212 Singing Valleys 



whatever you touch, one or more of the products of corn 

 enter into its manufacture." 



When evening comes, all up and down the Main Streets 

 of America the lights of the corner drug stores draw the 

 young people as inevitably as a lantern draws moths. Boys 

 and girls hitch themselves onto the stools in front of the soda 

 counters, and crowd into the booths along the walls. There 

 are much laughter, slangy greeting, and repartee of phrases 

 completely unintelligible to anyone who suffers the misfor- 

 tune of having been born prior to 1915. The Land of the 

 Ice Cream Soda belongs outright to American youth. The 

 soda jerker in his starched white linen coat and cap is still 

 another priest of Cinteotl, the maize-god. The philters he 

 mixes are sweet with the milk and honey of the American 

 cornfields. 



