Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1885-03-21
SOUTH AMERICA.
THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIO-A GOV
EMINENT MODELLED AFTER OUR
OWN.

THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIO-A GOV
ERNMENT MODELLED AFTER OUR
OWN.
The People.-Their Customs, Houses.
Education and Government.
A Pleasant Interview with an
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
The Intelligencer had the pleasure,
this week, of meeting at the residence
of DR.. J. B Alexander, a very interest
ing and intelligent American lady, who
hs, spent q number of years i'll the
Argentine Republic as a teacher III a
normal school. Her d. description OF the
c ,untrv, its language, government, &C.,
were so full of interest for us that we
thought they would he equally SO to
many of our readers. !
Miss Ruth E. Wales Is q native OF
Elkhorn, Walworth county, Wisconsin.
She was educated at her home, com.
pleting her course by being graduated
from the state normal school Ut White
water, Wis. She taught three Years at
her home, and then wen to the Ar
kCutlIlc 16CPuUilS 4" SOaN
Owing to the tact tina direct cOrnnu
nicatiOu between the two countries is
40 irregular and uncertain, she went
to Buenos Ayres by way Of Liverpool,
the passage between the W latter
places occupy ing 20 days, including
the detention for cOaling at the Cape
Verde Islands. Miss W ales remained
some six weeks At BueuO. Ayres, the
capital of the Argentine Republic, II
then went to Rosario, where she IA
tered the government normal school as
q pupil, chiefly to master the language
of the country. Her Spanish educs-
ton was completed in the normal
school at San Juan, where she remain-
ed the longest, her studies i'll the two
! places covering q space of some three
, wears. She then taught one year III
San Juan aud years in Mendoza,
In the normal schools of those places,
| and is now on q visit to her relatives
Ia this country. Miss Wales acquain-
lance with DIR. Alexander's family
arose from the fact that she was inti-
mate with the family of the DOCTORS
brother, DR.. w. II. Alexander, who
died at San Juan in 1888. This mem-
Der of the family who went to California
in 1850, and to the Argentine ltepub-
lie in 1883, married there, prLcticed his
profession very successfully, and dying
at his home in San Juan, left q wife
and five children. Al the time of his
death and afterward Miss Wales kindly |
wrote to DIR. Alexander here regard
ing the family of the deceased,
and thus the acquaintance was formed
which has eliminated in the visit of the
lady to this place. In returning to
America, Miss Wales came by way OF
Paris, where she remained some ten
DAYS, aud Liverpool, touching at the
Madeira Islands, the ocean voyage tax
ing twenty- eight days. We have thus,
hastily sketched Miss Wales life, In
order that We may speak of her impress.
sions of countries and peoples some
what seriatim, and with as little repe-
titiop as possible.
OF Liverpool 1t is unnecessary to
speak; the cable brings England and
America so closely together that Liver
pool is better known to Americans than
% ny of their own cities of second and
third rate importance. Miss Wales wa
delighted with Paris; its beautiful boul-
evards, magnificent buildings, unique
and picturesque street scenes its fresh
ness, piqusudy and life. Of the Madei-
ras and Cape Verdes she, naturally,
caught but glimpses, but these giiuipses
were delicious views OF island life.
Islands, all islands, are poetic in their
suggestions. Mysterious i'll their iso-
latiOn, cut of from the Hsain land by
the sea which surrounds them; accessi-
BILE but by the painting steamer Or the
yhite winged sailing vessel; rising
most tiWes from the depths by the sim
gulsr labors ot the coral insect; III
tropic clime+ they breath OF poetry
and love, and it is not u be wondered
1t that they a:e 50 Fl equently surround
ed by romantic legends, such AS that
OF Robert Machim aud Anna d'Ariet,
who in their flight from %unrelentimg
parents were by adverse winds driven
upon the Madeira shores, where Anna
dying, her faithful Robert, from grief
snd sorrow, soon followed her to tn
grave. Hence s.Machica" ba. and the
little church built over their graves,
which keeps alive the memory OF the
lovers. The visitor Is struck with tile
anphibious habits of the natives; the
peculiar snrf boat in which one must
land, provided with q unner upon
each side upon which it is pulled out
on the sands as the water reccdes; the
queer little streets, OF rather lanes,
paved with little ~egg-shaped boulders
that hurt the feet through thin soied
shoes; the Spanish, or rather POrtu-
guese architecture; the splendid fish
markets; the beggars, beggars every.
where with their incessant "Pobre,
pobre, pobre ;;"the lnxuriant vegetation;
the high peaks which distinguish
several of the islands, and at Madeira
with the decline of prosperity conse-
Guent upon the blight that has visited
the grapes, sud greatly diminished the
quantity OF the oncs famous wine.
sailing away from Madeira about
thirty i've miles off, one passes the
curious little island of Porto Santo,
with . high peak in the center, of which
only the extreme point appears above
the clouds. 1t j. interesting TO know
that it was from his observation Of the
drift wood aud deblis washed OH the
eastern shore Of this island that COL
umbus, who had married the daughter
OF the Governor OF Porto Slnto. de-
rived his first Impressions OF the new
world. Here it vas that he first real
lied that thsre must be q large and
unknown cOdntry to the west ward,
Aud 20, away to the south and west
until We reach Buenos Ayre>l But
DeIcre We speak Of the city, let IL. see OF
what sOEt Vi y c"untry it j. the capital.
1t will surprise ais,,y Of vi re .de,s
to know that in South Amsrica, with
q Spanish American population, there
Is a republic based upon the ideas for
the liberty and happiness of man en-
tertsiued by Washington and jefferson,
with . CONSTRUCTION which in some
respe ctsis even better itan own,
and whose territory exceeds In Iaii-
tude that OF any other existing country,
if the friyid regions of British America
Snd Russia be excepted. Extending
from the Atlantic ocean to the Andes,
and from the straits OF Magellan 10 the
22d degree of south latitude. this im-
mense country covers all kinds Of con
!, Gitions, soils and climates. The major
portion CT it Is composed of magnificent
grazing plains, with a soil varying In
depth from three to six feet; much of
, it is splendid farming land, with 81.
the necessary conditions of soil and
climate; and in the PatagOnian regions
the lands are more gravelly and rough.
The east slope Of the Andes furnishes a
mountainous section. The climate is
/ very dry near the mountains, u ve.y
wet near the sea. 1t varies from being
, /, cold i'll the south 10 almost tropical
l weather i'll the northern part Of the
country. Immigration into the couil-
, try has been very great during the