El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-21

II 1OBONs July
After Naples, Lisbon boasts nat
- ural beauty unsurpassed by any
| city west of Constantinople. The Por-
tugliese equivalent of the Italian See
Naples and die" is QUEEN mao tenn vfStc
Lisboa mao tenn visto cousa boa" This
means that he who has not seen Lis
| bon knows not what beauty is. AL
1owance must be made for patriotic
pride when the reader of guide books
learns that Naples. Constantinople,
| Cairo, and even Seville, are enshrined
in poesy and proverb, each as the
1ovliest city, on the face of the earth.
But in justice TO the capital of Por-
tugal it must be admitted that Lisbon
puts forth reasonable claim to emf
nences among the beautiful cities of the
world.
BuiIded Like Rome.
Seven hills, the number of those upon
which Rome was builced, a handsome
harbor tasteful public buildings and
out parks and innumerable we'll kept
minor plazas and terraces and a sub
tropical flora equalled by that of no
other European city, make Lisbon a
place of peculiar charm. If it is not
literally true that he who has not Wis
tied Lisbon does not know what beauty
is. 1t is at least conservative to say
That any one VINO lONeS UcdQly Will ell
joy a visit to Lisbon.
Lord Salisbury once observed that
the Portuguese were a people morally.
mentally and physically decayed. A
glance at progressive Lisbon would
prove that when the great Brit
fsh statesman thus tersely damned
nation that had long been al
lied with his own, he spoke in
the fullness Of that '.insular ignor-
Cor ;oI IfcI !,
been taken to task. The Portuguese
have been sadly misgoverned. Upon
the theory that. a people always get as
good a brand OF government as they
deserve, the Portuguese might have
been called a shiftless and lazy lot
when lord Salisbury's caustic remark
was made. But the average Portu-
guese seen in Lisbon or in the country
today does not look like a man either
mentally or physically decayed. What
has been done in Lisbon in the way
of city building suggests a good deal
Of virility in the people whose capital
1t IS.
Most Attractive Square.
Lisbon is not a city made up of
monumental buildings but its spaces
are impressive and they are surrounded
by civic buildings and business blocks
that would not be discreditable to any
mercio. the civic center of the city, is
huge square flanked on three sides
by municipal buildings and upon the
third side open to the harbor. 1t is
here that public questions are discussed
and public meetings held as in Hyde
Park in London. Although not so
large or so handsome, 1t suggests the
Place de- Ia Concorde in Paris. 1t is
entered from the principal business
~hrn- - ~
way. No European city possesses a
waterfront more attractive than this
square makes.
The equestrian statue of Joseph T.
erected by his grateful subjects in
1775, has caused the "Placio de Com
mercio" to be dubbed by the English
Black Horse Square" The buildings
now occupied by the ministry of for
eign affairs. the custom house., the
stock exchange, the ministry Of the in
terror, the ministry Of justice, the
supreme court, the ministry of public
works. the ministry of finance, the Of
flee of the national debt and the post
and telegraph office were put up after
the great earthquake These buildings
are modern, but unlike modern build
ings in many European cities, they are
in good taste
The Ayenida, magnificent prone
iidoC oVo 1CCl WlQo anu nearly a mile
long, running from the Parca des Res
tauradores to the Parca Marquee Pom
bal. and traversing the business part
or modern Lisbon. ornamented with
handsome trees and paved, as are most
of the sidewalks in the trig Portu-
guese capital. with a sort of rough
mosaic, is a down town space of which
any capital in the world might be
proud.
The Famous Avenida.
AT one end of the Avenidg stands an
obelisk 100 feet high raised IN mem
DRY of the heroes of the rising of 1910
which freed Portugal from the Spanish
yoke and ended the infamous Sixty
Years Slavery" At it's base are bronze
figures of Victory and the Genius of
Liberty The Avenida is the fashionable |
riding and driving park and is to Lis /,
bon what the Luneta is to Manila, Bub- |
bling Well Road to Shanghai. the Mai |
dan to Calcutta, or what Potomac Park
VIII one day be to Washington.
1t was upon the Avenida that Machado |
Santos, junior officer in Portuguese !
navy and a prominent officer in the /
Carbonarios, kept the cannon In action |
against the royalists upon the day of |
the October revolution Bronze lamp |
posts drilled by round shot from smaf, |
guns were removed from the Avenida |
'iiO diC HOW On eAHlUlllOu III the mus
cum of the revolution.
The business and transportation hub t
Of Lisbon. the Rocio to the Portuguese |
and Roly Poly Square to the English |
because of the peculiar undulatory pat
tern in which the mosaic pavement Is |
laid. officially Praca Dom Pedro /
Quarto, is ornamented by two handsome
bronze fountains above which rise a
bronze column topped by a statue of |
Peter ~. AT the base of the monu-
ment are figures representing the four
virtues. The tramways con-
verge at the Rocio and the smartest
shops and restaurants and most promi-
nent theaters face 1t. On the site of
the headquarters of the Inquisition
stands the Theatre Dona Maria Sc
yunda. Before 1t is a statue of Gil
Vicente, father of the drama In Por-
.ugal
American Street Cars.
In marked contrast to the widely
distributed miniature street cars that |
crawl along the tramways in Spanish
cities are the uptodate "Americanas," so
jailed because they are built in st.
louis. Philadelphia and Elizabeth, New
Jersey. that swing into Roly Poly
square heavily laden But the "Ameri-
,anas" are not the only means of