Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 206, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1913 — A Tale of the Earthquake [ARTICLE]

A Tale of the Earthquake

Jose was faithful a*d industrious tor a peon, bat then was much of the Molator about him for he clang to the gods of hie pagan forefathers and was the despair of the good padre. Jta*t oh the other side of the flowercovered wall that bounded his humble domain dwelt the Senora Hopkins. If there wee one thing more than another on which Jose held strong opinions It was the baseness of the Americano. They were Interlopers and alien* who scooped all the fat jobs and moreover they had but one deity! Benor Hopkins had been one of them and that wae the reason Jose hated his widow, and refused to allow her to take one drop of the crystal product of the little spring in his back yard with which to water her vegetable garden. This was a Berlous matter in that part of Mexico for water was scarce, but in vain had the Senora Hopkins pleaded and the good padre reasoned. Jose was as adamant. "It Js the spring of Quetzal/* he said, and that had to suffice. And so the radishes and lettuce and other green things languished even with the meagre supply of water their owner was able to fetch by hand from a distant well. The spring with sultry suddenness developed into early summer and the on gallant Jose daily watched with scowling brows his neighbor toiling under the weight of her watery burdens. But all this w&s changed one day when Jose was brought home on a stretcher, bruised and broken, as the result of an accident. Pascal, his brother, attended hkn as best he could, but the Senora Hopkins saw at once that the Injured man needed a woman's care, and for all his harsh and ungenerous treatment of her she volunteered her services and Pascal eagerly accepted. They were long and were weary weeks of suffering, but his neighbor’s skillful nursing brought about Jose’s recovery, and one evening in late September he stood, whole and strong once more by the dividing wall between his garden and his neighbor’s. He‘had come to a realization of the debt he owed her. But how to repay? True she had nursed him tenderly, and he owed her much, but still she was one of the despised ones, an Americano! Behind him in his own luxuriant plot bubbled the little spring while his neighbor's garden was parched and wilted. But no, never should it be said that he, Jose, had surrendered to an Americano! But he would wait a while and consider . the matter, and perhaps the gods of hlB fathers who had once been strong In Mexico, would show him some way by which <he could pay the debt that he knew he owed, but in such a manner thatthe need not humble himself before an Americano! - As he stood thus in sophistical argument with himself a dull and distant rumble came to his ears, a wide flame of lightning Illumined the firmament, a sudden upheavel beneath him threiy him to the ground, and as he buried his frightened face in the soft grass a horrid sound of grinding and the crash of falling buiidlngs filled him with abject terror. It seemed an age to the grovelling Jose, but only a few' seconds elapsed before the earthquake had passed. He struggled to his feet and tusned to wet his parched lips at the spring —but —it was gone. And still the sound of running water came faintly to his ears. Following the direction from which it seemed to come Jose saw to his unutterable wonder s splendid pool in his neighbor’s garden! The earthquake had so tossed the ground In the vicinity of their badly shaken homes that Jose’s spring had been dosed, and the underground stream which fed it had sought a new outlet througu one of the crevices opened in his neighbor’s yard. It was a very breathless and disturbed Jose who summoned the Senora to witness the marvel, and while a tinge of regret was evident in his voice he artfully endeavored to make stock of the wonder as in same way standing for reparation for his unthankfulness. He said: “Ah, Senora, those who govern the universe appreciate your goodness and my unworthlnees. It is in answer to the prayers of one who is your debtor!’* —Josephine A. Allan.