The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1905-12-09
BRAZILIAN NOTES FROM MR.. PAUL REESE
Daily Life In Ri0-Men and Women Scratch
and SmOke-Ascento of High Peak, Etc.

In a letter dated Rio de Janeiro, Novenl
Der 7, and received here Oh the 29lh, Mr
Reese writes: There are Two things whIc
will make the reaching of her home port i'm
possible for the Good News this year
First, the inability of man to retard the pro
gress of the earth in its orbit, and secondly
the much more difficult task Of hurryiLg
Brazilian in anything. | have, therefore
given up all hope of being with you at Christ
mas, in fact, can form no idea of how old the
New Year will be before we reach Baltimore
We expect to get off in ten days or tw'
weeks now, but it is wasting brain matter t.
think anything about 1t, and wasting pape
and ink to write it down when thought. Ihl
is Brazil, and there is no telling when gam
of Brazilian stevedores is going to get u
loaded, or when the gang in the Custom
House will clear us after cargo is III. Every
third day is a working day unless it falls on ;
Sunday. Monday, say, they work; Tuesda!
may be church holiday; Wednesday they
take to get over it; TUESDAY they work again
then Friday is a fast day; Saturday they arr
in ''dry dock" and then two holidays come
together, for next day is Sunday. In this
way you can see that loading OF unloading
cargoes here is not very rapid work. Further
more, it takes six men to do the work OF four
l watched this Brazilian method tor the dis
tribution of labor with great interest while
we were discharging. -Four natives would
man the MINDLESS while two others lay flat on
their backs in the sun smoking cigarettes and
| ton, all six jabbering at once as loud as they
can bawl at one another, although elbow to
elbow. The way people shout here instead
of talking is one of the most curious things |
have observed. Like women, they all go at
| once, and no one seems TO pay the least at
| tention 10 what the other fellow is saying.
Mr. Warren, a shipping master here, took
our captains nephew and myself to the sum-
| nit of Corcovada, a huge peak at the enter
| ance of the harbor. From the city to the
| mountain the trip is made i'll trolley car, but
the ascent is by one of those cogwheel railroads
| which make you wonder how soon it would
all be over if anything in the machinery gave
| way. This carries you to within a short dis
| lance of the top, but las that is right above
your head. it is reached by spiral path
| which seems to have been cut i'll the solid
rock. After | had taken in as much as one
could of a view that seemed perfectly limit.
less, | began to regret that in the northwest
how Guy Steele's house was coming on.
The next Sunday l spent at Mr.. Warren S
bungalow up on the side of Tejuka, another
peak even higher than Corcovada, and passed
very pleasant day, although not one of his
family could speak word of English, and
my Portuguese is something that even makes
native stop shouting when L talk to him;
| was going to say, makes him stop scratching,
but nothing except death can do that.
The most noticeable things about Rio are
Dirt noise and feas, and while am on the
subject of live stock | may as well mention
the dogs and the natives. 1t would be hard
to find city equal to Rio in the number and
variety of its dogs. At home, a cat in n store
is the uusal thing, while here every store has
dog or two lying about the door for custom
ers to fall over in going in and out of the
place. As to the men, they "all look alike
to me- To be sure, some are a trltle hlthler
than others, but as the whole population
including women and children-are busy
smoking cigarettes and scratching, similar
ity of appearance is presented which is per
picking to a stranger like myself. Most are
barefooted, some few wear kind of wooden
shoe, while all have the most abbreviated
clothes that the law of partly civilized coun.
try will allow, and none look as if they had
ever had bath since they were born.
The army is the main thing here that takes
my eye, and if ever took notion to should
er a musket, Brazil is the place where | would
enlist, if for no other reason than for the
sake of donning the Brazilian uniform. l
should not take into consideration that there
is little probability of ever being called on to
fight, and none whatever of being hit if you
did, so long as other South Americans were
shooting at you.
two meals day, breakfast little before
noon and dinner some time during the next
twelve hours. The poor-that is everybody
with few exceptions-eat 'feshong" (lhis
is not the way it is spelled, but it will do), a
mixture of black beans, jerked beef and q
thick powder of some kind Of root, and, by
the way, uninviing a mess as one can
imagine. They hold the dish between their
knees and eat with one hand so as to leave
the other free for scratching. All but Il few
refs (1-20th of a cent? of laborer's wages
which he saves to buy feshong with, goes for
lottery tickets and parate, kind of native
rum which sells for about ten cents quart.
There are lotteries in Rio. All classes go in
for them and every one expects to draw a
lucky number and win fortune. How many
do so one needs only to walk a block to see.
A few days ago, out in the country. | was
picking wild strawberries as large as our cul-
tivated ones, which grew by the roadside, and
although it is November, | have eaten bananas
which plucked from the tree, oranges too,
and other kinds of fruit whose names were
too much for me, but this did not in the least
interfere with their flavor.
Silver Run Items.
DECEMBER The following is the reported
weights ofhogs in this vicinity: Frank Ware
hime two, 400 and 800; David Flickinger
three, 3074, 2764 and 275; George f. Bach
man two, 271 and 305; Jerome Du!terer three,
1913, 240 and 252; Jacob Koontz three, 224
nd al,
Koontz seven, 324, 800, 304, 296, pa, 1874
and 172.
Rev. j. Stewart Hartman was kept very
busy on Thanksgiving day as he had services
at 10 a. M. the funeral of VIM. Ii. Koonlz at
| H. and the funeral of Margaret NJ. Yingling
at 2 p. IN.
On Sunday the remains of Mrs Samuel
Stansbury were brought here and buried in
the cemetery, Rev. j. s. Hartman, otficiated.
A. P. Helwig moved from this place to
| Hanover last Tuesday.
David Boose has sold IL acres from his
farm, known as the Slyder farm, to John F.
Dutterer at $50 per acre.
There were no services in the Lutheran
Church last Sunday as the pastor was away.
| He will return today, Thursday, and bring his
wife with him as he was married last week.
| There will be services next Sunday at 10. 80
and at in the evening.
Thomas HULL of Harrisburg, Pa, visited
his parents over Thanksgiving. He returned
on Monday.
Mrs. and Mrs. Franklin Bowman, who had
been visiting his brothers, Jacob and Harry,
in Indiana, for over two weeks, are home
again, we'll pleased with their trip.
Mrs. Anna, daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. NJ.
H. Geiselman, of Conewago township. Adams
county, Pa, and Charles c. Brown, of neal
Silver Run, were married Tuesday morning,
| December 5, at the Lutheran parsonage, at
Gettysburg, Pa, by Rev. j. A. Clutz. The
young couple left on a short wedding trip to
| Waynesboro, and will be rendered reception
at the home of the bride this Thursday even
ing.