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""Leno and Maria: A Success Story"" by Vincent P. Cano - 1985

Page 6

   "I have already put the pistola in the wagon, my husband." Jesusa replied as she broke his embrace to check on the progress of the children. "Otilio, you have not even begun to get dressed. Did you not hear your father? Maria, chinfloja, where is your other shoe? Look, the one that you have on is on the wrong foot." She darted through the empty house searching for the missing shoe. Frustrated, she turnmned to find her husband near the front door patiently waiting.

   "Zeferino, you must have packed Maria's shoe in the wagon. I cannot find it anywhere. Oh, well, it will turn up I am sure. Come on children, let us get started. By the way querido, this comparing you do with this Don Luis Terrazas has got to stop. Do you think he compares you with everything that he does? You are not a little boy anymore, Zeferino."

   As the small loaded down wagon bounced over the knotty road leading from the Hacienda de Pantoja, the clatter of pots and pans caught the attention of an old man hoeing in a nearby field. His effort to stand erect suddenly stopped and gave in to the many years he had not spent in the fields and his legs trembled as if the sky itself was resting on his shoulders. As the wagon came closer and slowly passed him, he recognized the driver to be the same who as a young boy accompanied his father senor Juan Rodriguez to the fields. The old man removed his sweat stained straw sombrero and as he slowly waived to the family he said to himself.

   "Vaya, no one is to say a dream cannot be had except oneself in spite of the fact that wealth is to be had by only the few."

   When Diaz assumed control of Mexico in 1876, and held that control for a third of a century, the country was hopelessly backward. It seemed to be hardly affected by the science, technology, or material conquests other countries were experiencing in the late nineteenth century. In the fifty-five years of independence from France, the presidency changed hands seventy-five times. the revolving door of the palace in the Capital made continuity of policy impossible.

   To change this, Diaz believed he must first change MExico's image and replace that revolving door permanently with lock and key and this he was able to do. Cementing his political position and stabilizing the country, Mexico entered a period of continued economic growth the liked of which she never had. She entered the modern age. Steam, water, and electric power began to replace animal and human muscle. Unfortunately, he selected those who would hold the keys to open the doors to this better life. Yes, he had developed his country but at the expense of his countrymen sealing himself off from the start realities of the Mexican masses. The material benefits of the age of modernization in no way reached these people.

   Unrest shook the country. For example, Mexican workers at one of the copper mines went out on strike. Complaints were many and justified. Mexicans were paid

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"I have already put the pistola in the wagon, my husband." Jesusa replied as she broke his embrace to check on the progress of the children. "Otilio, you have not even begun to get dressed. Did you not hear your father? Maria, chinfloja, where is your other shoe? Look, the one that you have on is on the wrong foot." She darted through the empty house searching for the missing shoe. Frustrated, she turnmned to find her husband near the front door patiently waiting. "Zeferino, you must have packed Maria's shoe in the wagon. I cannot find it anywhere. Oh, well, it will turn up I am sure. Come on children, let us get started. By the way querido, this comparing you do with this Don Luis Terrazas has got to stop. Do you think he compares you with everything that he does? You are not a little boy anymore, Zeferino." As the small loaded down wagon bounced over the knotty road leading from the Hacienda de Pantoja, the clatter of pots and pans caught the attention of an old man hoeing in a nearby field. His effort to stand erect suddenly stopped and gave in to the many years he had not spent in the fields and his legs trembled as if the sky itself was resting on his shoulders. As the wagon came closer and slowly passed him, he recognized the driver to be the same who as a young boy accompanied his father senor Juan Rodriguez to the fields. The old man removed his sweat stained straw sombrero and as he slowly waived to the family he said to himself. "Vaya, no one is to say a dream cannot be had except oneself in spite of the fact that wealth is to be had by only the few." When Diaz assumed control of Mexico in 1876, and held that control for a third of a century, the country was hopelessly backward. It seemed to be hardly affected by the science, technology, or material conquests other countries were experiencing in the late nineteenth century. In the fifty-five years of independence from France, the presidency changed hands seventy-five times. the revolving door of the palace in the Capital made continuity of policy impossible. To change this, Diaz believed he must first change MExico's image and replace that revolving door permanently with lock and key and this he was able to do. Cementing his political position and stabilizing the country, Mexico entered a period of continued economic growth the liked of which she never had. She entered the modern age. Steam, water, and electric power began to replace animal and human muscle. Unfortunately, he selected those who would hold the keys to open the doors to this better life. Yes, he had developed his country but at the expense of his countrymen sealing himself off from the start realities of the Mexican masses. The material benefits of the age of modernization in no way reached these people. Unrest shook the country. For example, Mexican workers at one of the copper mines went out on strike. Complaints were many and justified. Mexicans were paid