Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-05-28
CURIOUS PEOPLE.
Some og tho Peculiar Traits of the
 Natives of Brazil.
A Country Where the Merchants Arc Too Lazy to Walt on Customers and che WoTuon Fritter Away Their
 Time in Gossiplng.

Next to indolence. the most impress sive trait of Brazilian character is nor bid curiosity, and it is that which keeps him continually out of doors, peram- bulating 8 regular beat. like a police man, and which sends him to the sta ton every morning when the train departs for Rio and every evening when it returns, writes Fannie B. Ward, to the Chicago Tribune. Walk along any street in Brazil. at any time of day, and you will observe that nearly every win dow is decorated with female heads and shoulders hanging over the sills, while their owners chatter with one another and minutely inspect all passers by evidently quite as willing to be seen as to see. Not only do women of the lower classes spend most of their waking hours in this way, but the habit is universal probably the nat ural outcome of the national charac-. teristic of morbid curiosity, enhanced by the Latin notion that for females "a little learning is Q dangerous thing" that reading is not good for them, and that work of every kind should be left entirely to the servants. Thus, ladies of upper tendon have not even the care of their own children to occupy their thoughts, and society or dains that they must not walk abroad unless accompanied by some male relative. Therefore, without resources in themselves or cultivated tastes to gratify-nothing in the world to do but to eat, sleep and look as pretty as na- ture will allow-the poor things are driven to pass much of their useless lives lounging in balconies and hanging | 14 o1k is religion and music, and in both dis fractions they indulge to excess without going very deeply into the why's and wherefores. Day after day, years in and out, one may hear them strumming over and over again the same lightest of French, Spanish and Portuguese operas, until the wonder grows that in crowded communities-the windows and doors being always open-the neighbors are not driven stark, staring mad; as, perhaps, they would be were not the noise partially drowned by that they are making themselves-the same airs being continually rattled on every piano all up and down the street.
 Shopping in Brazil Is by no means the pleasant occupation one may find in , New York. Everywhere in this coun- try you will find the merchants block ing their own doorways, even during the busiest hours of the day, by stand ing in them, gazing into the street-not because they expect anything to hap
 pen-but merely from an overweenina desire to see what other people are do } ing, the same instinct which impels them at the theater to turn their back upon the high-priced performance and spend . the time staring at each other. If you , insist upon buying something and sue l ceed in pinning the unwilling shop
 keeper behind his counter, you cannot infuse into him any apparent interest either in your business or his He treats you with an air that plainly says you patronage is nothing to him. In reply to your inquiry for some desired article : he is quite as likely to say he has it not
 though it may be in plain sight, anG should you point it out he will smile and elevate his eyebrows, as if to say a "What persistent bores these foreigner are." Or, perhaps, if you ask for ( particular thing he will direct you tc the case or drawer where it ought to bt
 and leave you to search for yourself
 while he hurries back to his street-gaz
 ing and gossiping. No matter how
 much or how frequently you buy ther'
 is never any discount, and if you object
 to an extortionate price the merchant
 smiles, politely, shrugs his shoulder
 and turns his entire attention to tht
 cigarette he has all the time been smok
 ing, as if glad to be rid of you on any
 terms. And then it is so exasperatine
 to take long walk in the broilinG
 sun, to find the shops all closed, as they
 are about two-thirds of the time (al
 ways excepting Sundays), because i
 happens to be some saints day ol
 patriotic anniversary, or because th'
 alleged business hours have not begun
 or maybe they are over for that day
 though the streets are yet thronget
 with possible customers.