The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-01-24
TENEZUELA'S WOMEN.

]
medieval romance that clings to every
+ thing. In reality there is very little
difference between being in Venezuela
and being in Spain, the mother coun-
try The people look talk, act like
/ Spaniards and their manners and GUS
toms are all of Spain.
If you were to take an experienced
I traveller who was familiar with every
part of Europe, but had never been i'll
/ South America, blindfold him and start
4 him off in a balloon. say. from London
4 to Paris, drop him finally in the Plaza
I de Ia Constitution, of Caracas, and ask
him to tell you were he found himself,
thousand to one he would answer,
confidently, either in Seville or Madrid,
/ says a Venezuelan correspondent of the
Philadelphia Record
The better class dwellings of Vene-
zuela like those of Spanish cities on
/ the other side of the Atlantic, are big,
rambling structures, entered through
an imposing arched gateway of stone
often with q coat-ef-arms carved upon
it. The gateway is furnished with high
4 doors of wrought iron, always careful
4 " barred inside, which lead through
a short passage, paved with small,
sharp stones. like the street outside,
4 into the great central patio, Or court
yard, around which the house is built
into a hollow square.
Though the exterior has an exceed
ingly gloomy and prison-like appear
ance-owing principally to the fact
/ that the windows facing the street have
/ heavy iron bars in front of them Ga
fashion borrowed by the SpanIards
/ from their ancestors, the Moors, and
/ founded on the Oriental idea of strict
| seclusiOn for Women)-the inner court
I yards, where the Women's lives are
mostly spent, are beautiful enough,
with their flowers and fountains, shad-
ed corridors and singing birds, TO atone
for the deficiencies outside. Often in
i passing along the street you see bright.
dark eyes looking out at you from be-
those hs>T q
/ with wondering curiosity, not unmixe6
/ with longing for the greater. though to
their minds questionable, freedom of Ia
/ Americana.
These charming damsels are practfc-
ally prisoners in their own homes, be-
ing under the watchful care of fathers
and mothers. who will tolerate no non
sense, until. at the earliest possible age.
they are given over to husbands. before
! whose jealousy that of Gthello must
pale into Intellectual fire. Many of them
have duennas besides-women of mid
die age and severe aSpect-tO whose
watchful care wealthy Spaniards con
fide the morals of their too beautiful
young wives and daughters. Juliet
had a duenna, you knoW-a very model
of her kind-and yet her Romeo climb
| ed the balcony
Venezuelan women are, indeed. beau
/ tiflll- Their Large, dark, soulful eyes
light up the clear olive Of their COM
plexiOn; their full red lips, parted in
smiles, reveal faultless teeth, while
the dark rich blood of their mixed
I Spanish and Indian ancestors mantles
their rounded cheeks with crimson
4 Added to these facial charms, they
/ have forms of perfect symmetry, small
4 bands and feet, and understandable sup
pleness and grace Of movement, which
make up type of feminine loneliness
impossible TO surpass.
You should see this Posado de la
1 Embaj adores-"Inn of the Anbassa-
doris" as Caracas principal hotel is
eign ministers to Venezuela resided
within it-where we temporarily put
up" It is stately two-story affair,
/ evidently built with an eye to earth
quakes rather than to Architectural
effects The usual paved portal leads
from the street to the patio, in the CEN
ter Of which is a beautiful little gar
den, protected by an iron railing AVN
ing-shaded balconies, into which all
the rooms open, surround this patio
and are decorated with baskets of or
ehids and native creepeFs, training over
treilfses.
ground floor, opposite the main en-
/ trance: and male guests. when they
have finished the solid viands of mid
day breakfast and afternoon dinner, go
upstairs to that portion of the balcony
Immediately above the dining room.
where an open space bulges out over
the patio, to take their safe con cog
nae cigarritOs, and to guardedly dis
of smoke.
Here. as elsewhere in Spanish-Amer-
lea, it is the rule for ladies who happen
to be stopping in the hotel even though
accompanied by their male protectors.
to take all their meals in the seclusion
of their private apartments. For Ia
dies unaccOmpanied by husband, father
or brother, it is imperative. The pro-
prietor of a respectable hotel would
hardly give them seat in a public
dining room, and if he did their situa-
ton would be rendered extremely IN
pleasant.
Indeed. the position of an unattached
woman is not an enviable one any
where in Venezuela If she is under
the protecting wing of a male creature.
her own husband or brother. or any
body else's husband or brother, it is
all right, and no questions asked. -
Just why Spanish etiquette should
compel females to eat cold food, care
lessly served in stuffy bed rooms. while
their lords and admirers luxuriate in
the airy and we'll appointed dining
room. nobody can say to a certainty,
except that the custom has come down
from the days of the Moors. when wO-
men were slaves and never permitted
to eat with their masters.
In these Spanish-American countries
al custOmbre" (the custOm) rules
with iron hand and must not be de-
parted from by so much as a hairs
breadth, # one desires to retain q
shred Of respectability Yet no men on
tire face of the earth are more uniform
1y courteous and respectful toward all
women. who do not run afoul of their
prejEdices. than these of Venezuela.
The new woman of the twentieth cen
fury could not show her face here. much
less her nlannish ways and costumes.
without creating a sensation and per-
haps getting into serious trouble
The cuisine of this Hotel of Anbassa-
doris, which is a judicious modification
of the French proprietor's ideas to suit
!