McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, August 29, 1940, Image 6
McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1940
.
Southwest Turns Back Its Clock [
Four Centuries to Honor the Exploits
Of Coronado, Spanish Conquistadore
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
N THIS year of invasions
of peace-loving countries,
of blitzkriegs and con
quests, it is somewhat ironical
that one section of the United
States, the only major power
not yet directly involved in
the second World war, should
be celebrating with pageants
and other ceremonies the in
vasion of American soil by
armed forces from Europe.
True, that invasion took place
400 years ago—two and a half
centuries before there was a
United States—and the coun
try which these European in
vaders set out to conquer was
occupied by nomadic tribes
of savages who were far from
being a peace-loving people.
It is also somewhat ironical
that the leader of the invaders,
who is being honored this year as
a great explorer, was regarded
as a failure by the powers who
sent him forth. He was Fran
cisco Vasquez de Coronado and
the 1940 Coronadk Cuarto-Centen-
nial celebration in Arizona and
New Mexico recalls the begin
ning, in 1540, of his epic journey
through the Great Southwest.
The events which it memorial
izes began 44 years after Colum
bus discovered the New World.
In 1536 Cabeza de Vaca and three
companions, who had followed
Narvaez on his voyage of explora
tion to Florida, began their long,
weary journey from what is now
Louisiana back to Mexico City.
They were the only survivors of
more than 60 adventurers,, who
had penetrated far into what is
now the United States in search
of gold. From the Indians they
heard tales of great cities to the
north where the houses were
studded with gold. Their imagi
nation fired by these yarns, they
eagerly repeated the stories
when they finally reached Mexico
City.
In 1539 the Spanish viceroy in
Mexico sent Friar Marcos de
Niza to check on the reports
which De Vaca had heard. His
« guide was the Negro, Estevan,
who had been with De Vaca
through all his wanderings and
Estevan, who pushed on ahead of
De Niza, sent back glowing re
ports of the great cities which
. lay ahead and their treasures.
Friar Marcos pushed on to see
for himself these great cities.
From a hilltop in what is now
New Mexico he looked down upon
adobe-walled cities gleaming in
the sunlight and his imagination
soon transformed these into the
reality of the legendary golden
Seven Cities of Cibola. Without
bothering to investigate further,
the friar hastened back to Mex
ico^ and his story stirred the gold
lust of the Spaniards anew. Sev
eral of the leaders in New Spain
fought for the honor of leading
an expedition to conquer this new
territory and recover the treas
ures of the Seven Cities of Cibola
but Francisco Vasquez de Coro
nado was finally chosen as the
lucky commander for the v6n-
, ture. ':
Spanish arms had completed
the conquest of Mexico and the
flower of Spanish chivalry rallied
to Coronado’s banners. On Feb
ruary 23, 1540, his army, com
posed of 250 horsemen, most of
them methbers of the nobility, 200
foot soldiers and 1,000 Indians—
grooms and servants of the Span
ish cavaliers—moved out of Com
postela to march north. They
were accompanied by great herds
of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs
for food and their camp supplies,
munitions an<J other provisions
were loaded on the backs of a
thousand horses and mules in
their pack trains.
Coronado’s expedition entered
what is now the United States
at the southern end of the Hua-
chuca mountains in the region of
Montezuma pass and Yaqui
springs in Arizona. But his huge
force with its pack trains and
herds of animals proved cumber
some and delayed the explorer’s
march unduly, so with a force of
picked troops Coronado moved on
ahead, north and east, into what
is now New Mexico.
The Spanish leader soon
learned that he was doomed to
disappointment. For instead of
finding the Seven Cities of Cibola
with their golden streets and
their jewel-studded houses, he
found only the seven villages of
the Zuni Indians in western New
Mexico. While they were impos
ing in size, with great houses ris
ing five stories high and built of
adobe, stone and wood, there was
no gold whatsoever in them.
Pushing eastward, Coronado
came to the largest city in what
was to become the United States.
It was the pueblo of Pecos, which
had 500 warriors who boasted
that they had never been defeat
ed.
But awed by the glitter and
.. . . .
Don Diego de Vargas, played by an actor in the Santa Fe Fiesta,
kneels in the Plaza of ancient Santa Fe to give thanks for the recon*
quering of New Mexico. (Santa Fe railway photo.)
mystery of the Spanish arms, the
warriors of Pecos decided not to
try to resist the invaders. In
stead they welcomed Coronado
into their town with drums and
pipes of peace and gifts of tur
quoise and native-woven cloth.
But again there was no gold or
other treasure to reward the
white men for their long journey.
Later the Indians of Pecos began
to regret their hospitality to the
strangers, so one of them, nick
named the Turk, was persuaded
to lure these gold-hungry white
men away to the northeast by
promising to show them the
Gran Quivera, a city of silver and
gold.
On to Gran Quivera.
Instead of starting directly for
the Gran Quivera, Coronado
seems to have marched south and
eastward to investigate other In
dian pueblos. He next turned
east and pushed on into what is
now the state of Texas where he
marched for weeks over arid des
erts and trackless prairies, con
stantly harassed by hostile Indi
ans who were more dangerous
foemen than the peaceful inhabi
tants of the pueblos.
After circling around in the
Staked Plain region of the future
Lone Star state, he turned north
to seek the Gran Quivera and
As night falls on the first day
of the Santa Fe fiesta, the giant
effigy of “Zozobra, or Dull Care,”
is burned as the climax of the
fireworks display. (Santa Fe rail
way photo.)
near the present site of Wichita,
Kan., found—not the treasure
houses of gold which the Turk
had promised but a land where
the only human habitations were
skin tepees and grass lodges. It
is believed that Coronado got as
far east as the Palo Duro canyon
in the Texas Panhandle and dur
ing his wanderings he was the
first white man to cross such
rivers as the Canadian, the Red,
the Cimarron and the Arkansas.
Disappointed again in his
search for cities of gold, Coro
nado started back toward Mex
ico. His return journey took him
through southwestern Kansas,
across the “panhandle” of Okla
homa, thence westward across
northern New Mexico to the Sev
en Cities of Cibola (the Zuni
towns) again, and on westward
through northern Arizona. The
first white man to see the won
ders of the Grand canyon were
members of a detachment of Cor
onado’s army who gazed in awe
upon that vast emptiness.
Retreat to Mexico.
For two winters Coronado made
his headquarters at Tiguex, an
Indian pueblo located near the
present town of Bernalillo, N. M.
Returning there in the fall of 1541
from his vain quest for the Gran
Quivera, he found his main army
disgruntled and homesick for
Mexico. In the spring of 1542 he
suffered a severe injury and
while he was on his sickbed, his
captains signed a petition to re
turn to Mexico. They finally ob
tained his reluctant consent and
soon afterwards the indomitable
leader set out on the return jour
ney over the route he had tra
versed with such high hopes two
years earlier.
Although Coronado’s expedition
was, in the eyes of his contem
poraries, a sad failure because he
had not brought back the gold
and other treasure that was ex
pected of him, history has writ
ten his expedition down as one of
the greatest land explorations of
all time. Moreover, it gave Spain
a claim to a vast new territory
in the New World and established
in the Southwest a civilization,
many traces of which still sur
vive after the passage of four
centuries.
Half a century after Coronado’s
expedition, another led by Don
Juan Onate came into the valley
of the Rio Grande and, establish
ing settlements all along the
river, he set up his first capital
at San Gabriel, six miles north
of Espanola af the mouth of the
Chama river. Some time be
tween 1606 and 1610, Don Pedro
de Peralta, the third governor of
Spanish New Mexico, established
the city of Santa Fe and this an
cient city, which has been the
seat of government of province,
territory and state under old
Spain, Mexico and the United
States, is the scene of one of the
most important events of “Coro
nado year,” although it has been
observed every year for two cen
turies.
It is the Santa Fe Fiesta, one
of the oldest continuously ob
served celebrations held in the
United States. It commemorates
the reconquest in 1692 by Don
Diego de Vargas of the vast ter
ritory which had been lost to the
Spanish authorities in the great
Pueblo revolt of 1680. Held on
August 31, September 1 and 2, the
first day of the fiesta is given
over to gaiety with the populace
and visitors in Spanish costumes,
native orchestras playing in the
Plaza and dancing by the Indians
from the pueblos near by. In the
evening there is. a picturesque
ceremony, the burning of a giant
effigy of “Zozobra, or Dull Care,”
and the crowning of the fiesta
queen.
Sunday morning is devoted to
time-honored services in the an
cient cathedral and in the after
noon the colorful pageant of the
re-entry of De Vargas and his
armored conquerors into the cap
ital is held in the Plaza. That
night there is a candle-light pro
cession to the Cross of the Mar
tyrs overlooking the city. On
Monday the children hold their
costume and pet show in the
Plaza, in the afternoon there is
more pageantry through . the
streets of the city and the climax
of the fiesta comes that night with
native dances and songs on the
balconies of La Fonda, the lead
ing Santa Fe hotel, dancing in
the streets and finally El Baile de
Los Conquistadores (the Ball of
the Conquerors) at La Fonda.
Thus for three days, Santa Fe,
the capital of New Mexico, turns
the clock back two and a half cen
turies just as the whole Southwest
has been turning its thoughts
back all this “Coronado year” to
the days of that great explorer
and his mail-clad conquistadores.
FIRST-AID
io the
AILING HOUSE
by Roger B. Whitman
(© Roger B. Whitman—WNU Service.)»
Cleaning Pewter.
Q UESTION: How is pewter cleaned
and polished?
Answer—Immerse the pewter in
a solution of one-third cup of lye in
two quarts of water. After three
hours the dinginess will begin to
loosen, and can be rubbed off. In
very bad cases, much longer im
mersion is necessary, but in that
event a fresh solution should be used
every six or eight hours. The pew
ter should be watched and kept in
the solution no longer than neces
sary. The immersion should be com
plete. Any part out of the solution
will form a line, which cannot be
eradicated. Wood handles should
be taken off or kept out of the solu
tion. After removal from the solu
tion, rinse the article with plenty of
clear water. To brighten the metal
use a good quality metal polish as
soon as possible after cleaning. Be
cause of the corrosive effect of lye,
wear rubber gloves and avoid spat
tering the solution.
Cod Liver Oil Stains.
Question: How can cod liver oil
stains be removed from cotton
goods?
Answer: When fresh, cod liver oil
stains can be taken out with carbon
tetrachloride. Place the stained part
over a thick pad of cloth and apply
carbon tetrachloride liberally. The
pad will absorb the oil as it is dis
solved. With the carbon tetrachlor
ide still in the cloth, wash with soap
and water. Another remedy is to
rub the stain with a mixture of 1
tablespoon soap flakes and 2 table
spoons of boiling water, with 2 ta
blespoons amyl acetate added after
the soap and water mixture begins
to thicken. Rub well, and after the
stain has been rubbed away, wash
with warm suds. When cod liver oil
stains have been laundered, they be
come set, and the brown stain is
almost impossible to remove.
Cracked Wallpaper.
Question: A chimney goes up the
wall of a bedroom, and wallpaper
always cracks in the corners. In
repapering the rooms, how can we
prevent this?
Answer: That cracking may be
due either to the settling of the
chimney or to expansion and con
traction with changes of tempera
ture. One cure is to put quarter-
round moulding in the corners,
nailed to the wall only, these mould
ings to be painted with the trim in
the room. Another idea is to bring
the wallpaper on the wall only up
to the chimney, whUe wallpaper on
the chimney is brought only to the
wall; in other words, the paper does
not go across the corners.
Selling Old Furniture.
Question: I have a lot of furniture
over 80 years old. The woodwork is
perfect; not scratched or marred,
although the upholstery is somewhat
affected by age. I would like to
sell it. I, know there are people
who would buy such furniture, but in
our town we could not get much of
a price. Can you make any sug
gestions?
Answer: Your best move will be
to take photographs of the different
pieces to show design and details as
clearly as possible, and to send these
to antique dealers in nearby large
cities. It would be a stroke of luck
for you to get into contact with a
purchaser; your best chance is to
work through dealers.
Grease on Flagstone.
Question: Tell me how to remove
grease from bluestone flagging. I
have tried soda and water, but
\gould like better results. Some
times this solution leaves large white
spots. How do I remove the white
from the soda?
Answer: Make a paste of hydrat
ed lime and a half and half mix
ture of benzine and carbon tetra
chloride. Put this on the stain at
least an inch thick, then cover with
canvas to check evaporation. Scrub
bing with washing soda and hot wa
ter, followed by thorough rinsing
with clear wat§r will also remove
grease, and should not leave white
spots.
Shellac Over Wax.
Questiort: Is it possible to get a
satisfactory finish with either shel
lac or varnish over wood that has
previously been given a coat of
paste wax?
Answer: No. The wax must first
be removed by wiping thoroughly
with turpentine. Shellac or varnish
ov§r wax will not dry.
Chimney Construction.
Question: In using a flue liner in
'the chimney, should there be a
space between the liner and the
brickwork? If so, how much?
Answer: No air space should be
provided; the space between the lin
er and the brickwork should be filled
by pouring in soft concrete.
Fiber Rug.
Question: I am told that shellac
on a reversible fiber rug will im
prove wear and prevent spots. Do
you advise it?
Answer: Shellac would be too brit
tle to use on fiber. It would chip
off. Thin varnish would be better.
Stained Piano Keys.
Question: The tops of piano keys
are turning ajl shades of brown.
How can I clean them?
Answer: If the keys are ivory and
the staining has gone through, there
is no remedy. Otherwise, try rub
bing with French chalk moistened
with alcohol, or bleaching with pen
oxide of hydrogeii.
/ £>.
yOU can’t just wear any old slip
* and expect your small-waisted
frocks to have the smooth, suave,
round-bosomed line they should
aarve. Here’s a design (1892-B)
especially planned to do its part
toward figure-flattery, and to fit
as only a slip you make to your
measure can fit. The top has
bosom gathers to give you a little
extra fullness. The waistline is
dart-fitted so that it melts into
your middle just beautifully.
These are simple details, very
easy to do, but they make all the
difference in the fit of your slip,
and therefore in the fit of your
frocks. There are seven easy
steps in your detailed sew chart.
Make yourself a whole wardrobe
of slips like this, light and dark,
of satin, lingerie crepe or taffeta,
and some batistes and linens for
your coming cottons.
Barbara Bell Pattern No. 1892-B
is designed for sizes 14, 16, 18,
20; 40 and 42. Corresponding bust
measurements 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 and
42. Size 16 (34) requires 2% yards
of 39-inch material without-nap for
built-up shoulders; 2^4 yards for
strap style; 11 yards of shirred
lace. Send order to:
SEWING CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT.
Room 1324
211 W. Wacker Dr. Chicago
Enclose 15 cents in coins for
Pattern No Size
Name
Address
Party Symbols
As the foremost cartoonist of his
time, Thomas Nast is generally
recognized by researchers as the
man who introduced the donkey
and elephant as symbols, respec
tively, of the Democratic and Re
publican parties. Although the
donkey was used occasionally to
lampoon Democrats in Andrew
Jackson’s day, it apparently did
not acquire national status as a
symbol until Nast drew it in a
political cartoon in Harper’s
Weekly in 1870. He did not intro
duce the Republican elephant un
til 1874.
In both cases, he meant the
symbols to be uncomplimentary
—the donkey was supposed to rep
resent Democratic stubbornness
and stupidity, while the elephant
was supposed to represent Repub
lican clumsiness and timidity.—.
Pathfinder.
AROUND
the HOUSE
l©
El
Items of Interest
to the Housewife
The broad side of a knife which
has been dipped in cold water will
flatten cookies so that they may
be more easily rolled.
* * •
Store salad oil in a dry, cold
place. Keep coffee, tea, sugar,
baking powder, spices, soda,
cream of tartar and cereals tight
ly covered in a dry, dark place.
• * *
Lemon slices cut thin and sprin
kled with chopped parsley, served
alternately with plain lemon
slices, add much to the attractive
ness of a fish salad.
* * *
Metal teapots sometimes give a'
“musty” flavor to tea made in
them. To prevent this, store a
lump of sugar in the pot. When
you’re ready to use the pot rinse
it in boiling water.
* * •
Save your kitchen towels this
way: Place a roll of paper towel
ing near the sink. Use the paper
to clean greasy pans, to wipe up
spilled foods and to wipe out
the sink strainer.
A tablespoon of vinegar poured
into glue that has become hard
ened in a bottle will soften it.
• * •
To cool a pie quickly as soon as
it comes from the oven place it
on a colander and the air qan cir
culate under it so that it will cool
quickly.
Love the Lovely
Never marry but for love, but
see that thou lovest what is love
ly.—William Penn.
1i
WINGS OF COOLNESS FOR
TIRED FEET THAT HURT WITH
HEAT. DUST ON FAMOUS
MEXICAN HEAT POWPER.y
Being Virtuous
Be virtuous and you will be ec
centric, yet blessed.
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