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By lach Sioaae

Age not guaranteed---Somc I have told for 20 yets'-'Some Less A One-Mon Orchestrq

(Iames Szuinmerton, famous painter of desert and Indinn .\cenes, used to specialize itt stories of thinqs I'te sazu ar'd Iteard durin,g tlrc m.any years I'te spent in, the Pahfied Desert. He wsed, to sta,rt his stories in' this fashirtn: "What I am' going to tell you tooh place on the Painted Desert, on tl'te banks of the Little Colorado." The followitt.cl is another greo,t Iale he relatecl to nLe, sitting under a Redwood tree ir't Noriltcrn California long ago.)

A man riding across the desert stopped at sunset one Saturday evening at a small Mexican inn. He inquired of the old Mexican who ran the place, and who was sitting lazily in front of the door, what he had that was good to drink. The old man replied that he had some very good "Vino." So the traveler took a drink from the jug of "Vino."

Then the old Mexican asked him: "Can you, by any chance, play the harmonica?" FIe said he could. "Then," said the old Mexican, "I can play the guitar, and if you play the harmonica we will send out word to the boys and girls to come in, and we will have a Baile." A Baile meaning a dance. So the old Mexican started the runner out to spread the invitation to the Baile, and about that time the traveler took his second drink of "Vino."

The next thing he knew he was struggiing for consciousness. He finally made the grade and discovered that he $'as on the dirt floor inside the little Mexican inn, and all around him on the floor were sprawled the forms of various young folks of both sexes in all states of drunken unconsciousness. He got to his feet with great effort and made his way outside, feeling horrible, and there he found the same old Mexican who kept the inn, entirely unconcerned and calm. He said to the old man:

"Why am I so tired, and why are my lips all blistered?"

And he replied: "It is not surprising that you should be tired, or that your lips should be blistered, WHEN FOR THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS YOU HAVE PLAYED THE HARMONICA AT A BAILE.''