Evening star., 1898-09-10
Among the stores of Santiago.

tiled floor of Washington vestibule.
Among the stores of Santiago.
Let US so over there and enter the por-
tales to watch the people buying and sell
ing. This is one of the oldest sections of
Santiago, and the town, you know, was
more than two centuries of age when
Washington city was born. The portales
have stores much like those of the old cities
Of Spain and far different from the more
modern shops the other side of the
Plaza. They are merely caves in the walls,
and their floors are filed with piles of goods
so arranged that it is easy for the purchas-
cTS 10 n5ndle them. Some of the merchants
nave stacked uD their best cloths in the
doorways or on the walks outside. There
are scores of women moving to and fro
through these porta'es. Many are shopping
ana the desire for d good bargain IS quite
as keen here as at home. The most of
the women wear black gowns and their
heads are clad in black mantas. The
younger girls drape their mantas cOuuet-
tishly around them. so that they form a
sCrI Of bonnet about their beautiful faces.
These are the crettiest women | have so
far seen in my travels They are tan and
slender, and many have beautiful forms.
Their compilations are not so dark as those
Of the ladies | saw in Peru, and they ap-
pear to have more style and Intelligence
than the girls further north. But let US
take a look at the prices. We see that
many of the stores have their goods mark
ed and that among the lowest the figures are
81, - ana 81 n yard. over there is a store
where the silk hats are marked So apiece
and next door is a shop where ladies' shoes
are selling for so and s15 a pair These
prices, however, are in Chilean money,
which IS worth just about one-third as
much as ours, so that the cost of good
goods is about the same as at home All
imported articles are higher. For instance.
lady told me yesterday she paid $50 a
pair for the American shoes which she
bought III Santiago and that imported bon
nets cost 500 apiece. At the hotel where
stop the price of a good room is 81 and
upward day, and this includes only two
meals 1t is the same in the restaurants,
and in host of the stores Books are
especially dear, and a StatesInan's Year
Book, which L usually buy for $50 at
home, costs me here S1050 or more than
81 more of our money. 1 can't get a yell
low-hacked novel in English for less than
! s., and about the only things that are espe-
cially cheap are the street cars and cabs
The cab fares are only I cents of our
money trip, and the rate for an hour is
81 cents.
A City of Churches and schools,
Santiago is city of churches and
schools. Nearly all of the churches are
Catholic, and the priests are many.
There are schools here of different
kinds. from the University of Santi-
ago, which has more than 1900 stu
dents, down to ths public primary
schools, which are found all over the. conn
try, and which are attended by more than
1li.UD little Chileans This Is. however
less than one-hfth of the children of school
age, so that four out of every five remain
at home. | visited the National University
1t has branches of law and medicine as
we'll as the ordinary collegiate departments
No tuition is charged, and the professors
are paid by the state Chile is proud of
her educational system, and she is doing
all she can to extend 1t. She spends mil
lions of dollars upon il every year There
are now public schools in all of the towns
ana the larger places have ieeos or high
schoois. There are twenty-five of these in
the country. The National Institute or
High School of Santiago, has more than
1OO0 pupils, and Chile has in addition ali
private schools and colleges, with an aver
age attendance of 5000 pupils. There are
two American schools here, one for girls
and another for boys. The girls school
L should say the girls college for it is as
good college as you will find almost any
Hhere-has been in operation Cor years and
IT has a great reputation in Chile 1t
has a corps of eleven American girls
who act as its teachers. 1t has several
hundred students, and the daughters of
among them. This school Is connected with
, the Methodist Episcopal Church, although
religious instruction forms no obligatory
part of its tuition. The boys school is un-
der the Presbyterian Church of the United
States 1t is called the Institute IngIese
and 1t proposes to give Chilean boys an
academic and collegiate education 1t has
handsome buildings and grounds and is
fairly well attic nded. Santiago Also has its
| normal schools and military schools 1t has
an agricultural college and an experimental
farm. 1t has a fish commission and
J weather bureau. which gives forecasts Of