Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-03-31
IN RIO DE JANEIRO.
Peculiar Street Nomenclature of the
the Capital of Brazil.

Nothing In Rio strikes an American
as more singular than the nomenclature
of the streets. Many of them such as
the Seventh of September and the First
Of March, are Mapped after days on
which something (no one seems to know
exactly WHAT has taken place. There
Is one narrow little thToughfare called
the street of the Good Jesus, and the
names of the saints are freely used. 1t
seems trihe singular to be directed to
No. 20 First of March street, or for
man to live at the corner of st. John
the Baptist and st. John the Eyangel-
lst streets, but the Brazillans don't mind
It. The principal street is the celebra-
ted Rua do OuvidOr. 1t is q narrow
little alleyway in which two carriages
could not pass each other. In fact
never saw a carriage in the street and
doubt il a driver would be bold enough
TO venture there. Here are the shops
of the principal merchants and the gor-
Eeous stores OF the artifceTs Of feather
towers and the dealers in gold and Sill
yer and precious stones.
At night from one end to the other,
the street is filed with people, not on
the narrow sidewalk only but complete
ly filling the thorOnghfare from wall TO
wall. Officers Of the army and navy
and solCiers and sailors, all in uniform,
mincle with the crowd and flash their
Vold lace IL the blight light that floods
the street. Everywhere, too, are the
elaborate caparisOned mulatto gen.
darmes. the police of the city. From
SAIlnN
music and the clinking Of glasses. AT
little tables IN the cafes the BraZllanS
sit, drinking strong coffee or other peV-
erages. talking, gesticulating, and never
for a moment completely still. The
feat of catching a weasel asleep is easy
compared to that of catching Brazil
ian when some portion Of his body IS
not in motion. You will see group OF
them sitting IN a cafe talking and every
me of them Will have the ball OF his
right foot resting on the floor and his
knee moving with 4 regular nervous
''dandle.'' This is owing 10 the amount
of strong black coffee they drink. A
Brazilian proverb says that coffee to be
good must be ''black as night, as olttel
as death, and hot as sheol." .,
The total abstinence cause has lew II
sny supporterS IL Brazil. Everybody
drinks. men, women and children, but
Ineyer saw a drunken man in the en-
nire The poiica records show that
men do get drunk here, but 1t IS very
seldom that one IS seen. Inc laporihg
classes drink a vile beverage called
'scasasch.'' The ''wild-cat" WHISKY ol
the west IS nothing TO 1t, and sWalio"
ing a torchlight procession Is pieaSan.
task compared to drinking it. But
moderate as the BrSZ.lians are In the
use of LIQUORS they are decidedly i'm
moderate in the use Of coffee. 1t Is
coffee the first thing in the morning and
last thing at night, coffee at meals and
coffee between meals, and all Of 1t made
according to the proverb.
Getting shaved III a Brazilian barber
shop is an experience. Everything goes
along as It does in a baTber-shop IN the
states until the beard is removed. Then
the sstonsorial artlstn takes a dish OF
earthenware or metal with crescent
shaDed piece cut cut of one side so as to
fit into the neck and making his victim
sit up in the chair proceeds to wash his
face while the basin is held under the
chin. The dish is exactly like the one
which Don Ouixote wore on his head
for a helmet. II it is in . ''swell" bar
ber-shop the basin IS dispensed with
and the customer Is taken by the snoul-
der and marched 10 q marble wash
bowl where he Is told to wash ms 1ace
and wipe it. That operation having
been performed to the satisfaction OF
the barber. the "shavee" is led back TO
his chair and has his hair combed-
Foreigners are generally puzzled 10
know why the hOTSe-cars IN Rio are
called ''bOnds." 1t happened in this
yay: When the first horse railroad was
built in Rio, bonds were issued to pay
for it. There was a great deal OF talk
about these bonds and the uncducated
were at a loss to know what the Engllsh
word meant. When they saw the first
horse-car they thought they had found
a solution of the question and all eX'
claimed, There is one of those much
talk of bondsv' SOan over Brazil
horse-car is a ''bond" to this day.
Brazil!ans are nothing if not musical
1t is their boast that new waltz ]:
published in Rio every week. All the
4 celebrated singers Of the world have
!, coined money in the capital OF DOE
Pedro, and IN the winter season the
whole populace, high and low, fiocl
night after night to the opera.
Every man, woman, and child il
Brazil has some idea Of music and they
look on unmusical people as barbarians
a boot black in Rio feels positive palI
if the man whose boots he is operating
on makes a false note in the air he hap
pens to be whistlIng. or poetry, too
they are very fond and read translation:
of American and European poets, be
sides the works of the native ones.