Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-04-02


A6 Si, mail for a month pas
having been consigned
AAF" to the care of the
E-- Argentine minister:
the time-honored one
that il is q woman's
privilege to change her mind. The moving
cause was this: We learned by accident, at the
literal eleventh hour, that pleasant party OF
ladies and gentlemen, in whose company we
Journeyed some hundreds Of miles on the other
side OF the continent were bound for Rio, on
board a vessel lying out in the harbor, which
In two hours time would sail
Well A great deal can be accomplished in
two hours, By dint Of vigorous hustling. aided
BY telegraph and cable. A man could never
have done it among these procrsstinating
manana people, but all the world is good to
women, and the LATEST South American will
bestir himself for gallantry's sake when lucre
would not move him. On our side the incen-
tive was great Having long outstayed the orig
inal travelling party we find our ranks embar-
rassingly reduced in this third year of globe
trotting. and in numbers there is strength. es-
pecially for foreigners in these wild countries.
We had been dreading intensely the visit to
Brazil, imagining all manner OF bugaboos to
alright lone females unacquainted with the
Portuguese language. and here was an opportu-
nifty to accomplish it under the most favorable
circumstances.
Therefore here we are, fifteen hundred miles
nearer the equator than when We wrote you
last week-reckoning distance from the fact
that the French. German and English steamers
that ply these coasts on their regular trips be-
tween South America and Europe register an
average running of thirteen knots an hour. and
the journey occupies i've days. few weeks
later, when Yellow Jack stalks abroad on his
annual raid, We will fit southwark again and
proceed to do" the big Argentine country. the
lonely Parana and unknown Paraguay-si Dios
quiere, as the Spaniards say.
THE HEALTHIEsr SEASON IN RIO.
By the way, they assure US that Just now ia
the healthiest season in Rio, when yellow fever
cases are down to the minimum; yet last even
Ing. in course Of an hours drive. which hap
pened to lie along the broad, palm Dor dered
avenue leading to the main Campo Santo we
passed no fewer than eight funeral professions
on their way to that city Of the dead, whose
population must outnumber the living city
thousand to one Though every loot process
sion went at q lively jog trot and those in car
riages galoped along at full speed il was easy to
tell to which social strata the departed belonged
for here, Is elsewhere. the same treatment is
melted out to dead people when they were
living, according to the scriptural axiom. TO
him that hath shall be given" Those Brazilians
who have lived in luxury are escorted to the
tomb with the ''pomp and circumstance"
land, incidentally, with the vast expense to
the relatives, who thus have double cause to
mourn) of sabie-canopied hearse, q score of
plumed horses and q long following Of hired
carriages filed with ale-friends-every man
Of them wearing black kid gloves, q broad band
of crepe around his tall silk hat and a yard or
two more of the same emblem of woe conspicu-
ously streaming from his right Goa: sleeve; and
those whom We saw bowling merrily behind the
hearse were all smoking the inevitable cigarito
and animatedly discussing politics, or perhaps
The financial condition Of the family of the de-
ceased.
In no case are there any women, for, as usual
In these southern countries, the '.gentler
presumably more Observation-Disclosures ex-
cluded from funerals. and must bid the last
adieux to those they have loved in the privacy
of their homes, q very sensible arrangement
among these passionate, high-strung, uncon-
srollaple people, who boast no Spartan females.
The humber dead. stretched eoffn Mess on q
black palled board or inclosed in a gaudily
painted box. are borne to the place of inter-
ment on the shoulders of their friends while
those Of the followers who can muster enough
mil refs go out on the second-class street cars
We observe one beautiful custom, that every
body in sight-on their balconies in the
streets. In shops. in carriages. rich and Door
naughty and humbIe-reverentialy uncover
their heads when a funeral cortege passes by.
doing Involuntary homage to the pathetic lit
which all must become when the soul has
Asd
SCARLET -RAPPISGs FOR CHILDREN
Even grim death is not without its humor-
Gus side in this strange city. Brazilian ange-
Gtas ('iittle angels" as the corpses Of children
are universally called.) are not arraved for the
grave In the conventional white or black of
other countries. but in scarlet There il a
small scarlet hearse for the convenience of
those who can afford II, adorned with scarlet
pail and curtains, scarlet plumes and trappings
FOR the horses, while the little coffin it contains
" invariably covered with scarlet and the
Wrpatls and hOuOuets q of f,a.l ar
scarlet ribbons To carry out the eternal TT
mess" the child should have died Of scarlet
fever, instead Of diseases engendered by dirt
and neglect, the prevailing cause hereabouts of
mortality among children. The angelitas OF
people too poor TO hire the splendid scar
Je. hearse are conveyed TO the tomb
On the heads OF their parents in a
small box, painted blue or yellow. striped with
white. almost identical IN contour. size and
color with those boxes that are continually
trotted about the streets in the same manner.
containing bread, cakes and dulees SO that TO
unaecustomed eyes the two are indistin-
guishable.
We arrived at the cemetery gate just as the
soldiers funeral was filing through and wish
ing To see the SPOT where the wanderings Of SO
many OF our unfortunate countrymen have
ended, We left our carriage and followed the
procsssion-at very respectful distance, "
remembering the prevalence of smallpox and
other contagious The dead warrior lay upon
. sort Of double-decked platform, in full view
Of men. with only his martial cloak around
him, and had been carried in this manner
through the crowded streets of the city on the
snouiders oil has comrades. from the barracks.
distance OF three miles or more. preceded
by military hand playing jubilant marches
and quicksteps- Cncofhned lie was laid in the
soldiers corner. to await the resurrection re-
yeilie Eaeh OF his late comrades took "A shovel
full OF the freshly turnei-up earth and threw
upon him: and then, 10 the exhilarating strain,
Of The Barber of Seville" they quick-steppe,