

Photograph by Frank ! 



EVERY LABORER IS SEARCHED BEEORE LEAVING THE PATIO OE THE MINES 



The peon laborer in the mines has always received as wages only about the equivalent of 

 "victuals and clothes"; and frijoles, tortillas, sombreros, shirts, trousers, and sandals, with a 

 little mescal to wash down the food, represent about the sum total of food and raiment that 

 the peon knows. 



of the youthful drivers, whose vernacular 

 is wonderfully expressive and effective; 

 indeed, I doubt if anything but a mule 

 can .really appreciate the depth of feeling 

 and irresistible persuasiveness of the vile 

 expressions. 



What strange fights one can see in 

 these main arteries of the city! I have 

 set my camera on the balcony of my room 

 at the Woods Hotel and will snap what 

 passes by. At first, a herd of patient 

 plodding burros loaded down with slabs 

 of the pale green sandstone, quarried 

 near by and used for building purposes ; 

 a legless cripple shuffles along on a board, 

 propelling himself with his hands ; a car- 

 gador trots along tirelessly with his awk- 

 ward burden, in this case a sewing-ma- 

 chine ; more burros overloaded with char- 

 coal; another pack struggles under the 

 weight of sacked ore from the mines ; 

 still another bearing grain to the market, 

 and the street-car demanding loudly a 

 clear track ; a funeral procession, where 

 laughing children carry a baby's casket, 

 swaying from side to side to the accom- 



paniment of anything but appropriate 

 music, and behind the mourners in silent 

 solemnity. 



Strangely superstitious are these simple 

 people. Grossly ignorant, constant in 

 their faith, pathetic in their simplicity, 

 kindly and respectful, their life is epit- 

 omized in the verse : 



"Let the World slide, let the World go; 

 A fig for care, and a fig for woe; 

 If I can't pay, why I can owe, 



And death makes equal the high and low.'* 



THE EASTER MORNING MEDLEY 



'Tis Easter Sunday morning. I am 

 awakened at early dawn by the tooting of 

 tin horns, accompanied by the sonorous 

 screeches of bass viols and fiddles as 

 sounds are sawn from their strings ; by 

 the shuffling of sandaled feet over the 

 stones of the street, and by the babel of 

 voices of passing peons. Church bells 

 clang, sirens scream, whistles wildly min- 

 gle in the melody of merriment ; for is not 

 this the day when Judas Iscariot is to be 

 hung in effigy ! 



35 



