THE ARRIVAL AT POSADAS. 
5 
By day, Posadas became a very different 
place. It was a crude little town, with 
straggling streets that branched out in every 
direction from the nucleus formed by the plaza 
and the few better shops, and that dwindled 
away into the frayed edges of the country. 
The civic life of the place centred in the 
plaza, with a full-blown statue of Liberty in 
its midst, a small bandstand, and seats under 
trees covered with purple 
or yellow flowers. Here 
the inhabitants crowded 
in the evening, whilst the 
band played airs from 
light operas, and the 
girls of the place walked 
in parties of five or six, 
with linked arms. So, 
too, did the young men, 
and for the most part 
these groups passed and 
repassed each other, with 
feigned indifference. If 
a youth wanted to talk to the girl he admired, 
he walked on the outside of the line of girls, 
and made himself agreeable to them all; but it 
seemed an unwritten law that he must not break 
their ranks. Elderly couples sat peacefully on 
the benches, watching the young people pass : 
and parents herded along small children, who 
lingered to stare at the band and the electric 
