The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1885-09-10
LOVELY WOMEN OF LIMA.
Peculiar Manners and Dress-Their
Amusemonts and Families.

Peculiar Manners and Dress-Their
Amusements and Families.
Lima Letter to New York Sun.
Theladies Of Lima are all eyes. They
have the reputation of being, as class,
the most beautiful in the world, and
meeting them ON the way to mass in the
morning or shopping later in the day,
one can easily see how they obtained it.
1t is the manta, which they wear in
such coquettish way, that gives them
their reputationfor beauty, forit con-
ceals every feature except their be-
witching eyes and lovely olive complex
ion. No matter how ugly her mouth
or her noise is; no matter how high her
cheekbones or large her ears, a manta
will make any woman with pretty eyes
look handsome, and, like charity, it
covers q multitude of sins.
On the street the women look like q
procession of nuns, but in their homes
when they are dressed, like the queen
of Sheba. Indoors she is bright, viva
cious and winning. With more pas
sion than intellect, with very little
knowledge of the world outside of her
own orbit, she never reads newspa-
per and never looks at a book, but
she is up in art and operas, plays the
piano brilliantly and with exquisite
taste, and talks like a conversational
blizzard. She is affectionate, impetu-
GUS, aud strong-willed; gushes over
what she likes and shudders over what
does not please her. Impulsive frank
and generous, she is easily betrayed,
and the principal object in life OF her
mamma is to watch over her like a
hawk. At seventeen or eighteen she
marries-often younger still. At twen-
ty-tive she is the mother of three or
four children, shrunken and wan, or
else inordinately fat. Their good
looks seem to 60 with youth, and old
maids are unknown.
A Peruvian soldier is usually accom-
panied by woman called a rabona,
who sometimes is his wife. They re-
ceive rations like the soldiers, but no
pay. They are faithful and enduring,
but degraded creatures, who follow the
army in its long, weary marches, as
sisting their husbands by carrying part
of their load, and about half of them
have babies slung over their shoulders
in blankets. When camp is reached
they do the cooking; in battle they
nurse the wounded and rob the dead.
Water is very scarce along the coasts
of Peru, where most of the marching
and fighting is done, and it is part Of
the duty of g. rabOna to see that her
husband does not die of thirst.
Milk is peddled about Lima by wom-
en-, who sit astride of a horse or a mule
with a big can hanging on either side
ride up to a doorway they give a pecul-
lar shrill scream, which the servants
within recognize.
The fashionable entertainment in
Peru is bull-baiting. The bull is not
killed, as in Spain and Mexico and
other countries, and no horses are
slaughtered in the ring. The animal
is simply leased and tortured to make
a Liman holiday. The young men of
the city do the batting, and it is re-
garded as a very heightened sort Of
athletic sport, like polo at Newport.
The young ladies take darts made of
tin decorate them with ribbons, lace
and rosettes, and give them to their
lovers to stick into the hide of the
bull. The great thing is to cast those
darts SO as to strike the bull in the
fore shoulders or in the face, and in
order to do it he who throws them
must stand before the animals horns.
Active young fellows do the trick very
dexterously, but it takes nerve and
agility, and at times fair senoritas
have seen their lovers ripped open.