Part 19 (2/2)
After the boy was despatched for the things and my horse taken care of, we sat for half an hour in the kitchen sipping _reeably Then arden behind the house to be out of his wife's hile she was engaged cooking breakfast, and there he began talking in English
”Twenty-five years I have been on this continent,” said he, telling hteen of theotten your language,” I said ”I suppose you read?”
”Read! What! I would as soon think of wearing trousers No, no, my friend, never read Leave politics alone When people h was h psal to last h Street, near the Cowgate--you know! Mother, she was pious?they were all pious Uncle, a atory to h School--intended for the et a book of travels in soht a pipe, and lie on the floor reading--locked up from everyone Sundays just the sa to the devil--fast It wasin ht have eaten your dinner off the floor; always singing psal Couldn't bear it; ran away at fifteen, and have never heard a word froht land, cattle; married a wife, lived as I liked to live--am happy There's my wife--mother of six children--you have seen her yourself, a wo, black looks, scouring from Monday to Saturday--you couldn't eat your dinner off my kitchen floor There are irls, healthy, dirty as they like to be, happy as the day's long; and here aus--Don Juan all the country over, my surname no native can pronounce--respected, feared, loved; a ood turn; one who never hesitates about putting a bullet in any vulture, wild cat, or assassin that crosses his path Now you know all”
”An extraordinary history,” I said, ”but I suppose you teach your children so,” he returned, with emphasis ”All we think about in the old country are books, cleanliness, clothes; what's good for soul, brain, stomach; and we make 'em miserable Liberty for everyone--that's my rule Dirty children are healthy, happy children If a bee stings you in England, you clap on fresh dirt to cure the pain Here we cure all kinds of pain with dirt Ifup a spadeful of fresh ious, but I reround and made mud with the spittle to anoint the eyes of the blind man Made him see directly
What does that mean? Common remedyof the country, of course _He_ didn't need the clay, but followed the custom, same as in the other miracles
In Scotland dirt's wickedness--how'd they reconcile that with Scripture?
I don't say _Nature_, mind, I say, _Scripture_, because the Bible's the book they swear by, though they didn't write it”
”I shall think over what you say about children, and the best way to rear them,” I returned ”I needn't decide in a hurry, as I haven't any yet”
He barked his short laugh and led ements for breakfast were now completed The children took their e, cool roo it
There was a small table laid with a spotless white cloth, and real crockery plates and real knives and forks There were also real glass tumblers, bottles of Spanish wine, and snohite _pan creollo_
Evidently ood use of her time She canized her; for she was not only clean now, but good-looking as well, with that rich olive colour on her oval face, her black hair well arranged, and her dark eyes full of tender, loving light She was noearing a white merino dress with a quaint maroon-coloured pattern on it, and a white silk kerchief fastened with a gold brooch at her neck It was pleasant to look at her, and, noticing hed The breakfast was excellent Roast in, then a dish of chickens steith rice, nicely flavoured and coloured with red Spanish _piland, is wasted, coets in any _rancho_ in the Banda Orient After thewine, s stories; and I doubt whether there were three happier people in all Uruguay that us, his un-ding-donging native wife, and their guest, who had shot his
After breakfast I spread rass under a tree to sleep the siesta My slu I was surprised to find rass near le, she with the _mate_-cup in her hand and a kettle of hot water beside her She was drying her eyes, I fancied, when I opened mine
”Awake at last!” cried Don Juan pleasantly ”Co, you see”
She n for him to hold his peace
”Why not speak of it, Candelaria?” he said ”Where is the harm? You see, my wife thinks you have been in the wars--a Santa Colo away to save his throat”
”How does she make that out?” I asked in some confusion and very much surprised
”How! Don't you knoo about where you had been--prudence That was one thing Looked confused e talked of the revolution--not a word to say about it More evidence Your _poncho_, lying there, shoo big cuts in it 'Torn by thorns,' said I 'Sword-cuts,' said she We were arguing about it when you woke”
”She guessed rightly,” I said, ”and I a you before But why should your wife cry?”
”Wo his hand ”Always ready to cry over the beaten one--that is the only politics they know”