Francisco Our Little Argentine Cousin

ing to keep out of the sun. Just after café he had started out under the shade of the east wall, where wistaria vines and jasmine grew in a dense mass of purple, yellow and g

ral, stone-paved courtyard, had long since been closed securely, for it was middl

to sit crosslegged on the red and white square stones of the patio, with his back to the main

nd his two sisters, Elena Maria, who was six, and Guillerma Maria, who was eighteen and very beauti

ht Argentina her liberty nearly one hundred years ago, his family was one of the most distinguished in the Republic. Francisco's own grandfather had given his life for his patria during the ten years' blockade of Buenos Aires, when the French and English forces combin

park, where the statue of General San Martin on his rearing charger stands, a constant reminder to the hundreds of little Argentine boys and girls who daily play in

t sufficient to allow them to live in luxury, and to-day, because Francisco had not enough money to buy his C

for Argentina is a land of fiestas; there is scarcely a month that does not allow three or four holidays from school because of some fiesta, either of church or state. Although they do not celebrate this great holiday a

foot, with folded hands, stands Joseph, the father. About them, placed in sand or moss, that forms the floor of the stable or yard, are figures to represent the worshipful neighbours, also the farm-yard fowls and animals; cows and donkeys predominating. They look like Noah's Ar

th American children while their eyes are closed in sleep, come the three richly decorated and delicate

neeling beside the manger, the faithful camels standing in the grass without, and all about on the floor are the wonderful gifts that the kings have brought to their peseb

nd up in an old handkerchief, but his enthusiasm was not lessened because of it. He knew exactly how they should be carved, and how many there

were too vividly red, but that would not matter; Elena was no severe critic, and it was mainly for her that he was carving them. Elena had been ill and this was to be her "getting well" gift. Th

summer holidays in December, January, and February, when the children of the Northern hemisphere are busy in school, or skating and sleighing; a

. But you see their meal hours, like their seasons, are different from ours. At eight o'clock he had had his cafe con leche, or coffee with hot mil

ady for almuerzo. When he entered the dining-room his mother and Guillerma, the elder sister, were

then came fried fish with garlic, followed by a stew of mutton, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, and large pieces of yellow

lle San Martin, where she had been the day before, to bid her aunt and six cousins good-bye, before their departur

at at his massive library table playing solitaire. He always ended his meals thus with his after-dinner

ree open air, enjoying the quiet and solitude he so loved. But the daughters must be educated and their mother did not like the country, so the Colonel was forced to live through the winter months in the noise and roar of the great city; contenting himself with a few months each summer at the estate, when he rode at will over the wide prairies on his swift Argentine horse, or read for hours under the shade of the wide spreading ombú trees which surrounded the country house. This estánci

had left the evening before, with several French maids, for Mar-de-la-Plata to spend the entire s

hter, and the luxuriantly furnished patio with its marble floors, and softly pattering fountains, seemed to mock him of his loneliness. Always before, he had left for the es

for the country, in his widowed sister's humble home, when the splendid thought cam

e had no son of his own, partly because the boy was developing so many manly traits, and reminded him f

to let him have Francisco for the summer, and the boy would keep the empty house lively for the few days un

er," he ordered, and turned to his bed-room for the siesta, or rest,

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