico," said Manuel, and repeated, " He was an Indian boy as poor as we are, and he wore ragged clothes ! " Benito caught Manuel's thought. " What shall you do?" he asked softly. " I shall do what Donna Hulita tells me to do," said Manuel. " I am going to the casa and ask to see her." But Donna Hulita was not there. She had gone over the mountain to Mexico City, and there was nothing for Manuel to do but wait for her return. CHAPTER VI JU ANA'S BEDSTEAD Benito "was happy once more. He spirited Man- uel away from school and the two boys galloped out over the plain on their burros. " Did you learn nothing but Benito Juarez in the school ? " asked the boy Benito curiously, as they stopped their burros by the wall that ran beside the great maguey field. Manuel laughed. " No, I learned that in the country to the north of ours there are people who never saw a burro," he answered. Benito looked as if he thought Manuel had sud- denly lost his wits. " That cannot be," he said. " No country could get along without burros." But Manuel insisted that it was true. " Then," said Benito, when at last he was con- vinced, " I am willing to cross the mountain with you and see the world, if it is such a queer world that burros have not travelled over the whole of it." " Look ! " said Manuel suddenly, pointing to a peon who was beating an overburdened little ani- 25 26 MANUEL IN MEXICO mal among the pulque plants. " His burro is more of a man than he is. That is what we Indian boys must become if we stay here, a beast like cruel Sancho." " Well," said Benito carelessly, " if it is the cus- tom, what is to be done about it ? " " If I were the President," said Manuel, " I would do something about it. I would begin by stopping all pulque from being made." " Good ! " said Benito. " Then we should have the more flowers." Benito was right. The flower of the pulque plant is not allowed to blossom. If it should, there would be no pulque, and pulque is the national drink of Mexico. It was little Jose who said one time, " If I can have a sombrero, a pulque plant, and a burro, when I am a man', I shall be rich enough." The boys were shivering with the cold when he said it, but Benito was the only one who thought to say, " I would rather have a scrape now." A Mexican man can wrap himself in his scrape when he is cold; but few children of the peons can own one. The scrape is used as a shawl by day and a blanket by night, but as not one of the band owned such a thing, they had to get along as well as they could without it. As Manuel and Benito sat on their burros beside JUANA'S BEDSTEAD 27 the pulque field, the sun beat down upon them so fiercely that it was hard to believe that they could ever be cold in Mexico. Suddenly, in the distance, they heard the merry shouts of the boys. Pedro and the others had discovered their ab- sence and were galloping toward them, mounted also on burros. " Let us hide ! " said Benito, always ready for excitement. Slipping from their animals, they drew into the shelter of a few tangled bushes grow- ing by the roadside. The band drew nearer, sitting their burros as if they were wild horses of the plains. At the bushes they stopped so suddenly that there would have been broken bones, had they not been Indian boys, who had ridden on burros almost ever since they were babies. Pedro peered anxiously about. " Where have they gone?" he asked fretfully, just as Juan's sharper eyes discovered the two boys. If Pedro's voice had not been so soft, the cry that he gave on seeing Manuel once more among them, would have been a war-whoop. " Come over to the station," he urged. " There is a train-load of pilgrims going to Sacra Monte." Immediately the boys were off again, Benito and Manuel among them, in the direction of Santa 28 MANUEL IN MEXICO Ana ; but they were destined not to reach the little station that day. Beyond the maguey field a mangy dog ran beside the road. One of the boys threw his lasso at the dog, but it coiled about the feet of Benito's burro instead. The little animal doubled up and rolled to the ground with his rider underneath. All the boys immediately jumped off their burros and gathered around the fallen one, who did not stir when they called to him. Manuel stood above him with a frightened face and directed the band. " You, Juan, must ride ahead and find the doctor," he said. " You, Jose, go to Grandmother Juana and tell her to get the bed- stead ready. You, Pedro, must help me lift Benito on to the burro." Pedro could not have lifted the boy alone without hurting him, but together he and Manuel put Benito carefully upon the burro's back, and then they started slowly for the hacienda. The others rode ahead with Jose to give Manuel's message to the old Indian woman. They found her in front of the great oven with her neighbor Maria, making tortillas and frying them over a little charcoal fire. She looked at the boys in surprise as they clattered along the ground and stopped in a group before her. " You must get the bedstead ready for Manuel, Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, New York Old Juana Making Tortillas. Page 28. JUANA S BEDSTEAD 2O, he wishes to put Benito on it so that the doctor may look at him," said Jose very loudly, for old Juana was quite deaf. " Benito is very sick," shouted one of the boys, seeing that she did not comprehend. " That is what I always said," nodded the old woman. " His clothes have holes in them always. I said he would be sick." " No, no ! " shouted another boy. " He has been hurt. The doctor is coming and you must put him on your bedstead." " The doctor must see my bedstead ! " said Juana. " That is good. It is a fine bedstead." They tried again, and at last she understood ; but she shook her head and said, " No, it can never be. No one has ever lain upon the bedstead since it was put into my hut." " Benito must lie there," shouted Jose. " Man- uel says so." " But it is not the custom," answered the old woman. " I cannot permit it, because we Indians always sleep on the floor." Jose begged, but Juana's head shook steadily. " It is no use," she said, " because my fiesta clothes are on the bedstead. He must lie on the floor. It is the place for the son of a peon." When Manuel arrived she pointed to a clean mat placed on the hard floor at the foot of the bed- 3O MANUEL IN MEXICO stead. " Put him there," she said. But Manuel put the fiesta clothes on the mat, and between them, he and Pedro put Benito on the bedstead. The doctor arrived at the same time. He looked the child over and found that he had a broken ankle and must be kept perfectly still. " Leave him on the bedstead," commanded the doctor, and added, " I will come again when he opens his eyes." Benito's eyes opened after a couple of hours, but Manuel was the only one with sense enough to run to tell the doctor of it. He came again, felt all Benito's bones, wrapped his broken ankle in bandages, gave medicine, and ordered the boy to lie on the bedstead for three weeks. " Afterwards," said the doctor with a wave of his hand, " he will be the same as always." Poor old Juana saw it all, was told what the doc- tor said, and became quite dazed. Benito might be the same as always, she thought, but how about the bedstead ! It had never been used since Don Felipe's mother gave it to her one time when house-cleaning was going on up at the great casa. A most beautiful spring and mattress came with it. Juana stood the bedstead in the corner of her hut and hung her choicest pieces of pottery above it on the wall. JUAN A S BEDSTEAD 3! At night, she lay down on the floor beside it, wrapped in a warm scrape. Nothing but the fiesta clothes had ever been allowed to lie upon it. If a peon's child were to lie upon it for three weeks it could never be the same again ! She was in despair. Manuel paid no attention to her complainings, but when night came he fried tortillas for her over the charcoal fire. Her heart softened at the sight. No one had ever done it for her before. " But it is not the custom," she said faintly. Manuel leaned against her with his arm about her neck, his young cheek against her old one. He said nothing, but there was no need that he should. She was quite ready to let him have his way. Later, after Benito got well and left the bed- stead, Manuel insisted that she should sleep upon it, and in her old heart Juana was glad to let him have his way. CHAPTER VII TORTILLAS AND TOMATO SAUCE Benito, lying upon the bedstead, watched Manuel who sat on the step in the open doorway. Manuel had collected a great quantity of feathers from the hens and roosters. He was tying these feathers to the end of a long slender bamboo stick to make a duster. His fingers needed to work with great skill to make the feathers fast to the stick, else they slipped off and he had to begin his work all over again. " Look at him work, he must have a humming- bird in his belt," said Benito with a pleased laugh, as Manuel started his task for the third time. Manuel laughed also to hear Benito's tongue re- peat the good old Mexican proverb. " You can say nothing, lazy Benito," he answered. " When you have lain on the bedstead one more week, you will need a humming-bird in your own belt to make you work." Benito had already lain on the bed two weeks, and to his own great surprise, found himself still alive. At the time they told him that he must lie 32 Copyright by Underwood igh-spirited cadets, something in Manuel's eye and bearing made his friend Benito say, " Don't be so proud, old Manuel, or you'll scare people." Senor Gabriel smiled at both the boys. " We will try sight-seeing on La Viga canal next," he said, " There is nothing there to make one feel too proud." La Viga canal runs from the city to a small lake. Along the banks are straggling Indian villages. The Indians from these villages carry their market produce into the city on the canal. Sometimes their flat-bottomed boats almost hide the water. At other times canoes and dug-outs carry pleasure parties from the city to Santa Anita. From this SIGHT-SEEING WITH SENOR GABRIEL IOQ village one may take a little trip to the wonderful floating gardens. Once a year there is the Feast of Flowers, when the canal is a fairyland. Then the water is covered with large and small boats, all manned by Indians. Bands play along the shore, and in the boats In- dian women and girls, with wreaths of poppies on their heads and garlands of flowers around their necks, sing weird Indian songs, picking the strings of a guitar for an accompaniment. The boys saw only a quiet, pleasant sight when they took their trip. Sefior Gabriel chose a flat- bottomed boat to please Benito. " The boats of Cortez had to be flat-bottomed to get anywhere near the City of Mexico on this canal." he said, " and we will imagine we are some of the stragglers of his army." " How many boats did he have ? " asked Manuel. " Thirteen brigantines," answered Senor Gabriel, " and they were launched on Lake Texcoco to the roar of artillery and military music." " Cortez could not have done much without the help of those Tlaxcalans," observed Benito. " They were a great aid, first and last," an- swered Senor Gabriel, " first in building the boats and carrying them to the lake, and last in tearing down the temples and palaces of the Aztecs." " You must have missed the sight of so many IIO MANUEL IN MEXICO ruins when you were in the Spanish Country," said Benito. " Wherever we go in Mexico we see a few ruins." Senor Gabriel laughed again. " There are many interesting ruins in Spain, too," he said, " but not so many as in Mexico. " To-morrow we will go to see the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. Then we shall have a great respect for a people who could build so well that even earth- quakes have not destroyed their work." It was a trip of about thirty miles from Mexico City to the pyramids, and Senor Gabriel found the boys very quiet through it all. They listened to the stories of history that he had to tell, history as old as that of Egypt, but they cared little for them. They liked better the stir and life of the city behind them and were glad to return to it. " If it is wonders that we are to see," said Benito, " we can see them back in the city." On the way back he said wistfully, " There is but one wish that I have a feeling to make." " What is that ?" asked Senor Gabriel. " It is a very big wish. I do not think it could be given," said Benito humbly. " You may tell it and we will see," said the man encouragingly. Benito looked up into his face. He saw much there that reminded him of many things. " Your SIGHT-SEEING WITH SENOR GABRIEL III pardon," he said as Juana had bidden, " may I whisper to Manuel ? " and when permission was given he whispered at great length in Manuel's ear. " He says," said Manuel after the whispering was over, " that Juan and Jose and the others, es- pecially Pedro, would be glad if they could come to Mexico City and see but one thing. Benito would choose to let them see the Alameda, but I would choose to let it be the castle at Chapultepec with the barracks and the cadets." CHAPTER XX JUAN'S LETTER It was morning at the hacienda. The birds sang their merriest and the flowers bloomed their bright- est; but loneliness and longing for the boys who were gone filled the hearts of the boys who re- mained. They gathered listlessly and only when the ab- sent ones were mentioned did their faces brighten into the old cheerfulness. Pedro fixed his eyes upon the mountains in some- thing of Manuel's old way, moving only when Juan spoke after a long silence. "If we but knew the way, we might walk to Mexico City and see it for ourselves," he said. " I, for one, care nothing for Mexico City, but for Manuel and Benito, without whom the city must be a poor place," said Pedro. " An earthquake might have opened the ground and swallowed them, for all that we have heard of them since they went away," grumbled Jose. The rest of the band agreed with him, sure that whatever of splendor or greatness lay upon the city 112 JUAN'S LETTER 113 was there because Manuel and Benito shed it from their own radiance. " The overseer who took them away will be back to-day," said Juan. " He has been on a long jour- ney to the north and has just returned through Mexico City." " Stupid, why did you not tell us before? " cried Pedro. " Let us go to the station. We will meet the train and hear what he has to say." But it was a long time before they could get the overseer to themselves. There were many things for him to tell Don Felipe before he had leisure for the boys. At last he stood before them and took a letter from his pocket. " Will you read it, Juan ? " he asked politely, holding it toward him. But Juan waved it away discreetly. " I kiss your hand, Senor," he said, " pray read it yourself." So the overseer opened it, and read : " Vamonos, Juan! Vamonos, All! " This is from Manuel in Mexico City, and also from Benito, for what is the use of two letters when there is but one thing to say? " Senor Gabriel is to write it. And who is Senor Gabriel ? ' Ah, that is the won- derful thing. It is as wonderful as if a star should fall from the sky. We 114 MANUEL IN MEXICO always thought wonderful things would happen on the other side of the mountain, and we were right. But when one is in the habit of expecting the stars to fall, the surprise is not so great when it really happens. " Manuel has found a father ! And this father is Senor Gabriel! And it does not seem wonderful any longer, but as if it might always have been so, yet he will always be a wonderful man, because he has been a famous matador. Now, are you not surprised? " And he is going to take us to the hacienda that we may once again see the coffee trees with their red berries shining through the leaves, and hear if the hacienda birds sing more sweetly than they do here in the city. " And most wonderful of all, you are all to come back with us and see for your- selves the many new things that happen here all day long. And there is no need to think of centavos. Senor Gabriel can- not need any of yours because he has plenty of his own, and he will take care of everything. " Adios." JUAN S LETTER 115 Twice did the overseer have to read the letter through before the boys seemed to understand its meaning. Then a mighty shout rose from them all. " What is all the noise about ? " asked old Juana of little Pepita. " It is from Manuel's band," answered the child. " They are shouting with joy because it is promised to them that they shall go over the mountains and see what it is like in Manuel's land." VOCABULARY a do be (a do' ba), unburnt brick dried in the sun. a di os (a de' 6s), good-bye. Al a me da (a la ma' da), a park in Mexico City. al gua cil (al gwa zeT), the officer who opens a bull- fight. A me ca me ca (a ma ca ma' ca), a town in Mexico. Az tec (az' tek), an Indian race that inhabited Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest. Be ni to (ba ne' to), a boy's name. Be ni to Juar ez (ba ne' to hoo a' reth), a full-blooded Indian, elected president of Mexico in 1861. bur' ro, a donkey. bur' ro cor ri do (cor re' do), the Mexican game of leap-frog. buen os (boo an' 6s), good. ca ne la (ca na' la), a word used in a Mexican "count- ing out " verse. car ga dor', a man who carries freight or express bun- dles. ca' sa, house, dwelling. cen ta vo (then ta' vo), a cent. Chal' co, a lake near Mexico City. Cha pul te pec (cha pool' ta pek), a fortified hill near Mexico City. Cor tez (kor' tez),a Spaniard who conquered Mexico. di as (de' as), day. Di az (de' ath), a Mexican surname. do' la, a word used in a Mexican " counting out " verse. D8n, a title meaning Sir, Mr. DSn' na, a title meaning Madam, Mrs. VOCABULARY 117 Fe li pe (fa le' pa), a man's name. fi es ta (fe as' ta), feast, festivity. fri jo les (fre ho' les), beans. Ga bri el (ga' bre el), a man's name. Go mez (go' meth), a surname. gri to (gre' to), Mexican declaration of independence. ha gen da' do (a than da' do), the owner of a hacienda. ha ci en da (a the an' da), a cultivated farm, a large estate. has ta (as' ta), until. Hi dal go (e dal' go), the first leader of the Mexican war for independence. Hu li ta (hoo le' ta), a woman's name. I tur bi de (e ter be' da), a Mexican revolutionist, af- terward emperor of Mexico. Ixtlilxochitl (est lei h5 chef 1), a Mexican prince, born about 1500. Ix tac ci huatl (es tak se' hwatl), a volcano in Mexico. Jo se (ho za'), a man's name. Ju an (hoo an'), John. Ju an a (hoo an' a), a girl's name. Juar ez (hoo a' reth), a surname. La Vi ga (la ve' ga), a canal in the City of Mexico. le pe ro (la pa' ro), a worthless fellow. Lu is (loo e'), a man's name. mag uey (mag' wa), a cactus, the century plant. Man u el (man' 55 al), a boy's name. Man u el i to (man 55 al e' to), little Manuel. ma ta dor (ma ta dor'), the man who kills the bull in a bullfight. Mi guel (me gel'), a man's name. Mit la (met' la), a group of ruins in the state of Oaxaca. Mon te zu ma (mon ta zo5' ma), a war chief of an- cient Mexico. mu cha cho (m5o cha' cho), boy. Na ci mi en to (na the me an' to), birth, nativity. na gual (na' gooal). Il8 VOCABULARY. non, no. Oa xa ca (wa ha' ka), a state in Mexico, pa ti o (pa' te 6), court, open space in front of or en- closed by a house. Pe dro (pa' dro), a boy's name. pe on (pa' on), a Mexican Indian of the lower class. pe so (pa' so), a Mexican dollar worth fifty cents of our money. Pe pi ta (pa pe' ta), a girl's name, pin a ta (pen ya' ta), a Christmas toy. pla za (pla' tha), a square, a market place. P6 po' cat a petl, a volcano in Mexico. Por fi ri o Di az (por fe' re 6 de' ath), a president of Mexico. po sa'da, a Mexican Christmas festivity. Pueb la (pweb' la), a state and city in Mexico, pul que (pul' ka), a Mexican liquor. re bo so (ra bo' so), a covering for the head worn by Mexican women. Sa era Mon te (sa crS Mon' ti), a hill in Mexico. Sal til lo (sal te' yo), a city in Mexico. San' cho, a name. San ta An i ta (san' ta an e' ta), a town in Mexico, se nor (sa ny6r'), Sir, Mister. se no ra (sa ny6' ra), Lady, Madam, Mrs. se ra pe (sa ra' pa), a blanket or shawl. si (se), yes. sorn bre ro (som bra' ro), a broad-brimmed Mexican hat. te-la (ta' 14), a word used in a Mexican "counting out" verse. Tex co co (tas ko' ko), a lake near Mexico City. Tlax ca la (tlas ka' la), a state in Mexico. tor til la (tor tee' ya), a pancake made of Indian corn, mashed and baked on an earthen pan. u na (u' na), a word used in a Mexican "counting out " verse. LJTTI ,F.-PFOFL: JUI 9 Date Due UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 001 121 278 4 V XL J-l JSrrr-gH ^ J L -"7 L Hl ISSUED TO University of~Californ?a Los Angeles, Calif. 90024