Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1869-09-23
Brazil.
A Curious Social Custom.


eolors, alternate with the gray anC
venerable gloom Uf stfuahres whiel
are coeval with The earliest Jesui
occupancy Of the town. The caihe
dral and some Of the churches art
ancient, while their envnoDiDg struc
lures are Of recent origin, and dis
play the glowing colors and intricate
arabesque devices lin which the
southern races appear TO delight
Mingled with these are habiGation;
OF extreme sQIalor, anu not unlre.
! gently the genuine Para hut, with
its long, sloping roof Of thatcb, and
its surrounding Of high wooden
palisades, asserts its claim to at.
tentioH and admiration. OF old
these palisades contrived a defense
against the incursions of the sava.
ges, and they are iu many cases yet
retained from habit. 80
/ noticed several 2en-buiIt and
spacious residences which were thus
surrounded. The stakes were twelve
or fifteen feet high, and placed close
together, forming an impossible bar
ricade. Some of the residences of
the Wea.thier Paranese are spacious
and elegant, surrounded by large
gardens, in which flowers Of every
tropic variety bloomed in a profusion
unknown in our soberer climes. as
they have no climatic IigOrs to combat
save those of rain and heat, their
habitatioDs are devised with sole ref
erence to protecting them from the
sun and the rain. At night, when
the houses are thrown open, they
have the look of paviliOns. You
may, perhaps, see the members of
The family reclining in chairs or
hammocks, smoking, drinking lem
onade or coffee, and il is likely that
you may hear the civilized click of
the billiard balls or the rippling mu-
sic of the piano. ! took a long
drive through tie town at night in
company with an American gentle
man resident there, and owing to
the extra. mural and unreserved
usages Of the to Tn. had an excellent
opportunity Of making Asmodean
observations. Nobodyin Para seems
to think Of drawing a curtain OF
yelling the strictest personal con-
eeros of life from the contemplation
of the public. | saw a good many
toilets making and nnmakiDg ip ev-
cry possible strge 9 of progress and
demolition. Peeping Tom Of Gov
entry would have been quite in bis
element here. Tradition affiirms
tha. bis curiosity cost him an eye;
if similar penalty were exacted Of
the Paranese for the contemplation
Of each pude GOdiya, one. would
need more eyes than Argus. | saw
a very old woman With long gray
hair, clad only in a night gown,
kneeling before a crncifix. In the
next house colored family appeared
to be adjusting little domestic dis
pute, and the air was clouded with
flying wool. Three cOlIee-coIored-
nympbs, scarcely more attired than
Adadyomence when "a
s'Her clear limbs enticcd
All lips that now grow with kissing
stood or reclined within a lamp-litI
chamber, where there we're birds,
and monkeys, and tsmbours, and
thin gauzy tapestry. and NETS Of
leopard.skins, as unconscious OF
observation as SpsaDDah may have
been Of the unpIieslIy and Uncano-
nical contemplation of the elders.
Nor did this casual display of the
brown and unadorned graces Of
the Paranese nymphs impress one asl
being seriously out Of place or i'm
proper. They we're naked and un-
ashamed, like Eve in the Garden,
or like The forest maideDs Wha elus-
tered upon the beach and looked
with wonder upon the white winged
gqlleys Of Conmbus,upen The knights
In shining mail, the bapners Of ST.,
Jago, and the Gross which the dis
.coveries planted in the land. : Hr-
peFs Magazine.
2