The Republican journal., 1897-11-18
known to live, the good Lord knows how,
mainly on the pleasures of memory.


there are two days in every week Sun
/ days and Thursdays) when people shake
off their enchanted stupor sufficiently to
go to mass and to market. Very early on
Sunday morning the cracked old bells
prove to distraction the metal they were
made of, and keep up incessant clamor
until high noon. Then, out of the appar-
emily uninhabited houses, issue senoras
and senoritas in their graceful draperies,
the patricians with lace mantillas thrown
over their heads, the plebeians with cotton
rebosas and glide through the sleepy
streets toward the sanctuaries; while the
district militia. having dutifully attended
mass in clean linen and made the cracked
cathedral ring with the echo of saluting
arms in honor of the elevated Host, spend
the remainder of the forenoon drilling on
| the plaza. Here, as everywhere else in
| Spanish it is the fashion to per-
form ones religious duty early, and then
remainder of the day. Gambling and
cock fighting is the order of the hour for
most Of the male population, and bull
fighting is patronized by both sexes
wherever there is plaza de torras; while
the haughtiest dons and hdalgoes of the
arstocracy, including the Government
and the Judiciary, and, (oh, tell it not in
Gath) sometimes the clergy collect in
| the club houses to smoke and drink gov
eminent ingredients and indulge in games
of billiards, bacarat and vingt-un, for
loteria and other games of chance and
skill in booths erected conveniently near
| to the church In the evening, the garri-
son band performs its best in front of the
Governors casa, and all the town turns
out in holiday attire to enjoy short sea
son of music and moonlight, dancing,
! flirting and whatever other amusements
may be attainable. Aud then-presto! in
the twinkling of an eye everybody appar-
emily falls into an enchanted slumber; the
sunny streets are deserted the shadowy
/ AtOdoSo lo1SahCb ny ull DuC SlIOSlS, anu
silence reigns in old Carriage.
For the middle and lower classes
Thursdays are even livelier than Sundays
though less musical, owing to the alb
senee of band and bells. 1t is the market
day of the district, when the plaza, that
indispensable adjunct of all Spanish cities,
suddenly blossoms into surprising activity
and presents a vivid blending of the sharp
contrasts of tropical life. The market
plaza of Costa Rica's former capital is
| shut off on one side by the massive white
| towers of the parochial church; on an
other by substantial one story houses,
with projecting roofs and iron barred
easements; and fronted by the quartet and
Governor audience hall-the whole di-
rectly overriding by the frowning volcano,
lraza, and Swallowed by the clouds col
ected around his forehead. Every Thurs
day all the streets leading into this plaza
are thronged with carts and oxen, mules
and mule teams, soldiers and wandering
MINISTRIES, peddlers, male and female, and
| beggars innumerable and of wletchedness
indescrbable, mostly cripples whose dis
torted bones and gaping sores are their
not Improbable stock in trade
Tie usual conglomeration of articles is
offered for sale on the plaza, piled up in
| booths or spread out in the sun. There
are rainbow hued dress goods, brought
over seas; gorgeous shawls woven in near
by Guatemala and gaudy zarapes of home
manufacture; brigand-like jackets fairly
bristling with supelfluous buttons. and a
wonderful collection of OK hide, hand
made, zapatoes (shoesl and sandals,
There are cocoanuts i'll OK hide hampers,
| which bare legged fellows have brought
on their backs many weary miles and are
of every variety that grow in the tropics,
with few of the North, raised in the up
land region. There are Egyptian like
Jars and water bottles of dark red pottery
| so quaint that we long to possess them
all; and drinking cups made of the shells
of the calabash- fruit, "a kind of gourd)
carved with surprising delicacy of touch
and richness of design. In other stalls
English calico may be found; also cutlery
and crockery. The United States con
tributes little, beyond a few motions
and plugs of Virginia tobacco. Carriage
herself furnishes excellent soft hats, made
from pita fibre, and good deal of gold
and silver filagree- work. in chains,
brooches, bracelets and small trinkets-
the most beautiful among the latter be-
ing tiny baskets, constructed with won
derful nicely and filed with lustrous
pearls from the Gulf of Nicoya. Among
the infinite variety of fruits are blackber-
ries. the first | have seen in Cent? al
America; and potatoes, even more rare
ready cooked and steaming hot, not big
ger than hickorynuts, but good as any
| Irishman could desire; and edible palm
tops resembling curly lettuce, which by
the way, make the most fragrant and de-
licious of salads.
| In these Catholic countries the ladies