Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1890-12-23
e4ILIlQ QGuaIay LEE
hitsfitiSiBh. Stsm. ID sis sia.is to6d II
the Poorer tiassusi

Agricultural Chill is pleasant hnt
interesting country to visit. Tho seen
cry, suggesting memories alternately ol
California, Switzerland and Northorr
Italy. Is both grand and charming
Nothing can 10 seen more majestic ant
impressive than tho main ridge OF the
Andes, with tho volcanic peaks white
with snow, while occasionally toward
the south some small crater shoots up
volumes OF smoke and lava, as Villa
Rica did about the time that ! was at
Traiguen. Nothing can bc moro charm-
ing than the scenery along tho Rio llio-
liio whose sinuous banks the railway
follows between San RoSondo and Con-
cepcion. In parts thsrivcr, the longest
and broadcast in tho republic, having u
course of 229 miles, reminds one OF tho
Loire, except that 1t flows continuously
between sloping and often wooded hills.
Like the Loirc 1t Is full OF shifting
sand-banks, some OF clean yellow sand,
others OF black volcanic sand; and these,
as the water varies in depth, give to tho
surface n,oire of violet and ycllowish
green. AS for the rustic population,
and the incidents of lilo along the road,
they offer plenty of material for tho
| painter, and food for reflection to tho
student OF manners. Here indeed Is
primitive civilization, needing no house
furniture, no comfort. very elementary
clothing, and only the simplest forms OF
ceramic ware. What palmer food could
DO found than bread, beans and onion
pie3 What moro natural drinking yos-
sci than calabash? What less com.
pick vestment than the "poncho?'
What shoe more easily made than bit
OF cowhido tiel on with thongs? What
more refreshing and obvious combination
OF food and drink than the familiar water
melon, Which would seem to bo tho chief
and only nourishment taken by many OF
the poorer Chilians? In the stations
you see whole trains loaded with water
melons. In the towns the watermelons
are sold in every hop, and piles of them
are stacked in tho streets wherever
there is an open-air breakfast stall. On
the steamers that ply between the ports
OF the Pacific the decks are encumberod
with the inevitable melons, and tho
"eeeh Ah Nhb 10 NONtTtu Nllu lDn
loating rinds of the empty ones. In
no other country have ! seen such uni
versal consumption Of watcrmelons ex-
cept along the banks of the Danube,
where the peasants are no better lodged
and no better fed thin those of
Chill. All this say not
in dispraise of the Gillian
''peones." On the contrary. am con-
vinced that they are fine fellows in
thoir way, and splendid workers, espec-
tally by the piece. No Europeans can
surpass them in strength and endurance. |
Above all, no European could exist in
the same conditions of Authorization and |
habitation, In Chilli the "peones' 1.-Two |
literally like pigs, both in the country and |
in the towna, without regard OF hygiene |
or even tho most ordinary sanitary pre-
cautions The consequence is that infant
mortality is great; the infants die like
flies, and those who survive are only tho
strongest and the hacst. This rural and
urban working population is ignorant,
though not unintolligcnt; the "peoncs"
can rarely read or write, but they have
n natural talent for imitation, and when
once they have been shown how to do a
thing they will go on doing it; thus they
learn in few lessons TO manage agri.
culture machinery and when they have
once learned they do not forget. As for
it is feared they have but
little, They arc not afraid of death
themselves, and have not much respect
'oP tic life OF others, and both men and !
women alike appear to have in,
lerited fair dose OF supersti.
ion and many queer beliefs =
rom their Indian ancestors, to-
ether with number Of silly remedies.
The women, when they have heat y
che, paste rounds OF paper on their !
emples or the pip Of watermelon. IL
hey feel anything the matter with
heir eyes they will plaster their checks o
YER with leaves. Indeed, you rarely II
70 woman who has not something Il
.uck on her face. All these defects,
l these superstitions. and all this ai
,glect OF the laws OF hygiene Presi- gt
mt Balmaceda hopes TO eradicate by ht
Iucf lion, and therefore, we soc, not
ithout surprise, in rustic towHshipI al
20 Traiguen, fine school-houses being
tilt, at a cost of $40, 900. before there is W
It single brick house within the dis no
let. This policy OF building schools liz
d promoting education is being ac- :
'eIy carried on throughout Cnili. ca,
hercver you go you see fno school un
ing built, and at no great distance ho
'm it an equally fine new prison, AMI La
@ chances are that the cells OF tho lat nj,
r will bs Dlled sooner than the class e.
oms OF the former, However. tho hu
ucation OF tho masses has boon one Of ma,
@ great cards OF modern republicanism mi
Europe and in the United States, and ma,
is therefore not astonishing to find n
nitative Chill following in the wake, Jo
'rhaps a little hastily and little
indly.-Thcodore Child, in llarpor's u,
agazine. ca