Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-16
LIFE IN CHILL.
How the Ladies Occupy Their
Time--Their Duties.
SOME NOTABLE PECULlARITIES
Domestic. Religious and Social Relations
Housekeeping Experiences Among
the Chilenos - The Man
Servant.
Special Correspondence of the Gazette.

| Special Correspondence of the Gazette
| CoNCEPCIoN, CHILL, July. 1S9l.-This is
| life in Chill: To vegetate in delightful
| climate, whose hottest sunbeamS are cooled
| by breezes blown from the Audean snow
| fields, happily exempt from all excitements
| except those that spring from natural
| causes, notably love, earthquakes and revo
| lutionS; to attend strictly on all hestas oil
| the Romish church, and by that means (sc
say the priests to secure for ones self an
| equally tranquil hereafter; to promenade
| every evening in the public garden, which
is known in the native grandiloquent style
as el Jardin de las Deliclous-''the garden
of delight"-and later to attend the opera
or at least tertulia, as social gatherings IN
private houses are called.
The fair Chilena rises late. She dresses
hastily, throwing a charitable shawl about
her shoulders to hide manifold sins OF
omiSSion-her little feet thrust careleSSly
into slippers, her splendid black hair. snarls
and all, plated in two long braidS that fall
down her back, and her additions. if she
troubles herself to make any being merely
form OF poIlteneSS at the wash bowl. OF
course she must 90 TO morning mass, but
the big, black mantel that custom demands
for that service. drawn over the head to the
eyes and closely enveloping the body,
obviateS the necessity for any further dress
ing. In every case the Gillian woman pre-
fers silk or WOODEN gown. however soiled
and tattered, TO the finest and freshest cot
ton fabrics. for she CONSIDERS the latter ma
terial the exclusive property of servants
and deSpiSed GringoeS. or foreigners
Thus in deshabille she dawdles about
amusing herself with fancy work or doing
nothing at all, until ennu drives her to
seek relief in shopping or paving visits
Then the glossy hair mounts up on top of
ha hon in r1a1 y-aln .lS =. i
slippers give place to French boots with
the highest heels and most peaked toes that
were ever intended to torture their foolish
wearers, and in all the splendor of costly ap-
parel, than which Solomon in all his glory
was never so arrayed, she sallies forth with
stately tread, generally bare-headed,
closely followed by a servant whose bust
ness it is to bear my lady's purse, handker-
chief, parasol and whatever trifies she may
purchase. At the sunset hour or in the
early evening-before time for opera or ter
tulia-she repairs to the promenade, to en-
joy little music and perhaps some mild
tiirtations-the last mentioned amusement,
however, being restricted to signs,
''Sheep's eyes and
FOLLOWING FOOTSTEPS.
Thus for the women the days go by in one
mOnotonous round, year in and out The
men omit the mass, look little after their
the middle of the day, but diligently at
tend to the promenade, the opera and ter
tulla, or to the gaming table for the night.
Gambling is a national habit. In many of
the SWEETEST casas of Santiago and Val
paraiso the gaming table is regularly set
out and forms one of the features of private
entertainments, like the baccarat of Great
Britain, which lately plunged the eldest
hope of her respected majesty into such
boiling-hot water. In Chilli, the poorest
poems and ragged gamin may be seen at all
times III the alleys and by-ways betting
nrediOs and centavos, the pennies and nick
els OF the country with as much eagerness
as the wealthy mine-owner stakes his gold
oupces.-The tallest gambling that ever
came under my own observation took place
on steamer between Copiapo and Talca-
huano, when man who had recently
''struck 1t rich" in copper at the Atacama
mines lost $40, 600 in single night There
are laws against gaming, but they are sell
dom enforced, and even the church winks
at it, the .quid nuncs assert, because SO
many of her dignitaries are addicted to
monte. A friend tells me that he once at
tended Sunday morning mass in the church
OF an interior village where the congrega-
ton, having waited long for the coming of
the priest finally sent for his reverence.
The messenger found him at a cock-tight,
which he refused to forsake until the ex-
SltInS w d. tI0Gu.
A Yankee school teacher who recently re-
turned to the North after several wears
residence here, says of the Chilenos:
There are notably two classes of society. |
II man wears silk hat and carries a |
pretty cane, it is presumable that he be-
longs to the better class. If he has a |
servant to wait on him at home and to |
carry his small luggage when he travels; if |
he settles with his landlord by handing him |
a large bill without a question and shoves |
the return change into his pocket without |
delgn1ng to count it, there is no doubt |
about his being tirst-claSs cabellero (gen- |
But should he dare to omit the |
silk hat or the pretty cane and the man TO |
carry his belongings, he can in no wise ex-
pect to be admitted into the upper circles
Thus the Rev Mr.. -, a man of great |
worth, ability and learning, was given the
opproorious title of vaquero cowboy be-
cause he persisted in carrying home every
morning a small pitcher of milk to his |
baby. A true cabellero would have sent
the servant, and even his silk hat and pol
shed cane, coupled with extremely pol
shed manners,
COULD NOT SAVE HIM.
''ln Chilli, the man who makes YOUR shoes |
the tailor who cuts your coat, the woman
who irons your linen, will charge according
o your cloth for his or her services If |
you claim to be gentleman by dressing up
o the character, the price will be enor-
nous; but if you are tradesman, clerk,
n laborer of any description, it will be
more moderate. Should you be so excess
lively vulgar as to venture to the market
n person to purchase a piece of meat. it
viii cost you at least 40 cents pound but
+ you send a servant. he will buy the same
quantity and better quality for half the
money. The Gillian physician who made a
visit to my family, requiring
lis services for less than half an hour, sent
n his bill for SIS; but when | informed
i'm that was poor man. he wrote me a
cry polite note, saying that it was of no
consequence, and that | might pay him at
ny own convenience, what sum I thought
roper"
In Chill the greatest respect is shown by
hlIdren to their parents. but the tender
ove between mother and daughter as it
xists among US, is almost unknown. At
firth the children of the wealthy are in
ariably given in charge of a wet-nurse.
whose own child, in turn, is nursed by a
oorer woman-and in about ninety-nine
asses out of a hundred this nurse of the
urse'S child has never been married.
hen the small senorita goes to school and
ees less of her mother than ever She is
under the care of servants. and