XIV
That they are so friendly, despite their fancied grievances, is a tribute to the natural kindliness of these people.
Even in Nicaragua, although the press may attack the gringo, the people as a whole are cordial to any individual American who will meet them half-way.
“I went home last year,” said one of the Old-Timers. “I’d been here for ten years, but no one in my own town seemed to make much of a fuss over me. They just shook hands and remarked, ‘Let’s see; you’ve been away, haven’t you?’ But when I came back and stepped off the train in Managua, every porter and coachman on the platform recognized me. The bootblacks grinned all over their dirty brown faces. And my neighbors all came hurrying to my house to hug me, and slap me on the back, and make those funny gurgling noises. That was my real homecoming.”