Evening star., 1922-09-10

EMBASSY
y Harris & Ewing)
miss none Of the funeral professions
passing by. On a rainy day an able
| bodied crick in the neck is acquired
by continuously trying to peek
through the oilcloth curtains Tapping
against the side of the open street
car in order not to miss any passing
cortege.
An undertaking establishment such
| as we know in the United States does
| not exist in Rio. This is because the
manufacture and sale of caskets is a
government monopoly. and a govern
ment monopoly SO well conducted that
any one can afford to die. which isn't
always true in the United States.
One Of the commonest and most
| ancient customs / observe in Rio is
the carrying of all kinds of burdens
on the head-everything from a kilo
of coffee to the spring and mattress
of a full-size bed.
OF course. the mattress and spring
do not weigh as much as many a case
of books. paper. machinery or nails
borne in identical fashion-it merely
looks like q harder job. Yet the
bearer. walking along the street,
arms at his sides and head turning
this way and that to see what's going
en- around him, scarcely seems to no
tice its presence.
| A breadman just came by fthey tell
me at the projects office that there
are nearly 1000 of them in Rio) and
he was carrying a full basket on his
head. A full basket means forty
kilos, or eighty-eight pounds. The
| treadman has stopped to talk with a
rerambulating greenhouse. the ven
dor of plants and flowers. On his
| head he carries a four-legged, two
story table. the lower compartment
| filled with more than twenty good
sized potted plants and ferns, the
| upper compartment laden with fiow-
ering plants and one bunch of some-
thing more than two gross of asters.
I started to count them. but lost
track after the second hundred.
When a bargainer approaches the
vendor lowers his store from his
head. sets it in front of him in the
street or on the sidewalk and pro-
| ceeds to praise his wares. which he
proclaims the Freshest, biggest,
rarest. loveliest and finest in all this
broad land and without an equal in
all the world" His arguments are
irresistible. Tho bargainer buys;
but why? Adding flowers or plants
to her garden Is like painting the
rainbow or gliding refined gold.
X **
Down at tho corner a neatly dress
ed girl, with at least one family's
two weekse' washing piled on her
head. is picking her way between
autos and mule carts. around street
cars and street hawkers, as cool az a
cucumber and without once raising
her hands to the basket. which 1
think must have been riveted on!
Near her the marketman, having
made the sale of a caulifiower, lifts
his mammoth basket back onto the
towel wrapped around his head and
looks for all the world as il he were
wearing very natty hat designed
for lady Titan. See, At the left,
near the back. the tail feathers of a
dozen chickens are hanging out; in
front. the foliage of hundreds of car
rots and turnips and onions; on the
right. lovely clusters of grapes
white, pale. green, pink, blue. frosted
purple and black: and in the back,
chrysanthemums and gladioli. "Dites,
mesdames, n'est-ce pas bien chic, ca ::
Achetez-moi donce ce beau chapeau."
But here comes the fish vender.
who can be seen. smelled and heard
| when five minutes and two blocks
away. His call sounds like a loco
motive backing into the roundhouse
That. plus the melodious wall of the
banana man. will successfully drown
the singing Of all the lovely Rio birds
in our block. We feign escape, but
the fish vender and the banana man
stand at the front gate and clap their
hands till some one comes out to
! buy or to bargain.
These two do not carry their wares
on their heads. Instead each has a
heavy six-foot pole slung over his
shoulder and from each end of the
pole baskets are hung. In the case of
the fruit vender. three baskets, one
| over the other. at each end Of the pole,
and each basket round and strong
and capable Of carrying two bushels
and sometimes more. If all your
conscientious Hooverizing during the
| war and armisnce period and bant-
ing since then have proved futile in
taking off all the pounds desired, you
might try some setting-up exercises
with enc Of these poles and six full
baskets. If that doesn't succeed, take
one of Rios 5000 hand trucks, which
look like twelve-foot ladder with
two heavy wheels at the middle. load
it from end to end four feet deep
with market truck, take hold of one
end, and. with your pole and baskets
still suspended from your shoulder,
walk from the market nys OK seven