The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-12-30
FEATURES or LIFE IN BRAZIL.


the Small Boys Wear Them.
Among other queer things that the
stranger observes in Brazil are the vast
numbers OF decorations-stars and crosses,
etc.-which appear to have been recklessly
bestowed often upon boys Of twelve anc
fourteen years old, who certainly can
have done nothing to win such distinc-
ton. There is very large body of ex-
officials in Rio, belonging to the decayed
aristocracy, and most of them still sport
on all possible occasions the court dresses
and uniforms and decorations of past
regime. 1t Is their small Sons and grand
sons whom one sees tricked out in tawdry
silks and velvets, with stars and crosses
and miniature crowns pinned on their
jackets. These decorations are as likely
to have been obtained by purchase as by
inheritance, for there used to be a custom
in Brazil under which patents of nobility,
with all it's signs and EN- blems, could be
bought for filthy lucre and the rage for
them was unbounded.
TIE highest of all the decorations was
" the insignia Of the Order of Christ, +" and
at one time the keeper of every pulqueria,
as well as his fellow citizens above and
below in the social gamut, appeared on
every holiday with habito de Christie
on his waistcoat front. Church dignitar-
les and civilians Of high degree wore them
also, and being handed down from gen.
Grafton to generation, they still appear,
often with ludicrous appropriateness.
The prevailing costume of Brazilians in
the rural districts has not changed much
in the last 100 years. The men still wear
broad brimmed hats with low crowns,
tied under the chin with ribbon; vel
veteen jackets, waistcoats of gorgeous
colors bedecked with brass or silver but
tons, linen drawers, high, black CATERS
buttoned to the knee; the whole topped
by sort of cape, similar to that still
used in Portugal, generally lined with
scarlet and thrown negligently over lone
shoulder. This quaint, old time fashion
prevails only in the interior, principally
among the we'll TODD.
In Rio and other seaside cities the gen.
tlemen dress in the most correct Of Euro
pean costumes and the ladies get them
selves up more Frenchily, if one may coin
word, than anybody in France, barring
glaring incongruities in the matter of
colors, sometimes 50 atrociously blended
as to "swear at one another" In way
that would drive French woman crazy.
During the few short trips we have SO far
made into the interior we have been
amused to see the ladies promenading the
streets with all the airs and graces of pea
fowls, wearing enormous hoops, with
"pelerines " and waterfalls dangling
down their shoulders, exact copies OF the
fashion plates of thirty years ago.
But this is great country for the
study of anatomy, If one were SO inclined,
for the majority of the "common people "
perambulate SO near to naked that the
slight similitude of clothes they wear
seems altogether superfluous. The street
gamin, and even children of people in
tolerable circumstances, play about their
doors and screech and tumble in the
streets without stitch or rag of clothing
upon them, with no more ideas of mod
esty, than the NANCY dogs that are their
companions. At the age of nine or ten,
or thereabouts (Which in the tropics,
you know, is equal to fifteen or
eighteen in the far, cold north), the
girls are partially covered by cotton
tunic and the boys by equally gauzy
drawers. When fully grown and arrived
at the dignity of fatherhood and mother
hood themselves-which will be surpris-
ingly early in life, you may be sure
their full dress will consist of, for the
women, cotton chemise, embroidered
around the yoke and armlets, and gener-
ally slipped off one shoulder or the other
to the waist; short, scant cotton skirt,
a string of beads, long earrings and as
many bracelets of brass, silver or beads
as the wearer can manage to acquire; and
for men, a calico shirt, always unbuttoned
in front and worn with flaps outside the
drawers and straw hat.-Fannie B.
Wards Rio Janerio Letter.