The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-04

United States? Passientia again, ever
lasting passientia you must have in
Brazil.
Engagements Kept Seldom.
Go to- a department store in Sac
Paulo and purchase anything, from
paper of pins to a package of paprika.
Unless you carry your purchase away
with you you will get it in three days
at the earliest. Perhaps you won't get
it for a week. The same rule holds
with everything. The manufacturer
absolutely refuses to hurry your order;
the machine shop makes your repairs
as it pleases, Such a thing as re-
gard for an engagement is unheard
OF. The Brazilian keeps his appoint
ment if it suits him to do so. and the
chances are hundred to one that it
doesn't suit him.
AMANDA viii always do. You write
to your man and remind him that he
is due at your place. No reply. You
write him again and again. Then you
accidentally meet him on the street
and he IS ON, so sorry. so very sorry.
But AMANDA he viii come, Of a surety,
sgnOr And you never see him again
unless you camp on his trail. 1 don't
understand how they ever get any
thing done; / don't understand how all
the merchants manage to keep out of
bankruptcy.
For the merchants are as bad as
the rest, | mean in the matter of &C.
counts. One of the worst things | had
to contend with was the balancing of
my accounts. In accordance with the
American system I declared when ]
went down there that 1 would have all
accounts for supplies, machinery and
that sort of thing settled on the first
Of each month. | was laughed at
And, try as l would, the best I could
set was a quarterly settlement. The
merchants, the manufacturers, the
mill and machinery men simply would
not send in their accounts.
For all their gambling, the Brazil
ians are intensely religious. I have
never seen anywhere such deveut cele-
bratiOns of the Lenten season. But
they pile up large merrymaking &C
count just before Lent begins. The
general celebration lasts several days
and nights, ending on the eve of Ash
Wednesday. Poor and rich alike par
ticipate and hundreds of thousands OF
dollars are expended upon frivOlty. 1
have witnessed Mardi Gras celebra-
tons at New Orleans and yelled
prophet doings at St. Louis, but
neither of these events approaches the
display or abandonment to hilarity.
When Gaiety and Assassination
MingIe.
On the last night of the carnival oc-
ours the great parade. In Rio de ia
Metro the parade contained thousands
of masked men, women and children.
There were clubs and other organiza-
tions mounted on gorgeously capari-
soned horses, wonderful electric floats,
music of all kinds. The state and city
offered handsome prizes and encour-
aged the celebration in every way.
But to the celebration there is a
side that is dark and grim. 1t is then,
under cover of the crowds and the
masks, that the assassin plies his
trade. He learns the sort of mask and
costume his victim intends to wear
and, his own face concealed by a
mask, he watches for his opportunity
and when it comes he plunges a stiIet-
to into the heart of his enemy. And
SO, his vengeance satisfied, he enters
untrOubled, into the observance of the
Lenten period. In the early hours of
Ash Wednesday morning of last year
the bodies of six murdered men, their
life blood soaking through their car
nival costumes, were found in the
streets of Rio de Janeiro. In not a
single instance was the identity of the
assassin discovered. And they told me
it was an unusually light number of
assassinations, too.
Next day the funerals, for in Brazil
the dead must be buried within twelve
hours after the breath leaves the body.
In Brazil the funeral customs are
queer. The women members of a
stricken family never attend the final
ceremonies, but they are expected to
visit the grave two weeks after the
interment. For the wealthy a hearse
so gaily decorated that it looks not
unlike a circus wagon is used The
hearse is drawn by not less than four
teams of beautiful horses, all bedecked
with flowers and ribbons.
The Funeral a Festival.
On the hearse sit a driver and a
footman, both clad in gorgeous array,
with light frock coats, knee trousers,
gay stockings and hats with long
plumes. A funeral is really sort of
festival. Nobody seems very sad, but
1 cannot help believing that there are
sad hearts, that in the house that