Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 160, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1910 — PEON FOND OF WORMS. [ARTICLE]

PEON FOND OF WORMS.

Prefer Than to Peuivta and Sell Them, Fried, aua Sneetmeata, Water bugs and "worms are among the tidbits In which the Mexican peon delights. He catches his bugs as they ■kirn along the tops of fresh water ponds, drying them and then eating them with as much rest as an American boy eats peanuts. As near as the peon can explain it, their flavor is something on the order of the chestnut, but as no white man has ever tried eating water bugs, or, if he has, doesn’t dare confess it, the exact taste of these Mexican morsels can’t be described very accurately. The peons dote, too, on the nice, fat pulque worm, an exchange says. This Insect is about two Ihches long and half an inch thick. Tney fry the dainty in grease and pack It In brown paper packages of a dozen worms, which fetch 2 cents a paper. An Industrious pulque-worm collector makes a good living. The worm Inhabits the maguey or hulque plant, from which Is distilled the agua mlel, or honey water, of Mexico. After twenty-four hours’ fermentation it Is very Intoxicating. After the Mexican has primed himself with several drinks of agua miel and has smoked half a dozen cigarettes made of the dried leaf of the merrlhuana weed and brown paper he 1b ready for Any crime of violence. Thfi combination of stimulant and' narcotic has the effect of deluding the victim Into thinking that his enemy —and every peon has a choice collection of enemies—is a pygmy in stature. At the same time It gives him an Idea that he Is tremendously strong and wonderfully brave. So he sallies forth to make mincemeat of hls enemy or enemies, and as a rule lands In the local calaboose. One of the peculiar effects of merrlhuana smoking is to distort the size of all animals, making them of enormous size and horrible shape. The smoker Is filled with horrible fear, something" like the horrors brought on by delirium tremens. A kitten or a puppy to hls distorted vision appears as some terrible creature. A common sight In Mexico is to see a swarthy “greaser,” armed to the teeth, flee In terror from a small dog, while he would fearlessly attack any man wth his knife or hls machete.