| Show dyff pepe W 0 astorp of 0 porto rico a S 5 sa s 4 14 W arill kj a 1 4 by captain H R lemly when the american Alne rican governor gen eral issued hia his famous jamous order requiring all children to be properly clothed in the street there was consternate con on in san juan previous to our mccu patton pation the lower or working classes had neer nener thought ot of putting clothes apon upon a young chi d especially in the country and as ap a result the island was filled with brown little adams and nd eves without even the bib leal ical bg leat leaf to hide their nakedness porto rico you must know Is near ly as thickly populated as belgium and nd many of the people are very poor to some parents it was a positive hardship to clothe their numerous off spring and moreover more moreover ovee it was nut not con necessary cezary ne because of the ml d climate the governor general how ever entertained other views to h a military and somewhat stern eye the of 0 the landscape was not enhanced by any silly number of naked babies he would have liked to put uniforms upon them such is the force of habit and education clothing them wae was at least a step in their americanization and to do him justice he believed that the somewhat abnormal mortality among the infants was due to their naked ness especially during the season of or and so the flat went wen t f fo 0 th for a few days the streets were al m t abandoned by the juvenile laton of the lower classes with dif faculty could I 1 procure a paper or get my shoes polished ana andr when the street arabs gradually reappeared in motley array the style and fit of their clothes was somewhat startling an adult a sack coat was not infrequently the only garment and in one instance rl 14 1 I aj a at t least a fathers waistcoat bad had to serve his email small son in lieu of a I 1 clothing the working classes ally inhabit the basements of the san juan houses where their apartments often without windows are grouped about a patio or central courtyard when an american officer a soldier or a native policeman approached one of these habitations there would be a scampering from the main door of naked children who disappeared like a cyclone in the gloom ol 01 the interior I 1 was the fortunate possessor of a smattering mattering of spanish and thia act fact led me to make a dally daily purchase of la Correspond encia the principal pa per of the city which was usually brought to me by a small urchin jose santos by name but better known by the diminutive of pepe pronounced pay pay pepe waa was old enough to I 1 now better perhaps but for reasons of economy and comfort his cloth a was generally limited to what might be called in hi his case a suit of prime lal i al innocence indeed clothes seemed to be abhor rent to pepe and when ho he conde scented to wear them at all they were never buttoned any old thing an the purpose if handy and if not pepe sold papers and polished shoes while he himself was as naked as on the day he was born his un of the fact was refresh ing after the publication of the clothing order however pepe digap feared from the public view indeed I 1 was now compelled to walk several blocks for la Correspond encia and I 1 wondered what had become of my smiling and usually alert little friend one day as I 1 parsed pa ased a densely pop basement in the calle dal cristo I 1 heard myself hailed in span ish by a child s voice say mister officer please let me talk to you a moment would bean be an english equiv alent of what was said but does not correctly translate tran late the polite porto mean rican spanish employed I 1 must tell you that latin american children are always courteous and for example it tt you ask the name of one of the tiniest of them he or she will g ve it in full and then add your little servant sir air in this instance the voice came from behind the open door and when I 1 stopped pepe s head ap feared come out of that pepe whai s the matter with you I 1 said I 1 can t come out mister I 1 ain t got no do clo es and I 1 cant can t bring yoa no more papers causee cause de perlice ran me in if they see me naked he re plied there is a vernacular in span ish all as well as in english well your father must get you some clothes I 1 aint ain t got no father mister then your mother must get them I 1 ain t got no mother neither poor child what do you want to talk to me abolt mister americano Amerl cano wont won t you stake stale me rae please lend me borne some money to get abet ault of do CIO es with ill polish your shoes and fetch your paper every day tor for nothing pepe 3 eyes shone like 1 black diamonds of 01 course the little tellow fellow was irre sis tible and the loan was made hap upon more advantageous terms tor for the young borrower one ameri amerl can dollar was hiorth nearly two la provincial coin and to encourage thrift as much as to try pepe I 1 agreed to let him work it out with the men tal reservation ot of paying him in full for his services it if he proved trust worthy and for a week no one could have been more faithful every ri orning la Correspond encia duly made its ap bearance pe arance and my shoes were neatly polished and then pepe comans more than the paper I 1 missed the smiling countenance the large and dark eyes the shock of blue blac 5 hair of my little friend his gratt tude I 1 could not doubt because n I 1 content with fulfilling hafg part of our bargain he had several times brought me in e fruit and only dalsted del sted from such practice upon my resolute and almost angry comman command d apparently pepa pepe was lost I 1 was loath to believe him unfaithful and inquired for him in ill the basement of the house in the calle del cristo from which he had accosted me but the inmates could give no tidings of him and I 1 never saw him again which Is a bad and unsatisfactory ending tor for this simple little story but alas it Is a truthful onel shortly alter after this episode I 1 left san juan and a few weeks later I 1 re calved a letter from the army burgeon surgeon in charge of the smallpox hospital in that city 0 of which the following Is a true extract from the description given me by the little fellow and the tact fact of your speaking spanish with these people I 1 am sure that you must be the officer in question he ile did not remember your name but said that his own was pepe in his last moments his chief concern was not himself but that you should receive ahe he dollar bill which I 1 enclose you need have no fear as it has been thoroughly disinfected |
