Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-27
MORE ABOUT LIMA.
Some Other Sights About the Old
Peruvian Capital.
IT'S NATIONAL CONGRESS.
n visit TO the Senate Chamber and the House
Of Representative - vicissitudes of st.
Mark's-Creditabie Benefcent Institutions
Cow Kept on the Roof-Its Newspapers.


LIMA, PEBU. 1890.
L>IRST LET Us LOOK IN upon the Peruvian
Il senate chamber and hall of congress. The
former. as before mentioned. ia the old council
room Of the inquisition. aud in the very place
where the presiding officer sits, an inoffensive-
booking little gentleman with a claw-hammer
coat and hair parted in the middle, the stern,
black-gowned inquisitors used to pronounce
their awful sentences upon trembling victims.
TO reach the 300 year-old building we cross the
Plaza de Bolivar. in which many ''heretics"
(Which name included all who we're at variance
with the reigning powers. temporal as well as
spiritually were burned to death and where
Thousands Of merely suspected men and women
have been publicly scourged. Most Of these
deeds Of darkness, however, occurred before
the beginning of the present century, for the
inquisition was abolished in this country about
1912. This plaza contains a notable statue, one
Of the two or three that the Gillian army left
10 Lima out of the many fine works of art that
once adorned II, representing Simon Bolivar,
the hberator, seated on a plunging steed in an
impossible attitude. something like the eques-
trian statue Of Gen. jackson in the United
States capital
THE PERUVIAN CONGRESS-.
The national congress holds its sessions in
the long, narrow and somewhat dim and dingy
apartment that for three centuries was the
chapel Of St. Marks University, the very
oldest temple Of learning in the western world
which the liberal government confscated
from the church in 1869. Spectators are
penned in a very narrow gallery. high up above
the heads of the representatives. and the latter
are ranged. like so many tolerably well-behaved
school boys, all around three walls of the room
in two rows of chairs without desks. Near the
center Of the fourth side Is placed q long table.
\ - -
OF the other tall cross is fixed, upon which the
congressman are required to swear that they
will support the constitution. Between the
crucifx and ''senor presidente" are a number
of clerks and reporters, and among them q few
are scribbling away in shorthand as industri-
ously as do their cousins in Washington.
Whenever q formal speech Is to be made the
orator mounts a little platform which has a sort
of pulpit desk upon it. but ordinary debates
are participated in by members from their re-
spective chairs, who seldom take the trouble to
rise while speaking.
AN ANCIENT COLLEGE
The most interesting things about this place
pertain to the PARKWAY past. One remembers
that this college was founded si1ty-nine years
before the Puritan fathers sought our northern
shores. The first steps toward it were made by
the authorities of Lima early 1850. when
they dispatched Tray Thomas de Saint Martin
(who afterward became the Bishop of Chu-
one of the frs. governors of Peru over to Spain
10 apply for the erection of a clerical temple
OF learning In the new country. The Emperor
Charles and his wise mother Juana. not only
granted the desired decree, but conceded to the
university which they ordered to be estab-
hshed at Lima all the prerOgatives enjoyed by
that Of Salamanca. Pope Plus V confirmed its
erection by an especial bull and the learned DIR.
Don Gaspar de Meuesis became its first rector.
Still the university. nobly begun, was with
out suitable building or even a site for its
foundation, until the year 1874. when piece
Of ground was purchased for IL near the parish
church Of San Marcelo, and hence the college
derived its name, San Marcus The site,
however, was found to be inconveniently dis
tant from the center of the city, so it was Sold
another purchased near the palace of the In
QUESTION and the present building completed
about three hundred and fourteen years ago.
THE FIRST FULI-FLEDGED DID.
1t consists of great court yard surrounded
By cloisters on the walls of which queer fres-
Goes are painted, supposed to represent the arts
and sciences Doors lead from the cloisters
into the various lecture rooms and into the
great hall of the university, where still hang the
portraits of the most learned men of Peru's
earlier days The first full-hedged I'D" who
was graduated here was Don Domingo de San
Thomas. q Spanish Dominican. who afterward
attained great local celebrity. whose ugly coun-
tenaDee may still be seen in the great hall. The
first graduate born in Peru Don Juan de
Balboa. professor of the Quichua language and
canon of the Lima Cathedral.
The cultivation of literature during the time
Of the yicerOys, though confined BY Jealous
priesthood within the narrowest possible limits
made considerable progress and WAS advanced
by several men of learning and ability sprung
from the noblest families of Spain. Perhaps
the most scholarly Of all the viee-kings was
Senior Don Antonio de Mendoza, a grandson Of
the Marquis de Santillana. the renowned poet
and warrior Of the court Of John III. who
claimed the Cid as the founder of his family
But Don Antonio died in 1851, after a very
brief enjoyment Of his power. and before he
had much time to do more than lend his mighty
influence toward the establishment Of this uni
versity.
Since Peru's independence from Spain and
the general emancipation of the minds of her
people, poetry, painting and music have re-
celyed great attention from the imaginative but
somewhat frivolous youth of the country But
the truth is that the modern society of Lima is
too dissipated and artificial afford very prom
slng soil for the growth OF extraordinary genius
In any direction.
cKEprrABLE BENEFIcENr INSTITUTIONS.
The benefcent institutions of Lima, though
not numerous, are certainly very creditable
Prominent among them is the ''Soeiedad de
Benefcencia." which was established in the
year 1875 and has the general guardianship and
supervision Of all the public charities. II also
has the direction Of the bull ring. the cock pit
and the lottery, from which popular amuse-
ments il derives q considerable share of its
revenue Private individuals frequently sub
scribe 10 it generous sums; matrons OCCASION
ally get up a swell charity ball" much as the
same thing is managed in the United States and
other parts of the world; and sometimes the
bellies and beaux Of the city give a grand con-
cert for its benefit, principally with the music
OF mandolins and guitars in which they excel
Here comes one of the sights of Lima, a fe-
male milk ped1ler. who sits astride her mule,
with bare foot and a tin can dangling on each
nde Of the saddle. These milk men in petit
coats neither loot horn nor ring a bell as do
their northern brothers; but riding from house
~ house. they stop at the door of each customer
and give peculiar shriu little scream, which
the servants instantly recognize. The quart
measure Of this one Is a gourd. just as il grew.
except that a hole had been cut in one side and
the seeds scraped out. but whether nature made
n the exact size 10 contain what the law recog-
nizes a quart. need not trouble ourselves
10 inquire, If the customers do not Indeed,
That form of measurement Is not SO much In
vogue here for liquids by the gourdful. or
sui more commonly by the bottleful. Manu-
factured tin ware is dear. and the people are
poor, but everybody drinks wine. consequently
gLaas bottles. such as ordinarily contain claret,
and hold perhaps three pints or thereabouts,
abound Many dealers have q fixed price on
naiiks and other fluids for the "bottleful' and
the "gourdtul' who would be puzzled TO know
What II ought to bring by the quart or pint.