The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-07-22
LAND oE Lorus.EArERs.
rho Lazy People Of Paraguay VIII No
Work for Money or Love.

A LAND OF lOTUS-EATEHS.
rho Lazy People Of Paraguay VIII Nss
Work for Money or Love.
Immediately upon awaking every
body takes the usual desayuno Of
Jpanish-America "a bit OF bread and
something warm to drink-herc gourd
If yerba mate, instead of cup OF
,offee or Mug of chocolate, as else
where); and breakfast, like a dinner of
several courses, comes on between 10:30
and noon. BY IL o'clock the heat OF
The day is in full blast, and everybody
has sought the shade. Shops, which
were open before sunrise, are now
closed, and remain so for several hours,
while proprietors, clerks and custo-
ners are mapping in hammocls, or inn
bibing gossip and yercba mate some
whore in retirement. The post office
Ind all other places of business are
ocked; even the street cars stop rum
ning and river boats tie up. Ladies, in
she privacy of home, universally dis
oensa with the double skirt, and in the
lcgligee of the camisole (tho Para
,uayan "tea gown,' which much re-
,cmbles the scant, white garment of
the north, not often mentioned in pub
lie society, known as a chemise), enjoy
their cigars in peace and comfort. The
boy who blacks your boots must have
mis- siesta, as we'll as the priest, the
merchant, the lawyer, the gentleman
| of leisure. The cook leaves her pots
| and pans to take care of themselves,
market women lie down among their
yams and oranges. ox-drivers stretch
themselves in the shadow of their carts,
and donkey boys and their animals
| lozc together.
This happens every day of the week,
and during the siesta hours the wide
awake stranger, however urgent his
business or pressed he is for time,
might as we'll resign himself to fate
and ell custumbre, for absolutely moth
ing can be done.
The fact is these people are hopeless.
ly lazy. Why should they toll and
spin when nature and the mission
fathers have given them the means of
life and felicity - in the form OF
oranges, mandioca, mate, tobacco and
wild cane for rum-without effort on
their part? So delightful is the climate
that they require next to nothing in
the way of clothing and shelter; they
have no soaring ambition to crafty,
and changeful fashion has not yet in
vaded this remote Acadia toany harass-
ing extent. We hear the same thing
everywhere, that only under such des-
potic rule as that of Francia and Lopez,
or the paternal system of communism
| that existed in the old colonial days OF
| the monks and the missions, can a
Paraguayan be induced to work at all.
1t is useless to order him about,
although he utterly neglects to do that
| for which he was hired: the only way
to get anything out of him is by treat
ing him as an equal, with infinite coax
ing and patience.
The Indians are even worse than the
mixed Guarani-Spanish race that com.
prises the bulk of the population; for
having no need of money nor any
| thought for the morrow, they positive
ly will not work unless driven to it by
hunger. and then only until theil
| their stomachs are filed. On the
estandias, where oranges are the prin'
cipal product, the fruit lies rotting un'
der the trees, a foot deep-of no profit
to the owner, because he cannot get il
picked up and carried to the market
1t might be a good thing if the Para
guayan government We're to have al
the orange trees cut down, as that o:
Costa Rca caused the banana fields tt
be destroyed, so that the people coult
no longer depend upon spontaneou!
growth for t'daily bread" but were
compelled to wake up and earn it ol
starve. There is a palm-oil factory il
the neighborhood of Asuncion, but i
is closed the greater part of the time
because of the difficulty of getting
palm nuts, though literally ''the wood
are full of them" Not native will
take the trouble to gather nuts ant
bring them to the mill, unless yer.
much in want OF meal, q new poncno
or petticoat or other bit of gaud ant
gear; and as soon as the object is at
tanned long interval of uninterrupte,
rest is required to make up for the eS
ertion. l am told that it is the sam
way with the brick factory and Kill,
below the city. The universal build
ing material here is kiln-dried brick
plastered inside and out; if man de
sires to build house there is no know
ing how long he may have to wait fo
the brick, because workmen are not t
be had. Or, rather, one should sa
workwomen, for in nearly every cas-
women are the laborers rather tha
men.-Fanny B. Ward, in Chicago Tril
une.