The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1906-09-08
THE PARIS OF CHILL.
Luxury of Homes and Parks of the
Damaged South American City.

Damaged South American lily.
Santiago was the Paris of Chilli. The
citizens boasted that there was nothing
in the gay European city which they
could not secure in Santiago. They ap
pear to have plenty of money, their
tastes are refined and their habits tend
toward the luxurious. The homes are
beautiful, the women dress with extra
vagance, but with good taste, and the
streets of the city are filled with car
riages which compare favorably with
those to be seen in Central Park or up
! on the Boulevards of Paris. The elite
| of Santiago have their brass-buttone
silk tiled, ramrod- like coachmen and
! footmen the same as do the proudest of
the families of the better-known coun-
/ tries.
Santiago thinks little of business. 1t
/ is the capital and the seat of culture of
! the country. Valparaiso, four hours
distant by express train, is the mart of
! Chill, and the Santiago residents are
content to allow their neighbors on the
coast to attend to commerce while they
uphold the social glory of the Republic.
And Santiago IS really beautiful
city. Its streets are regular, straight
and broad, not crooked and maze-like,
as those of Valparaiso. The Alameda
| is the principal thoroughfare. 1t is 600
| feet wide, and extends the entire length
of the city, from Santa Lucia, the old
fort, to the Exposition Grounds and Bo-
tanical Gardens, a distance of four
miles. Down the center is promenade,
four rows of well-kept poplar trees adorn
the route, and drives 100 feet wide are on
each side.
This elongated park is dotted with
statues of men famous in Chill. Many
of these men were considered tyrants
and were legally put to death or assas-
sinated, but that makes no difference.
The Chilians are glad to erect bronze or
marble statues to their memories in the
national park, no matter what they did
! to them when alive. 1t is somewhat as
| tonishing to note that the names on a
great many of these statues are Irish,
such as O'Higgins, Pratt, Lynch and
O'Brien. Nearly all the Chilian lead
ers against Spain in the early part of the
nineteenth century were Irish adyentu-
rers.
i The Chilians and especially the people
of Santiago, love the pomp Of soldiery.
Officers in dizzy-hued uniforms with
swords and spurs clanking are to be seen
ipromenading or riding along the Ala
media every afternoon, and military
bands with uniforms no less glaring are
stationed at intervals at every half mile.
But the Chilians know and appreciate
good music, and the bands are carefully
trained to play the operas dear to the
Latin peoples. "Carmen'' is the favor
ite, 1t might also be called the national
air.
All the finest residences of Santiago
front upon the Alameda. The best homes
Iare built of carved sandstone. In the
center of each of these dwellings, is the
court, or patio, with its fountains and its
flowers. Many OF these houses cost as
much as 100000 to build, and the fur
nishings in many cases cost half as much
more. Santa Lucia is literally the
icrowning glory of Santiago. 1t is a pile
of rocks 1000 feet high, cast up in the
center of the plain upon which Santiago
stands by some volcanic agency. The
Spanish built fortress there VIII ich COM
mands q view of the plains for miles and
it is said that before the Spanlards came
to Chill in the sixteenth century the Ar
aucanian Indians had a stronghold there.
In 1860 Vicunae McCenna, d wealthy re-
sident of Santiago, took up the work OF
converting Santa Lucia into park. He
secured private subscriptions for the
work, and the result of his labors is per-
haps the most beautiful place IN South
America. Winding walks and staiTways
parapets and balconies, grottoes anC
flower beds, ,sgroves of trees and vine
hung arbors follow one another from the
base to the summit. At the west, on the
edge of a precipice 800 feet high, is {
miniature castle and a beautiful chapel.
Vicunae McCenna asked tn at his bones
be laid in the crypt of this chapel, which
he designed, Santa Lucia is the resort
of the aristocracy of Santiago, and it i
there that the better ella sses of citizen!
congregate at night to drink beer anC
wine and to laugh at the farces PLAYED
upon an outdoor stage and listen to th'
music of Chili's best military band d. Th
poor people OF Santiago go to the othe
end of the Alameda to drink chica,
cheap, fiery liquor, and dance the cuaca
! the na tional dance of Chill.
ConI Tho Eo17 n Won