"South of the Border"

Indeed, the little girl is very, very pretty and for this portrait in happiness are we indebted to our photographer, Max Kegley, who found her one day seventy-five miles south of the border at a little fishing port in Sonora, Old Mexico, called Punta Punasco, or "Rocky Point."

She was busy in the morning sun, cleaning fish that her father had caught out in the Gulf of California. The sparkle of bright sun on the wet sand of the beach, and the silvery foam of the breakers reflecting the brilliance of the sunbeams could not match the freshness of her smile nor the exuberance of her personality. She lives in a happy, sunny land and hers is the joy of youth.

Her people are fishing folk, simple Mexican people, whose meager living comes from the sea. There is always fish to catch, and often in the winter "los americanos" come in their cars from over the desert to fish, too, and they always pay for the boats they fish in and they always pay for service they get; so it is very nice when "los americanos" come in the winter.

The engineers from Mexico City are there now, at the Punta, and they are building a fine road to the border to make it easier for the visitors to come each year. So her little village is lively and they say when the road is finished it will be livelier still.

Life is always very exciting for our Margarita. It is fun to play in the sand with her brothers and sisters and fun to watch the boats come and go with their fish, and great fun when "los americanos" come in their cars over the desert. When the wind blows from the sea very hard the wavesare big and it is fun to play in the water, but most fun when the sun is hot in summer and the water is cool and fresca to wade and swim in. Que alegria.

Sometimes, but not very often, she goes with her father and mother to Sonoyta, the town at the border, where the church is and where there are many people and houses.

It is only seventy-five miles from Punta Punasco but when people are poor, they can't travel often; so for Margarita a trip to Sonoyta is always one of high adventure. And it is nice to return to the sand and the sea where her home is, and to tell of the things she saw at Sonoyta.

Margarita typifies her people and her race. Hers is the blood of far-off Spain and the blood of the Indians who were here when the Spaniards came. From that admixture is the heritage of the Mexican race, and such is her heritage.

In Margarita is pictured all the picturesqueness of Old Mexico. Centuries of poverty have left no mark of defeat or bondage. Nor can you find there that dull yearning for lost horizons that is found in some peoples.

Margarita's land is a gay land, full of laughter and easy living. She represents the joy that simple, unspoiled people find in everyday existence-joyous living with unbounded pleasure in the small things of life. One does not expect too much from life, and one is grateful for what life brings. Margarita plays in the sun on her beach. There is always sunshine and the sea where the boats come and go with the fish. And the white sand is soft under her feet. And she is very happy. . . . R. C.