The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-21
FEATURES OF LIS IN Brazil.
Decorations Ars So Common That

Decorations ArS So Common That
Even the Small Boys Wear Them.
From, Fannie B. Wards Rio de Janeiro Letter.
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 IL and IA years
old, who certainly can have done nothing to
win such distinction. There is a very large
body Of ex-officials in Rio, belonging to the
decayed aristocracy, and most of them still
sport on all possible occacions 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 custom In Brazil under
which patents of nobility. with all its signs
and emblems, could be bought for filthy
lucre and the rage for them was unbounded
The highest II 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 Christon on his wastcoat
front Church dignitaries and civilians OF
high degree wore them also, and being
handed down from generation to generation,
they still appear. often with ludicrous map
propriateness. The prevailing costume of
Brazlians 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 CHA with a rib
bon; velveteen jackets, waistcoats of gor-
geous colors checked with brass or silver
buttons, linen drawers high, black CATERS
h,,S 81 81, rarta %s..,
sort OF care, similar 70 that still used In Por-
tugal, generally lined with scarlet aud
thrown neglgently over the shoulder. This
quaint, oldtime fashion prevails only in the
interior. principally among the well-to-do.
In Rio and other seaside cities the gentle-
men dress in the most correct OF European
costumes and the ladies get themselves up
more Frenchily, If one may coin u word,
than anybody in France. barring glazing
inconEruities In the matter OF colors, some
times so atrociously blended as to swear at
one another" in way that would drive a
French woman crazy. During the few short
trips we have so far made into the interior
we have been amused to see ladies prone
nading the streets with all the airs and
graces Of peafowls, wearing enormous
hoops, with "pelerines" and waterfalls
dangling down their shoulders, exact copies
Of the fashion plates of thirty years ago.
But this is a great country for the study
or anatomy, II one were 80 lncllneQ, Tor the
majority OF the common people" peram-
bulate 80 near to naked that the slight sim
ilitude Of CLOTHES" they wear seems alto
gether superhuous The street ganins, and
even children of people in tolerable circum-
stances, play about their doors and screech
and tumble in the streets without stitch
or rag of clothing upon them, with no moro
ideas of modesty than the NANCY dogs that
are their companions. At the age Of Q or 10
or whereabouts (which in the tropics, you
know, is equal to Is or 10 In the far, cold
north, the girls are partially covered by a
cotton tunic and the boys by equally ganzy
drawers. When fully grown and arrived at
the dignity of fatherhood and motherhood
themselves--w which will be surprisingly early
In Ifs, you may be sure-their full dress
will consist Of, for the women, a cotton
chemise, embroidered around the yoke and
armlets, and generally 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 weerer can manage to
acquire; and for men calico shirt, always
unbuttoned in front and worn with flaps
outside the drawers and straw hat