Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-01-31
THE QUEER CUSTOMS OF BRAZIL

| Rio Janeiro Letter in the New York Times.
There are many curious customs OBJ
served by the Brazilians. Funerals are
notable in that for young unmarried
lady coffin, hearse and the livery of the
driver must be bright scarlet, the foul
white horses drawing the hearse must bt
covered with scarlet nets, and scarlet
plumes must deck the horses heads. Nc
women go to the cemeteries. the mother
the widow, must not exhibit her grief in
public.
For the swell funeral of a young girl
the coffin, hearse, livery of the driver
and nets and plumes for the horses must
be royal purple. For elderly people
black and gold are the adornments Of
mortuary trappings.
AT the weddings the bride does moi
wear orange blossoms, but orange
flowers are presented by the groom and
bride to their unmarried friends, and
they are supposed to pass them on tc
their unmarried acquaintance. This
custom has hidden meaning dating
back to the twilight of mans history
The flower is an emblem of fecundity
and the passing on of the gift signifies
$50 thou and do likewise"
The calling of porters-the business of
porterage-is regular one, and is di-
vided into classes. There are porters
whose speciality is handling pianos
delivering, transferring them. You never
see piano on a truck or in furniture
van. Four men bear upright pianos on
their heads. and square and grand pianos
are carried in sings suspended from two
poles, resting on the shoulders Of four
men.
Iron safes are transported by porters,
delivered from the warehouses, moved
from one place to another and put in po-
sition-all by sheer strength.
IL you buy nything-furniture, pi-
ano, safe-the purchaser must bargain
with the porter for the delivery. And if
you do not make your bargain to carry
and put in position, the porter will leave
the article at your door. unless you agree
to pay additional for placing them in
your house or rooms.
In the business streets of the city-in
the wholesale and warehouse districts
the carroS urbanoS--a street car line with
narrow-gauge track-runS up one and
down another of the narrow ways on
almost every street In the coffee dis
tricts there are regular freight cars run
on these tracks for the transport of coffee
in bags 10 the coffee docks.
The porters who have their habitat in
these streets use hand trucks made to
track" on the street car rails. As YOU
walk along the shady sides of these
streets the porters, unoccupied, are
lounglng in the doorways OF sleeping on
their trucks, which partly obstruct the
sidewalks. You have to keep lookout
all the time or you Will soil the bottoms
of your trousers against the grease drip
ping wheels OF these trucks.
The streets in the residence portion of
the city are infested day and night with
peripatetIc vendors, peddlers and retail
ers of fruits, vegetables, and in the
summer Of ices. Their discordant cries,
clapping of sticks, rat-a-tat on tin and
iron pans. make both day and night
hideous.
The Bfazilians are fond of looking out
upon the passers by in the street. In the
mornings and evenings the windows OF
the houses on the shady sides of the
street are filed with women and Chill
dren leaning half out. They recog-
nIze their acquaintance walk
ing or riding by in the street cars with
waves of their hands. Fine places with
grounds in front of the houses have
raised platforms, where the members of
the family sit in the evening for the
double purpose of enjoying the breeze
and watching the passers-by.
This Is the height OF the summer sea-
son and the thermometer in the shade
stands for several hours in the daytime
from So 10 95o In the business part
of the city. with its narrow streets, this
heat is very oppressive, but, excen II