Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1885-03-13
IN A TROPICAL REGION.
ODD FACTS ABOUT THE POLITE
PEoPLE OF vETEsUELA.
The SpIendOrs of n O nth American
CitY's Parks-Ehe Hemarkabie
Career OF esuxman- HIancOs

Career OF Guzman- HlancO'
The Venezuelans are the most courte-
Gus people that can be imagined, asserts
q Caracas letter to the New York Sun.
Impoliteuess is objectionable here. The |
clerk, with whom you deal over his coun-
ter, expresses his wish that you may live |
long and prosper, and thanks you CRATE
fully for giving him the pleasure of show
ing his goods, whether you purchase
ANYTHING or not. When a gentleman
meets lady, be she his sweetheart or his
grandmother, he always says he sis ly-
ing at her feet" and he would rather be
shot than be guilty of passing before her.
They are not the semi-barbarians which
some people in the northern continent
suppose. They have accomplishments
which ought to make the rest OF America
ashamed. Usually they are able to speak
three or four languages, have refined
taste in art and music, and, while they
lack ingenuity, and usually do things in
the hardest way, they are nevertheless
J possessed of the keenest perceptive fac
ulties, and almost seem to read your
thoughts. 1t is not difficult to make
known your wants, even II you
cannot understand q word of their Ian
guage. They do not allow smoking in
the street cars and public places, as in
Mexico and Havana, and, although 1t IS
the privilege of the manculine gender to
stare at the feminine with all the eyes
thev have, the men are never rude, and
beg the pardon of a beggar when they
refuse to give him aims.
They always put the locks upon the
wrong door, and wrong side up. When
they build house, it seems as if they
studied the most difficult mode of con-
struction. They erect solid walls first,
and then chisel out places for the tim
bers to rest upon. There are no stoves
or chimneys, and charcoal is the only
fuel Gas is produced at $3.50 per l, 900
feet from American coal which costs S2O
ton. There is no glass in the windows,
but grating of iron bars keeps out in
truders, and heavy wooden shutters keep
out the air and light. Such blinds as
are common in North America would be
the most admirable protection in this
country; but no one has ever intro
duced them, and the people will con
tinue to swelter behind solid shutters
until the end of time.
The rooms of houses are not plastered
but the joists are all exposed. The floor
are of tile, and gaudY paper is pastet
upon the walls of cement and stone. II
the court of every house are the mos
beautiful flowers Tube.roses grow IL
great trees, and the oleander is as com
, mon as the lilac in New England. Th
parks look like the botanical gardens o
the North, and in the evening are alway
. thronged with gentlemen and ladies unit
2 late hour.
+ The police regulations are very strict
a The other day child was kidnapped b
a man in a hack. Every coach driver
/ the city was thrown into prison, and nc
: a wheel was turned until the child wa
recovered, Drunken men are never see
in the streets. To become intoxicate
is to invite yourself to work ten c
twenty days in the chain gang; and t
> see the way in which prisoners are treate
/. is an inducement to be temperate.
y The president of Venezuela, Generf
Crespo, is a mulatto of fine stature an
p commanding presence. He wears Lou
a Napoleon mustache and imperial, and
Il rather sluggish in his disposition. AZ
II cordinp to common understanding he
- simply the mask of Guzman- BlanCO, who
" prevented from being perpetual pre8idel
% by constitutional provision which pr
4 hibits the re election of a chief maglstra
- without an intervening term. So, the
:, saw, Guzman serves rs President evel
~ other two years in his own name, an
M puts up dummy every alternate teri
9 Guzman -Blanco was born in the mid
20 of revolution, and lived in revolutiC
e. until he obtained the mastery of Il
"a country himself For some time durir
=. Buchanans administration he was secI
,r tarv of the Venezuelan legation at Was
n ington, and has made several visits
= the United States. The latest was la
% summer, when on his way to Europ
q and there was a scandal in New 1or
N because Fifth avenue dentist charg
or him $40, 900 for tinkering the teeth
IN his family.
n After serving in various military car
or cities, Guzman finally, by his abilit
er courage, and force of character, becai
,se commander of the army, from viii
,ts post, in 1871, he easily stepped into t
nm presidency. His authority was disput
Id for several years. but he kept strengt
Id ening himself until he became, and st
or is as absolute dictator as exerci
.Iv power anywhere on the globe. Th'
Id has not been law or decree, not ev
he the slightest official act performed
40 Venezuela during the last ten or TIVE
III years without his sanction, and, whetl
ON he sits in the chair of the president
nt. enjoys life at his hotel in London
on Paris, he is the acknowledged head o
ad ruler of the republic.
H. The debt of Venezuela amounts
erv about S25, 600, 900 of principal and &C
,rn muIated interest When Guzman- Blai
became president the bonds were wor
less. His first endeavor after secur
peace was to establish the credit of
~. country. He went to London him
ny NJ and secured the funding of the loan &
at , lower rate of interest, which has 81
TO- H" been paid promptly in advance ev
lnu I;1o thirty DAYS The bonds are now VIC
~: 9 from forty to fifty per cent. of par,
,w their security is guaranteed by the
~ that Guzman himself has several MILL
+La M of dollars invested in them.
ny ny Bolivar is known here as the Lib
o0n NV tor, while Guzman takes the grandt
ony title of Paclftator and Regenerato
sun sun the republic-and he has earned
,",n ,o,, From the time the Spanish viceroy
~, Ill driven out, after a struggle of sixt
SnSS years, until 1874, Venezuela knew
I1' Tn peace, and was rapidly retrogradlng
ln, barbarism. Guzman first paciied
as asS then regeucrated the people. Thoy
anu dl,1 ouired rigid discipline, and Guzman
his the lhah W euiUiNo .r