Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-07-11

the new but OF the old world, from Por.
tugal, France and England, recently in part
from the Rio de Janeiro ; the porcelaiil
tiles with which the house fronts are faced
come not from the mud OF the Amazon
but from that of the rivers of Portugal,
So, the statuary, that adorns the house
tops, the gate posts, and the garden-plats,
is imported from Portugal and France.
The ships in the harbor and the bonds, OF
street cars, in the streets, come not from
the great equatorial forest and the iron
mountains Of Brazil, but from the work
shops Of England and the United States
the small boats from Portugal, and sev-
eral, OF the steam launches and tugs from
Zurich, among the mountains of Switzer-
land. The coal, from which the gas is
| manufactured that is consumed in the
streets Of the city with prodigality be-
coming the equatorial belt, comes from
England. The oil that burns in the
household and attracts the myriad OF
moths, mosquitoes, and other midnight
bichos Of the valley of the Amazon, comes
from the valley of the Allegheny in the
| United States. The Goldfish from the wa
ters Of Norway and Newfoundland rivals
the pirarucu, or red fish and all the other
fish of the New World Mediterranean, in
feeding the people. So the flour from
the wheat Of the United States, Austria,
and Russia rivals the farinha de mandioca,
or cassava of the Amazon in forming the
staff Of life OF the piebald population.
So the clothing that covers in part theii
variously hued hides come not from coun.
try around, but from England, France,
and Germany.
In fine, perhaps, three-fouths of all the
commodities in the stores Of the city upon
which the population of the city depends
for its food and clothing and comfort
come from the same source as three
fourths Of the men who do the bulk OF
the business of the city, namely, the
comparatively poyerty-stricken world
north Of the Tropic Of Cancer, but the
habitat withal OF the only wealth creating
breed Of mankind on the planet. Curl
ously, even while promenading in the
parks Of the city, the Parasian belle does
not walk under the shade OF any of the
wonderful vegetable growths of the val
ley of the Amazon-the parks of the city
being but amplifications of the baldhead
edness and fostor of the buzzard-scaven
gers Of the city-but under the shade OF
Partisan psrasol 10 nature ineffably
enhancing and sublime as thou art, il
this bower Of thy bounty and beauty, yet
is the htful shadow. of the tasseled aud
tawdry umbrella OF the miserable man.
milliner of France preferred to the eter.
nal shade of thy kingly palms and queen
ly ferns that might transform Para into 6
paradise.
The one. fourth of the commodities that
come from the valley of the Amazon and
Brazil in general, comprises the fish and
farinha, coffee, sugar, cachaca or rum,
chocolate. beef, fruit. assai or palm wine
the Brazil nut, etc.
And now for the solution of the para.
dox. The city of Para is parasite, g
little animal that lives within the mouth
Of the big beast of the Amazon river, de-
rsing its subsistence solely from the
commerce which passes through the
mighty orifce, the bulk of which being the
expectation of rubber from the Amazon
and its affluents in Brazil and Peru. Oh
it is little old hag of gatekeeper ant
toll-collector who neither tolls nor spins
but who lives in snug little house by
the side of the turnpike, and somehow
from the tolls which she collects after
paying over to the turnpike company al
above her inconsiderable salary, manages
to support, in addition to her large family
OF orphan children, a score or so of hel
sisters and her cousins and aunts. Or, i
is cook in the kitchen who is never seer
to sit down at the table and eat either
square or circular meal, and yet whc
somehow, by licking his fingers or other
wise, manages to wax fat himself ant
support several families, in the neigh
borhood in manner unknown to the heaC
Of the ousehold.