The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-04-03
NOT AN EARTHLY PARADISE
Mrs. Ward Details Her First Impressions
Of the Famous Capital of Brazil.
Funerals Are Surprisingly Frequent, and
Numerous-An luminous Lull in Politics.

Gptt1ni SoEItopOuocuCc VI TIC C0nOsJ II
Rio DE JANEIRo. Feb. 23.-Our only ex-
ouse for SO completely altering the pro-
gramme-after tickets had been bought
for Buenos Ayres. luggage actually on the
way to the wharf of the waiting steamer.
and our mail for o month past hav-
ing been consigned to the care
of the Argentine minister's the
time-honored one that it is o woman's
privilege to change her mind. The NOV
ing cause was this: We learned, by acoi-
dent. at the literal eleventh hour. hat q
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 Q vessel lying
out In the harbor. which in two hours
time would sail. Well, q 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 procrastinating manana peo-
pie: but all the world is good to women.
and the LATEST South American will bestir
would not move him. ON our
side the incentive was great. Having
long outstaid the original travelling
party. we find our ranks embarrassingly
reduced in this third year of globe-trotting;
and In numbers there is strength. especial
ly for foreigners in these wild countries.
We had been dreading intensely the visit
to Brazil, imagining all manner of buga-
boos to alright lone females u-nacquainted
with the Portuguese languages: and here
was an opportunity 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
their regular trips between South America
and Europe register an average running OK
thirteen knots an hour. and the journey
occupies five days. Afew days later. when
yellow jack stalks abroad on his annual
raid. we will Hit southwark again and pro-
coed to do" the big Argentine country, the
lonely Parana and unknown Paraguay-si
dos quiere, as the Spaniards say.
FUNERALS IN THE STREETS.
By the way. they assure us that just now
is the healthiest season In Rio. when yell
low-fever cases are down to the minimum;
vet last evening. in course of an hours
drive. which happened to lie along the
broad, PALM bordered 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 popu-
lation must outnumber the living
city q Thousand TO one. Though
every foot procession went at a lively Jog
trot. and those In carriages galloped along
at full speed. it was easy to tell to which
social strata the departed belonged, for
here, as elsewhere, the same treatment 10
meted out 20 dead people as when they
were living. according to the .Scriptural
axiom, TO him that hath shall be given"
Thoaa RraztlIanQ Win hava lrvad IN lnynru
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 sable
carriages filled with male friends
every man of them wearing black kid
gloves. a broad band of Grape aroun his
tall silk hat. and a yard or two more of the
same emblem of woe ~conspicuously stream
ing from his right coat sleeve. and those
we saw bowling merrily behind the hearse
were all smoking the inevitable cigarito
and animatedly discussing politics, or
perhaps the financial condition of the
there any women. for. as usual
in these southern countries. the
"gentler," and presumably more
tender-hearted sex. are excluded from
funerals and must bid the last alden to
those they LAY loved In the privacy of
khOtA a. WIZ
among these passionate, high-strung. un-
cohtrollable people who boast no Spartan
females.
The humber dead. stretched. ~cof1inless.
on q black-palled board, or Enclosed in @
gaudily- painted box. are borne othe place
of interment on the shoulders of their
friends, while those of the followers who
can muster enough mil reis, go out on the
~second-class street cars. We observe one
beautiful custom, that every body in sight
nm fhAtr halanntAo IN fhA ofraata -
shops, in carriages, rich and poor. naughty
and humble-reverently uncover their
heads when q funeral cortege passes by,
doing Involuntary homage to the pathetic
lit" which we must all become when the
soul has fed.
HOW II LITTLE ONES R BURIED.
Even grim death Is not without its hu.
morous side In this strange city. Brazilian
angolitas ~("little angels" as the corpses of
children are universally called, are not
arrayed for the grave in the conventional
white or black of other countries, but In
scarlet. There is a small scarlet hearse for
the convenience of those who can afford it,
adorned with scarlet pail and curtains,
scarlet plumes and trappings for the horses,
while the little coffin il contains 10 invaria-
bly, covered with scarlet, and the wreatbs
and bouquets on top of 1T tied with
tOOOhos " WHY IA thO u
fitness" the child should have died of
scarlet fever, instead of diseases engen-
dered by dirt and neglect, the prevailing
cause hereabouts of mortality among
children. The angelitas of people too poor
to hire the splendid scarlet hearse are
conveyed to the tomb on the heads of their
parents, in a small box. painted blue or
yellow, striped with white, almost denti-
cal IN contour. size and color with those
boxes that are continually trotted about
49, o<pAAfo IN tho oxn A4.AAf-~
bread. cakes and dulces. so that to unac-
cust0med eyes the two are indistinguish-
able.
I'VE arrived at the cemetery gate just asa
soldiers funeral was filing through. and,
wishing to see the spot where the wander
ings of so many of our unfortunate coun-
trymen have ended. we left our carriage
and followed the procession-at o very re.
spectful distance" remembering the preva-
lance of smallpox and other contagious.
The dead warrior lay upon a 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 shoul-
ders of his comrades from the barracks, O
distance of three miles OF more. preceded
by a military band playingjubilantmarches
and quicksteps. Uncotined. be was laid in
the soldiers corner to await the resurrec-
ton reveille. Each of his late comrades
took q shovelful of the freshly t~urned-up
earth and threw upon him. AID then. to
the exhilarating strains of The Barber Of
Seville" they quiokstepped back TO town.
The riotous growth and intensity of
green in this graveyard Is appalling. for it
is the rankness of the battle-tield-life riot
ing upon death. The splendid palms that
fiaunt their plumes in the face of the sky
have their roots set deep in decay. and in
that decay are the germs of fever and
death. BY this time the sun had disap-
peared. but the evening breeze. reeking