The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1859-06-02
Paraguay Manners and Customs.
BY A TRAVELLER.

sin, was invited by Scnor y. to dinner
and having accepted tho invitation,
went on the following day at the late
and fashionable hour Of two o'clock
Several friends we're assembled for the
occasion, but at the table l was placed
between two Of the Misses j., young
and blooming (for most Of the females
of Ascounsin are very fair,) and with
out doubt very pretty women. Guess,
then my confusion, to find that we were
waited on at the dinner table by halt
dozen boys and girls, little slaves, all
perfectly nude. Their livers had cost
nothing, not one Of them had dressed
for dinner they were one and all, in
statue nutuyc. At first fdgitted myself
in my chair, and threw furtive glanccs
around bat seeing every one on either
side Of me, including my fair compan-
ions, as composed as if the most rigid
decorum had been studded, | gradually
recovered my serenity, and learned
thence forward to know that whatever
has become the custom Of the country,
is never supposed by the people to have
anything outre inhabit! | got SO accus
toned to those unclotlcd attendants,
during my sojourn in Paraguay and
Corientc, that on my return to Boston
Ayres, | thought there was great aifec-
tation in dressing out the same class
Of servants there from top to toe. =
CONVERSATION.
As the body is left loose and unre-
strained Ivy dress in Paraguay, 50 the
conversation Of all classes is the most
insophisticated in its construction that
can be imagined. There is no circum
spection, no subtlcty, nomode of speech
by which one thing is made to stand for
another. at dinner, or any other occa.
sion, right before their daughters, the
parents sometimes give dissertations on
domestic medicines, &c, which makes a
strangers blood run cold, but which
they discourse about with all the yalu-
bility of clever mothers, In their matur
er years, who have raised large family
by dint Of t.eir constant application to
the system Of the doctor, and to which
their daughters listen as gravcly through
the details as if they were hearing coun-
sells on the improvement Of the mind.
NIGHT HABITS.
In the principal streets Of tho city
long and continuous creditors are built,
which run along on one side Of it. The
principal shopkeepers and merchants
who inhabit this part of the town, on
very warm nights Of summer, converts
these corridors into common bed rooms
The portable beds Of these citizens are
drawn out ranged along the coward,
way, and it was curious to sec them, as
you passed along toward ten o'clock at
night preparing for bed, and some al.
ready enjoying their nights repose.--
Some were to be seen setting on the side
Of their stretchers, yawning, or smok-
ing their cigars others undressing with
the greatest sang froid-here one snor
ing, there one conversing with his next
neighbor-and one unconscious Of the
oddity Of the scene in the eyes of a
stranger. The same custom prevailed
more or less through the city, beds and
stretchers obstructing them in every di-
rection, Very little police is exercised
in Ascounsin, but such . thing as rob-
berry or theft committed during the
night, is unheard Of, and in fact such
security was felt and enjoyed that peo
pie rest without any nocturnal fears.
The Alta Californian Of April goth
reports tho massacre by the Indians Of
thirteen white men out Of party Of
seventeen, on their way from Pixies
Peak to California. The tragedy took
place on the 18th Of March, north ct
Mojave river. One Of tho four survi-
vors subsequently died, and the three
remaining had reached safety on the
Colorado. Their names are w. Cole
man, Q. Bonyrgo and .. ?. Brown.
non't read any more in this column