The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1896-01-16
Pictures of Life i'll the Azores.

f'pN IlCluEtS u Iile LII tHt AZoIeS.
..A TO GET RICH ON FORTY CENTS PER
.srN WHAT VIRGIL AND HORACE
lVIEY KNEW ABOUT FARMING. PoR-
..uAL'S LAWS TO PREVENT EMIGRA-
UN. uHE oMNIPREsENT DoNKEY.
-...lal corresp ondence of The Journal
.NrA DELGApA, SAN MIGUEL, Dec.
If I could transform the printed
... INTO a big cotton sheet and throw
..u t some OF these charmingly char
site scenes by the aid of lantern
e-. you might form a better idea of
Azorean: but since that cannot be,
., .ust get along as we'll as possible with
world painting. As in other countries,
ra communities of these islands are
M more typically interesting than the
a.. 9umevhat cosmopolitan cities. I'M
ur q struggling village of one stored,
loomed stone houses looking centuries
each set close to the street-that is,
M.n me- bit of yard in front-its steep
ed roof matched with straw and its
..lr IF lare earth strewn with rushes or
M needles Its one small, square Win
V placed high up in the front wall, is
1teI closed except at night. Its door,
s, stands always open, as if inviting
lalus eyes to take their full of staring;
+. the lower half of the door is tenn
Uily shut the upper panel. which is
.u hinges, is flung wide open. Such
IIres as we see framed in those rude
n.lways. Here a Rembrandt, there a
hens and plenty of Murillos, too, hard
be mentioned to ears polite. Perhaps
an old man in his shirt sleeves, rest
bis arm on the easement and stolidly
king, his silvery hair struggling from
.u'rr his gray knit cap; or the aged
-audma, with a crimson handkerchief
ro>sed on her breast, every wrinkle in
eathery face accentuated by her
.uov- white turban. Or maybe it is a
HlJ-brown Penelope at her ''woolly task
'Ae spindle.
he interior details are simple enough,
SIS one end of the room are two beds,
Iill- IOOl u 1901, Ildtlt up ItlIdl n
AigA with ticks of home made linen
ua with moss, com husks, or the
lire gathered from the root stalks
ac abounding fern, DickSo,io calcita.
bed is covered with a gay patch
yult OF one Of white knotted cot
til round hard bolster at each end
pillows, and decorated around the
HHf linen pantaiettes. such as ouT
.euothers called 'valances trimmed
coarse. home made tlaxen lace
Nc;e the family is too numerous to be
.Wed away n the two beds. lower ones
pushed underneath them, to be tlun-
-H Jut AT night = loft is also made in
peak Of the roof for the larger boys,
facing A few boards half way across
pom above the beds and furnishing
ucm with shake downs OF moss or
.>urs. Passing at midday, we often see
%. inan Of the family taking their siesta
ttr,e lofts. with legs dangling down
4 fringe over the heads of their wives
ldughters, spinning below. From the
aIs hang long strings of garlic and
i- lers, lunches of Indian corn tied to-
zen 10y the husks, dried fish and cane
while the floor is encountered with
.o4ps of sheled corn, and sacks of wheat
l-0 beans. There is pine table. a rude
"neh OF two, and perhaps an Eastlake
oaI that would fill the heart of a colec-
with envy stone seat is placed
ct the high window, the bambino oc-
rs niche in the opposite wall, and
We collection of saints and saintesseS in
\ H"ud charcoal or lithograph is more or
cr> numerous and profusely adorned with
/ iater flowers, according to the piety or
V.ldly circumstances of the family.
Lambling around the hamlet you find
some Of the citizens drying corn in ovens
7li,h we are accustomed to designate as
' The Dutch variety. Others are build
.l- waffle fences of wild cane stalks, OF
weaving the plant basket of bramble
wigs" or bringing bundles of flax on
hsr heads from distant fields which the
f women bruise, hackle, spin and wind.
"A Jas is extensively cultivated and used in
Azores, yet such thing as loom or
"A coming wheel, as we know those nipple
4 H"t's, is almost unknown. A simple dis
H and spindle like that used by Helen
Troy and by Penelope and her hand
fA'dens, is altogether in vogue. Occa-
badly in passing along some country
Il 'eNc. Won hear through the open door of a
age the rattle of a rude, hand made
4Nn on which the flax is woven into
Nii4; and mingled with this racket is the
B hStant thwack, thwack, of the flax be-
ny embed out by the women. Any day
n may see illustrated the Scrptural oc-
patton of ''two women grinding corn at
# he mill, and of oxen treading out the
# Nacat on a circular threshing floor; MOI
III 0] thew muzzle the oxen that treadeth
b the corn" The Azorean pillow is the
q Fq Latin implement reproduced of wood,
r le shaft alone being shod with iron. The
II bowman rides to the field on his donkey,
III ana then has pair of oxen to do the