The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-13

4lOl pOy III C0lil put luiLks IL NoIAH trying for, to the ruin of numberless clean suits of linen. Somebody in the l crowd tells of man who climbed hun dreds of greased poles n the course of a | long and useful life, by merely rolling himself first in sand; and finally at the 1 top of one he found a purse containing ten thousand dollars. and thereupon re- tired from business. Immediately eve- " boy rushes off, and presently re- turns covered with sand and dirt. The crowd increases to thousands, and the
 grease rapidly disappears from the bot
 tom of the pole. Finallp, after several
 hundred dollars worth of Sunday gar
 ments have been spoiled, a ragged ur-
 chin with legs and arms tied up in sand
 paper. shins up the pole like a squirrel
 and comes down with the coveted pack age-which is found to contain exactly
 one ChiIian paper dollar, worth about
 twenty cents in United States money. The celebration of Little Eighteen being safely over-except for those who find themselves with broken bones. or in durance vile because of oyer-much
 boisterousness melted by chicha-the
 Chilian world turns it's undivided at- tention to the real Diez Ocho. the greatest festival in the country's cal endar. Distinctions of caste are mo- where more clearly defined than in Chi 1 Ii, and though the whole population abandons itself to general jollifcation
 and rich and poor jostle in one univer- sal spree-yet the gulf between Rico and Roto. aristocrat and plebeian. re-
 mains impossible as ever When the sun peers above the mountains on the morning of the Eighteenth his first beams fall upon choir of hundreds of ! little boys and girls in the main plaza, singing the national anthem at the top
 of their voices. Then there will be High Mass in the cathedral, the great
 building decorated outside. with flags.
 and inside with ribbons and garlands of
 flowers wound around the pillars. and l thousands of burning candles upon the altars. This special display of Rico pa- l triotisnl is not for the lower classes,
 and at every door soldiers stand to pre-
 vent the entrance of any Roto. By ten o'clock the Santiago cathedral will be crowded with ladies, the elite of the
 proud capital. dressed in supurb silks, with black lace mantillas upon their
 heads, diamonds in their ears and white
 gloves on their hands-and kneeling
 upon prayer-rugs spread on the stone
 floor At eleven a. m. the president and
 his ministers should arrive, with the
 officers of the army and navy, the for eign ministers and consuls, many of them in magnificent uniforms, escorted | by battalion of soldiers and band of music. Threading their way through 1 the kneeling throng to chairs that have
 been set for them in front of the great high altar two soldiers with fixed bay
 onets take position on either side of the president and for time the moldy old
 walls ring with the blare of trumpets and the music of thousand voices in
 choral service. Later, a cross and a book will be presented to the president,
 which he must kiss, and the osculation I is repeated by each of the officials in turn, while all are being furnigated with incense and deafened by triumphant crash of music and the chatter of pre- senting arms. The ceremonies, which usually continue about three hours, will be personally conducted by tine arch bishop in all the glory canonical robes, assisted by train of bishops, priests and other clergy in their choicest vest ments The attendance of military and naval officers at these observances is enforced by the loss of a months sala- ! ry at every failure to be present. The ] next day a grand military review takes place-all the soldiers of the republic marching and counter marching, with music and streaming banners, and glit- tering bayonets and after this feue de l joie of the troops the usual races come off, in the presence of all the fashiona- ble world. This is followed by dress parade, in carriages, of everybody as l is anybody" in society, as well as by many who are nobody at all. On the twentieth, the city still wearing it's hol- 1 iday aspect, there will be another grand military parade and sham battle, fol- lowed by more racing and a dazzling pageant of elegantly dressed ladies. | Chilian officers in splendid uniforms and foreign diplomats in court dresses. And so on for many days, each evening marked by balls, illuminations and fire- works. So much for upper-tendom; the | common people" will enjoy most of it l to an even greater degree in their own crude fashion, besides many other sim ! pie pleasures from which los Ricos are debarred. There will be thousands of happy creatures on horseback, in gir- loches and joyous rout on foot,
 swarming the pulqueras and confec- l tionary shops that dot all the plazas. and hurrying hither and thither with l the airnless restlessness of crowds. The country people, out, in full force and l high feather, will be delighted to dis 1 play their horsemanship and dance the
 zamacuaca, the national jig of Chilli. There is no feat of horsenlanship which | they cannot perform, and it is danger ous to be in the way when they become elated by their protations. The men delight to run. their horses at full speed upon mounted gentleman, and as they pass to deftly catch knee inside of his, when, unless he is also on the alert, he | is bound to be unhorsed and left upon the ground, to the unbounded anluse- ment of the rabble. Again the rural l horsemen bring their animals into line. apply the whip, and set off down the street at a furious gaIlop, totally re- gardless of pedestrians or any earthly , consideration but the goal. These per- , formances are varied by many other rude sports, and the everlasting cuaca, danced in booths and on elevated plat