s and girls, all were taking part; no one paid attention to any other
person, but each seemed to be trying to prove himself the most agile of
the party. All were drunk, some astonishingly so. Occasionally a
dancer would bump against such an one, who would fall head over heels.
Immediately picking himself up, he would go at it again, with even
greater vigor; sometimes one fell, of himself, in a helpless heap,
and lay where he fell, until kicked out of the way or until the music
stopped. All around was pandemonium; yelling, singing, cursing, fighting
were in progress; the jail was crowded, but every now and then a new
case was dragged up; for an instant the door was opened, and against the
crowd, pushing from within, the new prisoner would be crowded into the
cell. At one time in the evening a cry arose that a murder was being
committed in the jail. The door was opened, the policemen crowded in,
and the two men who had clinched and were battling were torn apart. One
was dragged outside and thrown into the woman's jail, and for a time the
air was blue with the most insulting cries. Convinced that no work
could be done in the afternoons, we labored with the greatest possible
diligence each morning. The first morning, going to the town-house,
we ordered subjects to be brought. The _presidente_ was drunk; the
_sindico_ also; still, some of the town officials were found in
a condition able to do our bidding. Having measured a few of the
officials, we proposed to take such prisoners as still remained in the
jail, from the batch of the preceding day. There were eighteen of these,
and with them we made a good beginning. Among the prisoners we found our
first subject for modelling. Oiling him, we began to make the moulds.
The back-piece had been applied; the second piece, covering the lower
part of the face and upper chest, was hardening, and we were busily
engaged in putting on the final application over the upper part of the
face. At this moment the _presidente_ staggered into the jail. When
his eyes fell upon our subject, he stopped aghast; for a moment he was
unable to speak; then he groaned out the words, "O horrible spectacle!
To think of seeing a son of this town in such a position!" As I was
beginning to laugh and ridicule him, the old mother of the young man
came bursting into the jail, weeping and trembling, to see what fate had
overtaken her son. Wringing her hands, the tears rolled down her face,
and her voice was choked