The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-04
IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
CUSTOMS IND CHIR4 CTERISIICS
 OF THE PEOPLE.
Portuguese Women of High and Low Degree The Peasant Class by Far the Most tInteresting-Amiab Wealsness- es of the Mfss-CalIed stronger Sex. cN11uuJ Nrnn, COMMENCEMENT

Most Interesting-Amia Wealxness-
 es of the Mfss-CaIIed stronger Sex. SM1TH-NOT CORRECTED
 Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier.l
 Lisbon, Portugal, Dec. 12-Of deeper ! interest than anything else in this fair | land are the people thereon; and of l these the lowliest are most interesting i because most unique. The cosmopoli-
 tan upper classes are distinguished for
 little but universal and invariabe cor
 rectness of attire--a pronounced char
 acteristic of all Latin people on both
 sides of the Atlantic While energetic,
 rough-anu- Americans, sometimes
 even those of wealth and high position,
 may be met in clothes that would hard ly pass muster in respectable European society, you can never surprise a For tuguese gentleman otherwise than faultlessly attired, whatever the state of his finances. At any hour of the
 day, abroad or In the seclusion of home his dress, from top to toe, shows scfup- ulous care and neatness. Better than
 all, ''the eternal fitness is observed in
 smallest details. with no suggestion or foppishness, Or appearance or having
 been especially gotten up. Always
 well-groomed from his cradle after the
 habit of his ancestors, he never seems
 conscious of his clothes. From king
 and courtiers, down the social gamut Of
 an impoverished nobility, gentleman of
 leisure, professional men, planters, mer-
 cba ,,tc o1a Ip1pth and fine linen
 are as much a part of the man as his
 eyes and hair. It Is certainly easier Tor
 an effete arlstocracy which never
 dreams of lifting a finger at anything
 which bears the remotest resemblance to manual labor, to keep everlastingly dressed up, than for the sturdier An
 glo-Saxon, whose dignity has no con nection with his clothes and who dis dains no work that comes within the line of legitimate business.
 Even the humblest fishermen, porters and muleteers in Portugal are always
 immaculate as to white shirts and cot ton trousers, the only exceptions to un-
 iversal cleanliness being the beggars,
 licensed and professional, whose stock in-trade is rags and filth. No gentle men in the world are better and more cheaply served in the way of valets than those of Lisbon. The servants Of Portugal are all Spanlards. from the ancient sovereignty of Galicia, which comprises the present four northwest ern provinces of Spain. There are fully eleven thousand of them in this city alone-said to be one hundred thousand in all Portugal--the most docile, faith f,,J e1yf t,, their special lines. accepting whatever dole their employers may choose to be- stow and enduring every indgnity without a murmur. Few of these Gal legans are attached to single individ ual or household. but like the donkeys that stand for hire in the pracas, they are ready at all hours to perform mira cles of service at anybody's call Do you want your apartment cleaned, your dinner cooked, your clothes mended, your hair dressed, your luggage trans ported, you have only to go to the win dow, shut your teeth, widen your mouth and emit the long drawn Portuguese "Sh-s-s-s!' and before the magical hiss has died away, several stalwart fellows stand at your side Thus the poorest l clerk may have his valet who finds" and lodges himself who can repair | garments with the dexterity of tailor, and for few cents a day will keep his wordrobe in perfect order.
 The most enthusiastic admirer of the | nation cannot call its wo- men of the higher classes beautiful. | Indeed, one is almost pained at the lack | of female beauty, as compared with | that of other Latin countries, when viewing Lisbon's uppertendom in the full undress of ball or opera, or on the promenade, or in the costly equipages of the Campo Grande. The blood of youth does not finger long with the Portuguese lady and at twenty i've she is passe. Moustaches show | early; her complexion grows ruddy and assumes a greasy look and 1t middle age her figure Is either of the oeanpole order, or it's opposite-the neal bag-tied n-the-middle shape. But she has "redeeming features" Her eyes are large and expressive, her teeth Ire good, and there is a certain honest | 'adence in her smile which is very cap- ivating. She dresses richly. but with he oldest mingling of dates and styles, f not of colors, and her clothes fit as f flung at her in a whirwind. There is not the remotest hint of French chic bout her, nor that trig appearance of English women, nor the voluptuous at raction of her cousins, the Suanish se- loras, and beside her perfectly-dressed husband she looks like a good brown len with a brd-o -of-paradise. It is be- 'ause the modistes of Portugal are so inferior to the tailors? If so, the sur Jus dress-makers of the world would better turn their steps that way. Whatever the Portuguese ladies lack in aste and beauty fig more than made up ,y their manifold virtues. They are model wives and mothers, devoted to heir families, deeply religious, kind learted and hospitable.
 There is plenty of female beauty in Portugal, however, but it is mostly ound among the peasant classes. The iallegans. male and female, are gene ally perfect physical specimens, and he young women have lovely faces to hatch their figures. You see them by cores at the many public fountains or hafariz, into which all the water used y the city is poured from the great &C., ueduct of Agoasteores. This acque- uct by the way, is worthy to rank mong the wonders of the world. It | egins in the mountains twelve miles way. spans the valley of Alcartara