The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-09-28

A STREET IN RIo.-Rosario is an old
Moorish street full of balconies which
project over the roadway, so that lovers
living on opposite sides Of the street could
almost hand their amorous missives across
to each other, or if very long-waisted
steal a furtiye and illicit kiss across the
intervening space. The houses are gen.
orally OF two stories, though some have
third, and others send their long. slopine
concave roofs almost to the ground
Scarcely any two are alike, though SINH
lar character prevades all. All are rooted
with the red tiles which seem to be ex.
clusively employed for that purpose in
Brazil, and the roofs usually project for
some distance beyond the walls as an ad.
ditional protection from the sun and rain.
The material employed in these struc.
lures is generally granite but the walls
are covered with kind of coarse plaster
or stucco, and in many cases painted in
variegated colors. The prevalence of
bright tints imparts a cheerful aspect to
the street, which otherwise, from its mar.
rowness and the deep shade in which it is
involved during the greater part of the
day, would wear gloomy and dismal ap-
pearance. In the evening these narrow
causeways are lighted by lamps suspend.
ed from brackets which are fixed against
the walls of the houses, and it is then
that they take on their most attractive
and animated aspect. They swarm with
life, and the pavements murmur with in
Vulnerable feet. Troops of blacks, re.
leased from the toll of the day, gather
about the shop doors, and the lamplight
burns upon their dusky faces and kindles
in their melancholy lustrous eyes They
do their brightest attire for this harmless
evening recreation, and some are as COR.
geous as tiger-illies. Turbans and ear
rings and strings of golden beads, armlet.
Of curious form and device, decorate the
women while such of the men as have
achieved a stove-pipe hat and a pair Of
shoes appear to have realized their ulti-
mate ideal Of personal splendor, and to
feel that beyond these achievements there
are no sartorial worlds to conquer. The
shoe in Brazil is the symbol Of freedom.
dage. The social gulf which yawns be-
tween the shod and the unshod black i
something Tartarcan and unfathomable
The conquest of the shoe entities its con-
queror to wear a beard, and if nature in
dorses this arbitrary privilege he is GER
tain Of much consideration from his less
fortunate fellows. They reverence the
tuft Of wool upon his chin as other races
reverence the coronet, the mitrc, or the
ribbon Of the garter.
Color opposes no obstacle Of social or
educational progress i'll Brazil. Neither
law nor prejudice stands in the way Of
the negro who desires to become doctor
of laws, chancellor, or even minister
Of state. The public schools, high and
low, are open to them, and they seem to
minglc upon terms of familiarity and
equality with their fellow students. In
the public libraries of Rio one may see a
dozen black students for one who is white.
/ One result Of this liberality has been to
diminish the hardship and hopelessness of
captivity in Brazil. Many purchase their
/ liberation, accumulate property, and edu-
cate their children. L have seen perfect
! ly black men and women riding in sump-
tuous carriages, attended by grooms and
seryitors, and girt with all the parapher-
MALTA of wealth and social station. Tai.
ents and abilities are frequently evinccd
by this class. They occupy bureaux
in the public Offices, conduct mercantile
establishments plantations and other en-
/ terpriseS and are in all respects an I'M
portant and not unexpected part of the
social economy here,-THoMAs G. EvANs
in VaPer's .Uaga:Ute for October.