The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-03-16
rorms Of sanitation In Portugal.

There is something more than anew lam
guage to be learned by some OF our country
men before they travel in Portugal. The
natives of the country retain the ceremonl-
business which was more or less universal
in Europe hundred years ago. The GER
emoniousness of the better-bred Italians is
as nothing to that Of the Portuguese. The
punctiliousness and Formally of their So
cial converse exceeds that even of the Cas-
tilians. In Spain man may safely use the
title listed (your worship in addressing
every class and rank short of royalty itself.
Not so in Portugal. He shows his igno-
rance and makes himself simply ridiculous
if he fails to distinguish at least six different
classes, with their different forms of ad.
dress. A little beggar boy or girl he will
speak to, impatontly or charitably, as the
case may be, but always in the second per-
son singular Val Re em6ord," Go the
way; OF, "Pegan'isto," take this. If the
same boy or girl has grown to years of dis.
erection, more ceremony must be employed
in the refusing or bestowing Of aims, mao
pode SER" 1t cannot be; Va com deus"
pray go off Tin the third person, be it OBJ
served.)
working man takes rank with our mag
istrates at home, and is literally his worship.
lObSuMeSSC 10 lbtll u COullhStlOn VI fONoU-
merce, and when the dignity or age of an
interlocutor hardly entities him to such
honor, the word is contracted to Vosse.
Little street boys are to each other in their
play together their ilordshps or their wor-
ships 'syour lordship is cheating" "your
worship has stolen my kite and so on. A
tradesman is "the lord o Senior, or
''your lordship." Tossa Senhoria, and
these tribes are applicable n good way up
and down in the social scale. "Your ex-
cellency,' roSea EirceHencia, is reserved
for persons of noble rank or high ofiicia.
position, and every lady below the rars o
queen, may also safely and properly be ad-
dressed as your excellency.
All these various titles, OF course, re-
quire the use of the third person singular,
as in Italian. The second person of the
plural. formerly used by the Portuguese,
has now Tor several generations, been al.
most confined, in "polite" Portuguese at
least, to prayers and addresses to the Deity.
The forms used in letter writing are end
less. How to begin and how to end, what
margin to leave where to sign ones name,
when to write ones addrdss a Casa dt
Vossa Ercellencia, your exceliency's own
house, and when to avoid this inexpensive
kind of generosity when to end with the
formal Deus garde Vossa EreeHeneia,
may God preserve your excellency, and
when to assure your correspondent, as ID
the common form, that you venerate BIN,
and are the most devoted of his servants
all this is necessary part of the education
ola traveller who desires to pass for well
bred and courteous person. There is a for
mula for almost everything, and in circles
of not the very highest class this sort of So
cial culture is, as might be supposed, most
| excessive.
In the remoter parts of Portugal curl
GUS form of salutation prevails, and prevails
almost universally. A man meeting his ac'
quaintance, or even a perfect stranger
says, "Lourado SEGA Nosso Senior Jesu'
| Christo,' ("Praised be Jesus Christ oul
Lord And the answer always is
az para sempe SEGA lourado." ("Ant
praised forever and ever...) 1t is still Gus
tomary in some parts of Portugal to say
81 ira" MAY you live!') when a mar
sneezes, equivalent to the God bless you
which prevails among certain homely foil
with us under similar circumstances. Blu
in good society this custom is no Longer
fashionable, though ones Portuguese friend
if one happens to sneeze in his presence
will sometimes say the word half under hi.
breath, and with slight deprecatory smile
| as if to convey 81 know, my dear sir, tina
it is not quite the thing to say 'rira, bu
| my interest in you is so strong that in
| fringe les biensednceS, to show how much
wish you" 1.-THE New Quarterly Maya