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Show LIFE IN GUATEMALA. tleppr-Oo-l.urkr Disposition or Asaer lenna l.oeald Thorn. It Is one of the Ironies of fate that fond parents with dlsHlpatod sons should si nd them lo the tropics In the hope that the outdoor llfo and new surroundings will reform them, writes a (lusteiiiulun correspondent. The experiment ex-periment has heel msdo Uiany tlmee with disastrous results, and nowadays, when a young fellow steps down the gangplank at any Central American port the American and Kuropean veterans vet-erans whu have fur years keen on their wsy to the devil via the tropics, mutter lyultully; .'Due uiure unrortuuata. Wonder If ho has any g'Mid money to sell,"' and as a preliminary to conversation, conver-sation, aek the newcomer lo take a drink. If he lakes the first one. It Is g'-erally all off with reform, and the chances are ten to one that he will drink from three to five times as much as ho did st home. There are men, of course, who are strung-enough to resist the temptation to drink, hut. they are even fewer than one would expect. Indeed, It Is only natural that It should be so, since there Is every Inducement to forget r""senl miseries in drink and few reaa.'., fur not doing so. Whllo the tropics contain con-tain many white" men, ss distinguished distin-guished from unlives, who are of the finest rhaiucler and highest attainments, attain-ments, It Is unfortunately true that they also contain more than their full share of men who hnvo made a failure of life elsewhere. . I.lfe In Guatemala, as elsewhere south ot Mexico, Is a strange medloy ot civilisation and barbarism, grim life and death struggles, and . happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care humor. To begin be-gin with, the absence of public opinion makes every man a law unto himself to a lorge extent The constant never-falling source of Jnkes, and oaths as well, Is the money. When a man lands In the country with $ln0 and suddenly sud-denly finds that he has $h00 he Is spt to think It Is a fine country and to throw away what he has ss If It hsd no valuo whatever. The rate of exchange Is constantly varying, and as all railroad rail-road salaries are paid In the native currency, no man knows what he will be drawing at tha end. |
