The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-01-01
IN OLD CARTAGO.
AND HOW THE GOOD HOUSE.
WIVES KEEP HOUSE.
Rent Is Cheap you may get q Mansion for
Six Dollars per Month The young
Women are Decidedly Handsome aud
Shapely.


ing and worse attendance. But always there !
are unoccupied houses to be had, furnished |
and unfurnished, by the week or month, At
a rental that seems absurdly small compared
to prices in the United States. q Not that
anybody in this part Of the world ever builds
house on purpose to rent, but the owner
thereof may be spending a part Of the 'ysar
on his hacienda, or travelling in Europe, OF
some other lucky chance may place 1t tenn
porarily at the disposal Of stranger who
can furnish satisfactory references-usuall
letters Of introduction or the good word Of
his consul. II you stay in a town but for
a week you would better set up your own
vine and fig tree pro tenn. than endure semi
starvation in the public houses: Servants
abound almost for their keep" and pro-
visions are cheap and plentiful.
Should your casa be furnished, SO much the
better. You will doubtless find that many
things which to Northern housekeepers seen
indispensable are conspicuous by their alb.
sence." If unfurnished, you may easily rent.
buy, or borrow a few necessary articles. anc
Yankee ingenuity will do the rest and make
picnic out of the novel experience.
A Mansion ut 80 "a Month. .
Desiring to remain couple OF weeks longer
in Carriage, in order to ascend Grazu and vtst:
some coffee estates in the ueighborhood, w
were glad enough to exchange our bare apart
ments in the spook-haunted, earthquake
cracked inn for the roomy old mansion Of
\ defunct hidalgo, whose family is travelling
abroad. "Our house." as we delight to call
1t. is Just above the central plaza. on an
elevated terrace, which rises with the slope
Of the volcano. With the assistance of sleepy
mozo (man servant) and sleeper female We
soon transformed the rookery into delight
full home, q beautiful blending of Southern
sloth and Yankee energy, of old Spain and
New England, wherein the only drop Of alloy
in the pure gold Of our happiness is the
thought that We are so soon to leave 1t. Moth
ing gives one such sense Of dignity. espe-
cially after long vagabondage, as the carrying
of n house key-and our dignity Is lofty in
deed If gauged by the size of the keys OF Car
tago, each large enough to require the SER
vices Of mule. For one Of the best houses
in the city we pay in the coin of the coun--
try q sum equivalent to Sc per month Ameri-
can, money, and the servants, at their own
price, receive each "dos reales" as cents)
per week, and medic" CENTS, every day
added, with which to find themselves. in
beans and tortillas. This is considered good
wages in Carriage. and our servants areas ga
uplifted above their fellows on account Of sud =
Zen affluence as one who has "struck OIL
in Pennsylvania or found rich lead IN the
klondike. B. 'r''. ~ t.:
And then the joys of going. to market In the
balmy mornings long before the sun has
peered above the hills that environ Carriage,
with ''mozo" in the rear to-bear the plumber
and translate our Anglicized Castillano; Of
buying capabilities, and aguacates. and gran
adilloes, and other strange fruits, and strips
and chunks and ribbons Of meat with no idea
from what manner Of bird, beast, or reptile
they came; of cooking the latter over char
coal pot, and concocting salads that would
turn Epicurus himself green with envy, and
laughing over the lack of butter and bread
and tea and similar triles; and of counting
to equal less than a dollar a day Tor the party:
Cnstilian Days. = =
Our House, which we desire to print in the
largest kind Of capitals, was built some three
centuries ago, and has been thrice partially
destroyed by earthquakes. Though destitute
ly overrun with lizards, centipedes, scorpions,
ct al, 1t has overbalancing charms which
make us more in love with it every day. In
reality, however, we have little TO do with the
house itself, except during the hours OF
darkness, by daylight reading, writing, or
dreaming the happy hours away in the cool
and shadowy garden. Life never seems real
here, but as If we and the sculptured faces
upon the outer wall were in an enchanted
slumber together, waiting for some gay
Prince Charming to come along and awaken
u.s., Fancy the tagging hours OF endless sum-
mer time spent in a hammock curtained from
the sleepy sunshine by the palm and pome-
granates Of Moorish court! No wonder we
sometimes feel ourselves surrounded by an
imaginary throng Of the dark-eyed beauties
went to dust century or more ago. When
evening breezes rustic the leaves and ripple
the fountain and the fragrance of violets and
frangipani almost overpowers the senses, II
requires little stretch of the imagination to
hear whisperings in the air, to see the carven
faces of the gargoyles assume new express
sions with their interchange of reminiscence;
or in the deepening twilight under the olive
trees of the old garden to distinguish cave
Marias' and muttered ordinations "san
DAT ie$o Cav To-
Truth compels the admission that the mod.
ern aristocrats Of ruined Carriage are q some
what embarrassing set, hopelessly out-at-
elbows. down -at-heel, and gone to ''ths
demnition bow vows, - probably rendered the
more: naughty, sullen,j and useless by rernem
brances of ancestral grandeur. It Is dificul,
to tell how they manage to exist, being far too
proud to work, though mostly poorer than
Jobs turkey. However. the bluest blood Of
old CASTLE is not singular In this popularity,
down gentlity has been known to live, the
good Lord knows how, mainly on the pleas
ure Of memory. ~e ~ .@t ~, 81
Deserted as Carriage usually appears. there
are two days in every week (Sundaye and
Thursdays) when people shake of their en-.
to market. Very early on Sunday incoming the
cracked old bells prove to distraction the
metal they were made OF, and keep up In
cessant clamor till high noon. Then, out OF
the apparently uninhabited houses, issue
senoras and senoritas, In their graceful
draperies, the patricians, with lace mantfllas
thrown over their heads, the ;plebeians Will
cotton rebosas, and glide through the sleepy
streets toward the sanctuaries, while the dis:
trict militia, having dutifully attended masi
in clean linen and made the cracked cathedra
ring with the echo Of saluting arms IN honor
of the elevated host, spend the remainder o
the forenoon drilling on the plaza. Here, q
everywhere else in Spanish America, It is thu
fashion to perform ones religious duties early
and then to assiduously divert ones self dur
ing the remainder of the day. Gambling ant
cock lighting are the order Of the hour TO
most Of the male population, and bull light
. ing is patronized by both sexes wherever ther
is a plaza de torras, while the haughties
dons and hidalgoes OF the aristocracy, includ
III ing the government and the judiciary, an
q tell it not in CATH sometimes the clerg
collect in the sclubhouses to smoke and drin
government aguardde and indulge in game
Of billiards, baccarat, and vingt-un, for sub
stantial considerations, or patrOnize Ia "lot
III terra, and other games of chance and skill, i
booths erected conveniently near to tn
church.
Wares of the Topics.
In the evening the garrison band perform
its. best in front Of the Governors cast
sf<t