The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1904-11-19
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.

E1-I=1 ANTIAGO, Chile.-Chile is
III 9gl Chilean. 1t is also North
American. This mixed ex-
I-O-I preston unfolded on me
llsIl lsllI gradually.
had looked for Latin or
Spanish America, and found little of
that character except the language.
Valparaiso, as might be expected of a
great seaport, is cosmopolitan. But
Santiago, in the interior, could be
judged rightly to be characteristic Of
the country. 1t is fully so, a capital
which is essentially the heart of the
nation, and here more than anywhere
else the impression has been made on
me that Chile is Chilean.
A confession of ignorance is due at
the outset. ] did not know that the
capital was a big, fine city Of 100000
inhabitants, a commercial centre as
well as the seat Of government. 1t
is both.
The plan Of the town Is Spanish
enough in its regularity Of parallel and
cross streets, plazas, the broad central
avenue of the Alameda. and houses
which reproduce the dwellings Of old
Spain. But after puzzling over it for
a while / discovered what is lacking.
Transplanted Spain is not dominant
in the architecture. 1t is subdued al
most into insignificance. This is par
ticularly so Of the churches, which,
moreover, are less numerous than in
other South American cities. They
have not the Moorish adaptation that
is so pronounced in Lima, and they
have little SAVIOR of ecclesiastic medie-
valism. Instead Of being picturesque
and half ruined, most os them are prac-
teal, modern looking structures.
The un-Spanish element is also seen
in Santa Lucia. the craggy hill which
is Santiago's most precious possession,
and which any city may well envy it.
/ suppose in the old days a thick
walled fort may have crowned 1t, both
for its strategic advantages and be-
cause the early Spaniards could not
help placing fort on little hiI if
the church he'd not got ahead Of the
soldiers.
In the memory of recent generations
Santa Lucia was only a mass Of rocks
antil the inspiration to transform it
into a mountain-side park was felt,
and the conversion into a perpendicu-
lar hanging garden of drives, terraces,
groves, statues, fountains and grottoes
was accomplished without art being
allowed entirely to deface nature. If
Castilian or Andalusian traditions had
had much lodgment in the Chilean
character the most that would have
come Of the splendid situation would
have been a park at the foot Of Santa
Lucia.
The names in Santiago might make
anyone from the States feel at home,
but here he would be deceived. The
Spanish names that correspond to
Brown, Jones and Smith are not pre-
dominant, and this fact might be taken
as another evidence that the Spanish
element in the Chilean character is
1 lacking. This guess would be faulty.
/ They are not from Catalania or Anda-
iusla, but the pat-onymics of the noun
tain provinces and Of the Basque re-
gion are very common.
Where the newcomer from the States
is deceived is in supposing the many
| familiar names he sees and hears
which have not a trace Of a foreign
tongue. must be of his own people OF
Of his English cousins. Hearing some
Of the names. the inquiry almost al
ways is: "Your father must have been
American, English, Irish or Scotch 2?
and the answer is: mo. but believe
my fathers grandfather had English
ancestry"
One or two generations IS not enough
to account for the names. They go @
long way back.
While in many ways a visitor from
the North feels himself at home here
so far south in other respects he finds
that the land and its customs are
strangers to him. There is no Nortl
American rush and push. Trade, in
dustry. official and social life flow il
smooth currents.
The day does not really begin unit
after the midday breakfast, and il
ends in time for a leisurely prepara
ton for the evening dinner. The stores
open late aid close early. The worl
OF all classes, except the laborers
seens to be compressed into the space
Of five or six hours.
I'll should have a quarrel with Santi
ago, it would be over the climate
This is the winter season-almost mid
winter And it is cold. Yet the or
ange trees in the patios of the dwell
ings are yellow with fruit; the slopes
OF Santa Lucia. if not of the rich We,
vet green Of the spring and summer
are still green, and the foliage alon:
the Alameda. while little brown an,
thin. is not sere.
At most the appearance Is Of early
autumn. But the cold is a damp. pen
Grating cold indoors. and not crisp
invigorating cold outdoors. Few of tn,
houses have chimneys, so that opei
fire-places are rare. The parafine o
oil stoves. which are the only mean