80 THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 



better American citizens by having their special 

 needs considered, their special tendencies developed, 

 whether by technical schools, manual training: or 

 whatever form of genuine education may be deemed 

 by the best authorities suitable. 



And now to dip once more into the past as rep- 

 resented by some dozen or more years ago. 



There came a summer in which Juan brought his 

 little family to dwell in the rear of the big ranch 

 house for my protection. Juan is the owner of a 

 temper, though never "turning it loose" in my pres- 

 ence, near as he shaved that catastrophe on one oc- 

 casion. He is quick to resent from an American 

 any treatment not in accordance with his own 

 notions of etiquette, but toward me his unaffected 

 courtesy never failed. And it is fair to add that 

 in the six or seven months he had his abode beneath 

 my roof I never heard his voice raised in anger eith- 

 er when addressing - wife or children or the old 

 woman temporarily his guest. 



The agricultural Mexican — and agriculture is 

 the avocation in which he is at his best — is for the 

 most part a good husband and father, relative and 

 friend, unless he is in his cuds, an event which takes 

 place too often. But Juan is never in them, and the 

 strong family affection characteristic of the peon 

 unspoiled by city life is in his family very much in 

 evidence. With justifiable pride Juan remarks — 

 "I used to drink like those others do, but it doesn't 

 pay. I drink a little — si, a very little — every day. 

 Now Luciano, he keeps a pitcher of wine by his 

 bedside. If he wakes in the night he takes a drink 



