Evening star., 1898-12-17

custom of the young dudes Of the Arren-
tlne capital, who make business of stand
ing upon the street and greedily staring at
ladies as they go by. There is no city OF
the world where this prevails TO such an
extent 1t is most common on the Gale
Florida, which is the Broadway or Regent
street Of Buenos Ayres II IS the fashion,
able shopping street. and its stores are
those Of the swell jewelers., confectioncrs
millineTs. tailors and fashionable reslaura-
teurS OF the city. The street has NOT
more than twenty feet of roadway between
IT'S narrow paveTents. Every afternoon
from 1 10 O'Clock a line of carriages
moves mp one side OF the street and down
the other. II may grow dark. but mp 10 4
the line is solid. and you may here see a
thous; Id prancing horses moving to and
ito. The carriages are open. as rule. and
IN them sit the faShiona BILE ladies' of tha
capital They drive here every evening
merely because IL is the fashion and the
young men have the fashion Of standing
on the street and staring at them rs they
pass. Every afternoon the Gale Florida is
thronged with knots of young men who are
there for this purpose. They are well
dressed and well groomed. They carry
canes, wear gloves and smoke cigarettes as
they look. From time 10 time they make
remarks on the women who go by. Not
long ago one of them said something TO an
American girl who was passing along the
street What he said was an insult, and
the young American rewarded him with a
slap across the mouth which almost knock
ed him 10 the ground. The ordinary Argen--
tine girl would have merely podted and
passed on.
The Young Argentine.
We hear good deal said Of Young -.mer-
lea and his impudence The bows of the
Argentine are even more precocious than
those Of the United States. An Argentine
FATHER seldom whips his son, and children
have much more liberty south Of the edua-
tor than north of 1t. The Sunday school IS
almost unknown, and ideas Of morality are
so loose that children are brought UP in a
most pernicious way. As to lying IS is
common among men, women and chill
dren. The polite lie is met with every
where, and a father will sometimes say
about his little girl boy in admiring
tones: Why, hear that child lie" or How
well It does re;' why, could not lie bet
ter than that myself" They do not think
II is diSgraceful 20 lie, and have the Span
Ish IDEAS OF honor. You might for in
stance, call an Argentine a liar and he
would think nothing of it. He might think
II a compliment more than anything else
But If you should call him a coward he
could not consistently rest until he had
back '
The young Argentine learn wickedness
a! much earlier age than do our
boys. Many of them have depraved minds
at fourteen, and already pose as men Bows
begin to talk politics before they are out
OF Knee pants. Nearly every collers has
It's political factions. The bows organize
training themselves to get up revolutions
against the government when they grow
older. The well-to-do young Argentine IS
not brought up to any business He has a
prejudice against trade and work. though
he Will study FOR Il profession. Ii is the
fashionable thing to study law and thus
get The title Of doctor TO the name though
the young man may never expect TO prac-
tiCe,
The children, as a rule. learn fh. lam
euages easily, and many young men speak
English and French. Girls are also good
linguiS's. but outside of the languages they
know but little. l doubt whether You viii
hnd score Of young girls in Buenos Ayres
who have any such education a. is given
al our hfst-class women colleges
Family Life.
1t is hard 10 learn much about family ifa
in the high circles Of the Argentine. Each
family is run as close corporation, and
when a son is married he usually brings his
wife home. Sometimes an addition is built
to the house, and the newly married couple
move into 1t. The sexes are not kept apart as
much as the other counties OF South Amer
lea before marriage; sun, there Is no such
lndlscrlmInate calling and counting as in
the nLted States. Ii a young man pays any
attentions to girl he is unde erStood 10
mean business, and il ne goes 10 her house
oltcn he l. expected 10 ask her in marriage.
" hen he calls he does not see his sweet
hear, alone, and he is not permitted 10 be
with ner without the family is present.
After marriage there is more freedom. but
even then women are closely watched. L
am told that the women are usually faith
tul 10 their husbands. and IL Is said that the
percentage OF good married women is great
CT IN Buenos Ayres tnan in any capital of
Europe. You seldom hear OF Il scandal in
connection with a wife or mother OF a high
Argentine family. There is no such thing
as a divorce, although there are separa-
tlons. The women are very proud, and
their regard for their children often keeps
them from making fuss about things
" Nhich otherwise they could not pardon. AS
to the men. there are many good husbands
but there are many who have as loose ideas
of such things you viii lind in Paris,
and who model their lives after much the
same style as that OF the heroes Ut most Of
the French novels.
The Women and the Lottery.
The women are the religious element Of
the community. They keep up the churches,
attend mass regularly and manage all the
charities of the country. one of the chief
charitable organizations presided over by
these ladies is supplied with funds from the
national lottery, certain percentage Of
which goes TO Jnem. TINS lottery has draw
ings weekly and The sums reauzed are enor-
nous. The women take charge OF them ana
spend the money for charity. Such acuuns
cannot but nave bad elect upon The char
acter OF the people. You cannot make
child think ii is bad to gamble when his
mo,her handles the in-golJen gains, no
matter for what good. The result Is that
Ine Argenunes are nation Of gamblers,
and Buenos Ayres today Is as badly affect
ed 10y It's lottery as was New Orleans when
the Louisiana lottery was at the full.
There are drawings now every week, the
grand prize some weeks rising TO upward of
100000 in silver and at every Christmas
to S1Uo0,uoo. Last year S2S0tovvO worth
of lottery tickets were sold. There are
now lottery offices in every block. You
meet lottery ticket peddlers on every cor
ner, and you are not safe from them even
at the doors of the churches. Among other
gambling institutions are the ball alleys,
the race course and the stock exchange. /
shall write of the stock exchange in another
letter. But in the lotteries, the ball alleys
and on the race course l see by a state
ment in Buenos Ayres paper that S47 oOO,-
600 were won and lost last year, while the
sales at the stock exchange footed up the
enormous amount of $436 600 900 gold. The
total foreign trade of the country during
that year was less than 12O0oOOoO gold,
showing that three-fourths of the business