Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-10
A Strange Mixture of Gentleness and
.Sentimentality ~ =,
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES
The People Are Quite Polite. Yet VIII Try and
"Work" the Stranger-Hard Fate of the
Donkeys-Love Making with . Brass Band
Benevolsnt Bull Ffghts.
From TIE star's Travelling Commissioners.


on all occasions at home or abroad. Their
voices are always low and musical, their viva
cious gestures and profound obeisances the
perfection of grace and their everyday man
ners such as Lord Chesterfield might have
envied- II lady-young or old, handsome or
hideous-comes into any public place where
gentlemen are congregated, instantly the buzz
of conversation ceases, every man rises to his
feet, takes of his hat and remains standing I'M
til she has passed out or is seated. When a
funeral procession goes by, men in their car
riages, m the horse car, on the streets and in
the door-ways or balconies Of their houses, un-
cover and bow their heads; and the same Gus
tom is observed whenever the door of church
Is passed Their Difference to the aged, the
obedience Of adults to their parents, their
tenderness to the young and their liberation Of
and charity toward the vast army of beggars
ton
ARE POLITE, But WILL TRY AND WORK You.
They will put themselves to the greatest
amount OF trouble to serve a stranger, without
expectation of reward; their hospitality is un-
bounded, their generosity proverbial and for
point of honor most of them will lay down
their lives. Yet the temporarily reduced will
resort to a thousand polite pretexts to get money
out OF you. such. for example, as a dead friend
who had recently lost all his property and
whose coffin must be bought by subscription;
won't you donate $40 toward so charitable an
objecg or q tale of woe about poor widow and
her children. left penniless in the cold world,
who are DESTROYS of going to their relatives in
some distant place; surely the sonora will be
happy to assist them? &C.. &c. myself sub
scribed small amounts from time to time
for dozens Of collins and poor widows with
weeping families, until I learned the little
game. Even the Peruvian highwayman will
take of his hat to you in the most deferential
manner before politely requesting your money
or your life: and if il comes to the unpleasant
necessity of forcibly taking the latter in order
to secure the former. he will crave your pardon
while plunging his dagger into your vitals: will
compliment your handsome appearance in
death and tarry long enough. at whatever risk
to himself, to not only bury you decently, but
to set up cross over your grave, SO that future
passers-oy may pause to say prayers for your
unshriven soul
BRUTALITY TO BEASTS OF BURDEN.
In all the months have remained in this
country have never seen a child whipped and
have scarcely heard one cry. The poorest
among them loves music and poetry flowers
and sentimentality more than his daily meat
and drink; vet vein Of coolest cruelty and
utter heartlessness runs through the best of
them This is evidenced in MANY ways be-
sides the bull fight. the cock pit and their con-
duct in war. Perhaps the most common ex-
ample Is in their treatment of donkeys. No
Cdu ttl WLdt tQOSe patient and tract
able little creatures are made to endure till
merciful death at last releases them from tor
ment. overwork and slow starvation.
Everywhere We see pitiable examples of
beasts bearing heavy burdens upon raw
and bleeding backs. which daily
press deeper and deeper into the fostering flesh
until the bone is laid bare and still no attention
is paid to il. nor is the burden in any way light
ened- We see them with huge welts crisis
crossed along their backs and TANKS raised by
m laaa yrn1 nh oh fol,
whether the poor animals travel fast or slow.
Some have their ears Topped and broken by
blows from eudgels. and many have their nos
trils shit mp on each side the nose, so tina. there
may be mo nonsense" in the way of difficulty
of breathing and consequent loss Of speed in
the higher attitudes.
EARD FAYE OF THE DONKEY.
The theory appears to prevail that donkey
can carry as MUCH as can be piled upon him,
and they are generally covered from head to
tail with loads that bulge far out on each side.
or when carrying human freight. two men or a
couple OF women or three or four BOYS bestride
him at once When hardly able to move either
from excessive burdens or lack Of food, his en-
orgies are stimulated as long as possible by
twisting his stub of a tail his sensitive ears
or by the boy who rides him, who selects a nice
soft spot somewhere on the animals flank or
foreshoulder and works away at il with a rusty
nail or scrap Of iron or tin till the hide is worn
away, the raw flesh exposed and bleeding, and
then TO continue nagging the wound.
Not less to be pitied are the street car mules
and horses. which are beaten necessarily no mat
ter how hard they pull or how desperately they
exert themselves-lash. lash. goes the long heavy
whip over their suffering backs, up grade and
down. from dawn till midnight An extra man is
hlrec for the express purpose of whipping the
animals. who stands beside the driver and ap-
pears to be the most industrious person in Peru.
HOW '.PIGsKINs'' ARE MADE
The most blood-curdling cruel thing that has
yet come under my observation is the manner
in which are obtained the so-called s.pigskius"
that SO commonly serve for bottles and casks.
They are not the hides of pigs, but those of
sheep, and. horrible to relate are pulled off the
living animal, the poor sheep being actually
skinned alive, or more correctly speaking
skinned dead. for. of course. he does not long
survive the operation. The modus operandi is
o. follows: The beasts are driven. one by one.
70 the appointed place and firmly tied to a
stake Then the hide Is neatly cut around the
neck and down the middle without touching
the tesh or severing the arteries or hurting the
animal much; after which hooks are fastened
into the loosened skin. a rope being attached to
each hook. strong men take firm grip on the
ropes and pull backward. pulling and pulling
until the hide is torn of clean to the tail. Ii
Is said that during this frightful torture the
cries Of the poor sheep are almost human in
their expression Of agony, and that the bloody.
9uiyerlnS mass sometimes lives several minutes
The only excuse for the barbarous practice is
that the skins are much more flexible and dura-
BILE when thus taken of alive than when the
animals dead
GORGEOUS YOUNG ARMY oFFYcER
youthful army officer, who was introduced
70 our party by the resident consul, has been
exemplfying some Of the traits of his race in
marked manner He was immediately taken"
by our Yankee young lady and redoubtable
warrior though he desired to be considered. de-
sired to surrender Internationally at first
sight "Our little colonel" as we called him
was hardly more than boy and. like the rest
OF his class, was q scion Of aristocracy. II ia
not uncommon to find captains in their teens"
In the Peruvian army and all the officers are
sthe sons Of first families" quite separate and
apart from the common soldiers who are half
breeds called Cholos, and the military bands,
which are mostly made up of negroes. He
wore the usual toggery. without which a
Peruvian officer is never seen, at home and
abroad, TO weddings and funerals to mill and to
meetings consisting Of gaudy scarlet trousers
ntn broad black stripe down the outside of
each leg. black jacket heavily braided and
loaded with brass buttons, red cap profusely
adorned with gold braid and a sword that per-
sisted IN slipping around and nearly tripping
MIN up every time he crossed the parlor floor
Inc persons who make clothes for the Peruvian
army evidently expect them all to grow. for the
trousers are invariably so loose and baggy that
the seat appears near to where the knee
ought TO be and the knee midway between that
member and the ankle, making the side stripes
. la d. =