The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-04
GIRL CONDUCTORS In CHILLI.
Young Women Who Handle the BelI-Punch
Not Good Country for Matrimony.

Not Good Country for Matrimony.
Santiago Letter.
The street-car managers of Chill have added
another occupation to the list of those in which
women may engage, and use them as conductors
upon their cars. The experiment was first tried
during the recent war with Peru, when all the
able-bodled men were sent to the army and
proved so successful that the practice OF their
employment has become permanent to the
advantage, it is said. of both the companies. the
women and the public. 1t is very odd to see O.
woman with beil-bunch taking up fares, and
the first impression is not favorable, but a
stranger becomes accustomed to this. as to all
other novelties, and concludes that it is not such
a bad idea after all The Chiano is as rough
an individual exists; he is naughty arrogant,
impertinent and abusive. There is more intern
perance here than in any other of the South
American States, and consequently more Quar-
rels, fights and murders; but it is said that the
female conductors are seldom disturbed or inter-
fered with in the discharge Of their duties and
when they are, the rule is to call a policeman,
who stands at every corner to eject the obstrep
erous passengers.
The conductors, or conductoresses, are usually
young, and sometimes quite pretty. being COM
monty of the mixed race-of Spanish and Indian
blood. They wear neat uniform OF blue fan
mel, with jaunty Panama hat and a many
pocketed white Dnafore, reaching from the
breast to the ankles, and trimmed with dainty
frils. In these pockets they carry small change
and tickets. while hanging to a strap over their
shoulders is little portmanteau or shopping
bag, in which is lunch pocket handkerchief
and surplus money and tickets. Each passenger,
when paying his fare, receives a yellow paper
ticket numbered which he is expected to de-
stroy The girls are charged with so many
tickets, and, when they return to headquarters,
are expected to return money for all that are
missing, any deficit being deducted from their
wages, which are $50 per month. AS an adGi-
tional check upon dishonesty. spoilers are
stationed along the line, who hop upon the car
as it passes, count the passengers, write the
number down upon memorandum book, and
jump off again A few blocks further on an
other spotter repeats the job and these books
are compared by the chief inspectors to see that
the returns of the conductoress correspond
The greatest annoyance to the girls is from the
young Washers who follow the cars carrying the
pretty ones, and chat with them on the platform.
These fellows are called mosquitoes here because
they buzz, and hop and poster people so. Not
long ago comic paper in Valparaiso published
cartoon showing street car surrounded by in
sects, which bore the faces of young men about
town. Some of the fashionable dudes who OBJ
tanned this notoriety were chaffed at the clubs
and by their companions that they retired into
seclusion for a time until their modification
subsidized.
The women of Chill are not so pretty as their
sisters in Peru. They are generally larger in
feature and figure, have not the dainty feet and
supple grace of the Lima bellies, and lack the
voluptuousness which is given to all tropical
flowers. In Valparaiso, which is practically an
English colony, half OF the ladies are of the Sax
on type, and blonde hair looks very graceful
when one has seen nothing but midnight tresses
for months. Here, too. modern costumes are
worn more generally than in other South Amer
lean countries, and the shops are full Of
Paris bonnets. But the black manta, with its
fringe of lace, is still common enough
to be considered the costume of the country,
and is always worn to mass in the morning by
everyone. The manta is becoming to almost
everybody. 1t hides the defects of homely
forms and figures, and heightens the grace and
beauty of those that are otherwise. 1t makes
an old woman look young, stout woman look
more slender under its graceful folds, and even
q skeleton would look cOquettish wrapped in
the rich embroidery which some bear.
The Chill mantas and skirts of white flannel
are worn by pententes, women who have
committed some henous sin and thus advertise
their penitence or those who have taken some
holy vow to get measure nearer heaven, and
60 about the street with downcast eyes, looking
at nothing and recognizing no one They hover
about the churches and sit for hours crouched
before some saint or cruciGx. saving PRAYERS
and atoning for their sin. In the great cathedral
at Santiago, and in the smaller churches every
where, these penitentes, in their snow-white
garments are always to be seen. on their knees
or posing in other uncomfortable postures and
looking for all the world like statues carved in
marble In the Santiago cathedral they cluster
in large groups around the confessionals waiting
to receive absoluton from some fat and burly
mark of penitence they carry, and their souls of
sin.
Some of them make vows, or are sentenced by
their cOnfessors TO wear their white shrouds for
a certain time while others assume them yoiun-
tarly until they have assurance from their priest
that their sin is atoned for. Ladies OF the high
est social position and great wealth are common
ly found among the penitenteS, as we'll Is Young
girls OF beauty and winning grace Even the
wives of merchants and bankers wander about
the streets with all but their eyes covered with
this white mantle, which gives notice to the
world that they have sinned. The women of
Chill are as pious as the men are proud ard this
method of securing abSolution is quite fashion
able.
Those souls that cannot be purged by this pen
ltentlal dress retire to a convent in the outskirts
OF the city called the Convent of the penitents
where they scourge themselves with whips NOR
tify the flesh with sackcloth, sleep in ashes upor
stone floors, and feed themselves on mouldy
crusts. Some stay longer and some less time in
these houses of correction until the priests by
whose advice they 60 there give them absolution:
but it is seldom that the inmates are men. They
are usually women who have been unfaithful to
their marriage VOWS, or girls who have yielded
to temptation. After the society season. after
The carnivals, at the end of the summer when
people return from the fashionable resorts, and
at the beginning Of lent these places are full and
throngs of carriages surround them, waiting to
bear back to their homes the bellies who are sent
here and can find no room to remain.
For those whose sins have been too great to be
washed out by this process for those whose
shame has been published to the world and are
untitled under social laws to associate with the
pure, other converts are open. established par.
posely as a refuge or House of Detention Young
mothers without husbands are here cared for,
and their babes are taken to an orphan asylum
in the nei:hborhood to be reared by the nuns
for the priesthood and other religious orders 1t
is the practice for parents to send wayward
daughters to these homes, while society is given
to understand that they are elsewhere visiting
friends or finishing their education After a
time they return to their families and no
questions asked.
1t was from one of these places that the
famous Henry Megs got his second wife, and
the adventure is still related with great gusto by
the gossps Of Chill. An American dentist
named Robinson lived in the same block with
the convent and from the roof of his house the
garden OF the nuns was plainly visible