The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-18

singing There were. should say. at least
three thousand people present. and every
man and woman in the boxes and in the
orchestra was In full dress. There was not
q man in a business suit except In the top
galleries The ladies were without bonnets
ana most Of them had on low-neck gowns.
with arms bare, except when covered with
long white gloves reaching as far up as the
bieeps. The dresses were far better and
more costly than those you see at a White
House reception. They were better made
and / am told, most Of the costumes used
by rich Argentine ladies come from Paris.
There were Jewels everywhere. There was,
! venture good half peck of diamonds on
the female part of the audience. Diamonds
as big as the end of my little finger hung
from the lobes of pink ears. clusters of dia-
mond flowers nestled in beds of lace upon
voluptuous bosoms, and combs set with dia-
monds fastened the well-groomed tresses of
Argentine beauties on the crowns of their
shapelv heads. There were pearls as big as
nlarrowfat peas, necklaces of them Joined
at the center with a great ruby or an
emerald There were sapphires and opals
and gold galore.
HOW THE GIRLS LOOK.
Many of the women We're pretty repre-
senting as many compilations and kinds OF
features as you will see at the Metropolitan
Opera in New York. l could not notice
predominance of the Spanish type. So many
of the rich Argentine families have inter-
married with the foreigners that their wom-
on are as cosmopolitan in their appearance
as our own. Some of them were homely,
and not few. | regret to say. owed much
of their good looks to their makeup. Pow
der and paint are artistically used in Bue-
nos Ayres, and there is no capital of the
world where the professional hairdresser
and face-enameler has a better custom.
have been told that the Partisan hairdress-
ers and enamelers have their regular eli
entele of rich women, who come to be made
up before they start for their drive In the
park or for an opera or evening party. On
opera nights you have to engage your
enameler beforehand, wait in the ante
room for hours before he will yell out
next" However this may be, the effect at
the opera is excellent. The house is a very
large one the largest, I believe, in South
America. Tt has five galleries, the lower
three of which are boxes. When the curtain
is up the men behind the women in the
boxes are practically out of sight and from
the pit where I sat in my sixteen-dollar
place, could see above me the breasts and
heads of the ladies standing, as it were, on
the red plush railing of the galleries. There
were hundreds of these busts running tier
above tier, making flesh and blood beauty
show far superior to the wax works CT
Madame Tussaud, and well worth coming
10 the Argentine to see. In addition to the
ordinary boxes, there is a special gallery in
this theater called the cazuela, where ladies
can come without escorts, and in which
men are not allowed. Seats there cost from
two to five dollars and are well patronized.
The opera at Buenos Ayres is considered
much more as a social event than as
musical entertainment. I can't describe the
Importance with which dress is regarded
III my plain American way 1 first thought
of wearing black suit, but not going in full
evening dress. put on however, my steel
pen coat but neglected to wear gloves. On
entering the house 1 found every man in the
orchestra except myself wearing white kids,
and every man but me had a tall silk hat.
Between the acts the men rose to their feet,
clapped on their hats and then sauntered 10
and fro through the house. Some stood at
their seats with their Nopera glasses to their 4
eyes and stared at the women regardless
whether they knew them or not, but the
greater part walked to the entrance of the
aisles and stood there in knots with their
hats on and Toasted their eyes upon the
women. 1t was a sort of hannibal feast,
but the paint or enamel on most of the
faces was SO thick that it brought no blood
to the surface.
ON THE GALE FLORIDA.
And this brings me to Buenos Ayres
custom of the young dudes of the Argen-
tine 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. 1t is the fashion,
able shopping street, and its stores are
those of the swell jewelers., confectioners,
milliners, tailors and fashionable restaura-
tours of the city. The street has not more
than twenty feet of roadway between its
narrow pavements, Every afternoon, from
to o'clock, a line of carriages moves up
one side of the street and down the other.
1t may grow dark but up to the line is
solid, and you may here see thousand
prancing horses moving to and fro. The
carriages are open, as a rule, and in them
sit the fashionable ladies of the capital.
They drive here every evening merely be-
cause it is the fashion, and the young men
have the fashion of standing on the street
and staring at them as 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 TO time they make remarks on the
women who go by, and not unfrequently
say things which are absolutely indecent.
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
knocked him to the ground. The ordinary
Argentine girl would have merely pouted
and passed on. Within the past year or so
the Argentine police have been trying to
stop this insulting of women, and now any
woman who makes a complaint can have
her insulter at once taken to the city au-
thorities for trial.
THE YOUNG ARGENTINE.
We hear a good deal said of Young Amer
lea and his impudence. The boys of the Ar
gentine 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 equator
than north Of If The Sunday Scboal al