Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1891-03-06
THE POLITE PERUVIANS.
A STRANGE MIXTURE OF GENTLE
NESS AND CRUELTY.
Exquisitely Polite but Unscrupulous
in Money Matters-Kind and Yet
HeartleSs-Sheep Flayed Alive.

Exquisitely Polite but Unscrupulous
in Money Matters-Kind and Yet
Heartless-Sheep Flayed Alive.
In common with other Spanish Ameri-
cans, writes Fannie B. Ward, in the
Philadelphia Record, the Peruvians show
strange mixture of gentleness and
cruelty, sentimentality and heartlessness.
They are excessively polite to the min
utest detail of an exaggerated etiquette,
on all occasions, at home or abroad.
Their voices are always low and musical,
their vivacious gestures and profound
obeisances the perfection of grace, and
their everyday manners such as Lord
Chesterfield might have envied. If a
lady-young or old, handsome or hide
ous-comes into any public place where
gentlemen are congregated, instantly the
buzz of conversation ceases, every man
rises to his feet, takes off his hat and re-
mains standing until she has passed out
or is seated. When funeral procession
goes by, men in their carriages, in the
horse cars, ,on the streets and in the door,
ways or balconies of their houses, un-
cover and bow their heads; and the same
custom is observed whenever the door of
a 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 begears, are beautiful
to behold and worthy of emulation.
They will put themselves to the great
est amount of trouble to serve stranger
without expectation of reward. Their
hospitality is unbounded, their generos-
ity proverbial, and for point of honor
most of them will lay down their lives.
Yet the temporarily reduced will resort
to thousand polite pretexts to get
money out of you-such, for example, as
dead friend who had recently lost all
his property and whose coffin must be
bought by subscription. Won't you do
nate $40 toward so charitable an objecta
Or a tale of woe about poor widow and
her children, left penniless in the cold
world, who are desirous of going to their
relatives in some distant place; surely
the sonora will be happy to assist them9
etc., etc. / myself subscribed small
amounts from time to time for dozens of
coffins and poor widows with weeping
families until learned the little game.
Even the Peruvian hlghwayman will
take off his hat to you in the most defer
ential manner before politely requesting
your money or your life; and if it 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 appear
ance 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-
by may pause to say prayers for your un-
shriveu soul.
In all the months I have remained in
this country l have never seen child
whipped and have scarcely heard one
cry. The poorest among them loves
music and poetry, flowers and sentimen-
tality, more than his daily meat and
drink; yet vein of coolest cruelty and
utter heartlessness runs through the best
of them. This is evidenced in many
ways besides the bull-fght, the cockpit
and their conduct in war.
in their treatment of donkeys. No
tongue can tell what those patient and
tractable little creatures are made to en-
dure till merciful death at last releases
them from torment, overwork and slow
starvation. Everywhere we see pltiabc
examples of beasts bearing heavy bur-
dcns 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 it, nor is
the burden IN any way lightened. We
see them with huge welts criss- crossed
along their backs and flanks, Ialsed by
the merciless whip, which falls unceas-
ingly, whether the poor animals travel
fast or slow. Some have their ears
Topped and broken by blows from
cudgels, and many have their nostrils slit
up on each side the nose, so that there
may be ''no nonsense" in the way of diff
ficulty of breathing and consequent loss
of speed in the higher attitudes.
Not less to be pitied are the street-car
mules and horses, which are beaten in
cessantly no matter 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 ex-
ira man Is hired for She express purposes
of whipping the animals, who stands be-
side the driver and appears to be about
the most industrious person in Peru.
The most blood -curdling, cruel thing
that has yet come under my observation
is the manner in which are obtained the
so-called ig-skins" 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 ac-
tually skinned alive, or, more correctly
speaking. skinned dead, for of course he
does not long survive the operation. The
modus operandi is as follows: The beasts
are driven, one by one, to the appointed
place and firmly tied to stake. Then
the hide is neatly cut around the neck
and down the middle. without touching