Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1910-04-29
HER DOLLS CLOTHES
ev CHARLOTTE SHERWOOD.

There are more clandeStine affairs
between the sexes among the Spanish
than any other people for the reason
that no courtship except in the pres
ence of witnesses is permitted. In
Spain young men and girls are not al
lowed to come within each others
reach. the girls sitting on balconies at
tached to the dwelling and the young
men standing below. There they may
chat as they please. But in Brazil the
lines are even stronger drawn.
In the Grijalva family at Rio de
Janeiro was a pretty maiden of fifteen.
Inez by name. Spanish girls develop
young. but Inez did not appear to fol-
low the rule. She had scarcely given
up her doll. and as for noticing the
young men, her mother, who wished
her to be married at the proper time,
like other girls, could not get her to
have anything to do with any of them.
One day a youth of nineteen. Juan
Bustamente. called st the house, asked
for Senior Grijalva and made a formal
application for the hand of little Inez.
Though young. Bustamente was a de-
sirable parti, and the Grijalvas had no
objection TO the match. The applica-
ton quite took away the breath of the
girls parents. 1t seemed to her mother
that a wax doll would be as well fitted
TO take charge of a house and rear a
family as Inez. She was surprised also
that any young man could have seen
enough of her daughter, who had been
kept under vigilant watch in the nurs-
cry. to wish to marry her. She asked
Inez IL she had ever seen Juan Busta-
mente and where. but Inez gave such
childlike answers, made such innocent
contradictions, appeared so oblivious
to what 1t all meant, that her mother
gave up trying to get any reliable in
formation. She made up her mind,
however. that 1t would never do to
permit one who had not yet left child
hood to be married. Young Busta-
mente was told that he might call at
the house as a sutton. but marriage for
the present was out of the question.
The following Sunday evening the
family took position in the drawing
room with the young lady. and the
lover was admitted to do the counting.
Inez spent the evening cutting figures
out of black paper, a work at which
she was skillful. Juan did all the
talking that could be pumped out of
him to Signora Grijalva. After half
an hour of this kind of counting. dur
ing which he invited his ~fiancee,
through her mother, to go with him to
the theater On the next Sunday even
ing and received an acceptance to the
invitation. he took his departure with
evident relief.
1t may be supposed by American
girls that a visit to the theater would
give the couple a chance to get ac-
quainted. This could not be In Brazil.
When the appointed evening arrived
Signor Grijalya. his wife on his arm,
the other members of the family fol-
lowing, formed a bodyguard to little
Inez, who walked In the middle of the
group. Juan brought up the rear OF
the procession alone. After the play
the girl was conducted home in the
same manner.
And so the courtship went on. The
father intrusted the whole matter to
the mother. and the mother was wait
ing till her daughter should leave
childish ways and act like a woman.
But Inez still preferred to play hide
and seek" or "blind mans buff" rather
than dance or go to bull6ghts. There
was a bit of comfort in this. because
the usual w~atchfulness did not seem
necessary-not that the rules were re-
Taxed, but that a constant spying was
deemed useless.
Sonora Grijalva was in her daugh-
ter's room one day when lnez was out.
Everywhere was evidence that the
girl was still a child. Rummaging for
something in a bureau. the mother
came upon some clothes evidently fit
ted for a huge doll. The nora sighed.
'Will she never be fitted for a wife,
Then she came upon a sandalwood
box. 1t was locked. What need had
the child for locking anything? Sonora
Grijalva fetched a bunch of keys and
hunted among them till she found a
tiny one to fit the lock. Lifting the lid.
she saw on top of some trinkets a pa
per. She opened and read it. She was
thunderstruck. 1t was a certificate of
marriage between Juan Bustamente
and Inez Grijalva celebrated about a
month before the young man applied
for the young lady's hand.
Sonora Grijalva stood for a moment
a ara1-zod DJt fhopo n RIO oortnfn lnn.
ical connections which women get
very quickly and without following the
steps of reasoning involved. Sonora
Grijalva pulled out the drawer con-
tanning dolls clothes with a jerk, seiz-
ed the articles, opening them n after
the other and held them up before her.
Now she saw it all. They were not
dolls clothes. They were made for a
child.
That evening there was n council