The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-28

believed that the screakng or the rasga- mortalha near a dwelling portends the death of, or some grave maady to some
 member of the household.
 It is difficult to describe Petropolis, the seat of all the legations and the winter home of the Brazilian aristoeracy It sits in the distance, robbed in that shadowy enchantment seen in but dreams, and en- veloped with that indeflnable, opalescent haze peculiar to Brazil and Arabia alone.
 From its dizzy location one may view the
 white sheen of the bay at his feet, fringed with the spectral outline of fronded palm and laughing in the golden glory of a torrid sun; observe the capricious play
 of storm-clouds 1000 feet below him, or watch the vapery course of nebulous monsters gliding in stately sublimlty through Hume and gorge only to dissolve
 and dissipate in some far away, flower flecked valley.
 The town is an odd combination of the primitive and the modern. Miles of SUI perb palaces flank the streets enclosed in costly bronze railings imported at the cost of fortune from Europe, yet the thoroughfares are unpaved, are lighted with sickly oil lamps and down their center course the mountain streams, Mos ellie and Piabanha. Here warbles the rouxinol from beds of quaresma and Ian | tafa, leTe DlOO1l tn6 royal DtiDcI6lds lllC | incomparable bougainvilla and the queen- | ly orchid, and at certain seasons of the year the banks of the twin streams are l fairly furnished with the fire of the mann moth glow worm, which is brilliantly re- hected on the flaming leaves of the gor- geoS flamboya. In fact so scintillatine are these insects that it is quite the
 vogue for ladies of fashion to wear at state balls gowns of tarletan in the meshes of which the glow worms are i'm | prisoned.
 In the center of Petropolis, its impress sively solemn facade bespealSing the glory of a departed dynasty, stands the | Emperor's palace. now occupied by a | French order of nuns in the conduct of a ! female school. The groined arches and | vaulted recesses of the ball room. where whilom moved the flower and chivalry of | the empire through the toriuous meas ures of the national dance now reverber- ate with the laughter of innocence and ripple with the merrlnent of youth. while 1 from the throne chamber, in which the | benefcent Dom Pedro IL once graciously sustained the noblesse of his crown and received the homage of his subjects, floats the echo of the recluse's Ave Maria and the rustic of vestals robes kneeling in ] devotion when the angelus tolls the twi- | light hour.
 | The extensive gardens surrounding the palace replete with the voluptuousness 1 of a tropical flora, though abandoned to nature, still retain the imprnts of the | pristine splendor that characterized them | In the days of the empire. and the stately | royal palms envroning the court yet toss | their plumed tufts to air as haughtily as when their master dwelled among them, | gazing proudly toward the sea, faithful | watchers for the return Of the imperial exile whose loved form they were wont | to shelter.
 | All along the banks of the Mosclle and | Fiabanha arc encountered dimlnutVe
 sloriettes and fairy-like Mosques, where bands of music play and which at night | are radiant with innumerable Japanese | lanterns and merry with symposiac nairtii
 blinking and bubblng beneath the state | ly catalpa known in the euphonius Partu- 1 g,cse tongue as the arvore da caroline de | Iusl At the juncture of the two streams | is the Crystal palace once royal danc- 1 ing pavilion, and here l have witnessed | gatherings that entranced the eye and en- | chanted the senses. Here l have drunk | the Intoxicating strains or symphony | breathed from horn and lute and stringec instrument; here I have seen the thou
 sand and one mirrors or tee palace fling hack as in mad glee the rays of thou | sand and one brilliant electric lights | Nooding each arch and dome and cupalo | with a tide of molten glory. illumining the glowing tinsel and glded lace of the lus-
 trous Brazilian uniform and enhancing
 the marvellous beauty of the gazelle-eyed Brazilian belle Here Condo and Barao
 yisconde and Contra Almirante moved in
 sweet conviviality and eonsortship of in
 | scuciance with Condessa and Senhora
 | for the revolution had not yet come and
 | in those days Brazil was a ;and Where 1t
 | is always afternoon.