Prev | Current Page 316 | Next

Durham, Andrew Everett, 1882-1954

"Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana'"

An Indian builds his fire on the floor in the middle
of the house. I suppose the rain comes in the same way the smoke
goes out.

A WHALE OF A FUNDO
The big moment came: We were at the home of our host and hostess.
The big white house sits on a round natural knoll, the top of
which is about 100 feet above the surrounding ground. Flower
gardens practically surround the house and are about as well kept
and beautiful as any you will see anywhere; some mighty tall
eucalyptus trees; a fine cement tennis court with a judge's stand
and seats all around for spectators; double garage; a long,
turning, bowered walk leading from the base of the hill up to the
front door, the bower made of trimmed and trained small sycamore
trees.
A fundo in Chile corresponds to an Argentinean estancia--a big
farm to a whale of a big farm. This fundo has some 3,000 acres.
He has another down the road back toward Temuco. Fundo No. 1 has
a big Delco lighting system, so you know what that means--three
or four all time men.
I shall not try to account for the army of men and women this
"fundoist" (let's just coin another new word) employs, but I'll
give you a rough idea. He pays off through a window of his office
in the house.


Pages:
304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328