Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 205, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1914 — PECULIAR THINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PECULIAR THINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA

IN visiting a new country it is always the surface differences that jump out at you first Then if you' stay long enough, foreign placet get to be familiar and their people begin to seem like home folks. So in these South American lands it is the surface difference in dress and in the way of doing the little daily things that amuees you and makes you feel that you are seeing Xa strange land, writes a correspondent jsf the Chicago Daily News from Entre Rios, Argentina. The first thing, as I have said, that you notice here is the high walled garden and the terrible* absence of open, trim lawns. Next you are impressed by the pleasantly slow and* easy passage of traffic in the streets. You are dazzled by the lavish display of gold braid and the ever visible soldier and policeman. The strong whiffs of perfumes you find less pleasant. At the Front Door. In the cities there are doorbells for calls, but the delivery boys bringing meat, bread or vegetables to the house announce their presence at the front door by loudly clicking a pair of castanets. In the country districts all persons desiring to enter a house clap their hands for a signal and waft patiently at the front gate. None dreams of stepping into a yard until either the master or a servant comes to open the gate for them. There is only the one door through which every one and everything that comes into tlie house must go. garbage is taken out this way. Of course in the richer and more modern houses there is a rear entrance. At first the big, long and viciously sharp knife, the handle of which protrudes murderously from each peon’e 1

broad cloth belt, bpthars you. But after a while you grow used to it, and when you learn that the krflfe is not merely a weapon but a tool, you see that it la as necessary and proper for the peon to don his knife every morning as to don his shirt. Without tills knife the man could neither work nor eat in comfort, especially if he is living and working out on the monte or "camp.” Life out on these plains is very primitive and tools and baggage are reduced to the minmum. The gaucho has only his knife with which to eat his meals. Forks and spoons are, he feels, wholly unnecessary. He lives almost entirely on meat roasted over an open fire, so his knife is his all in all. With it he cuts the wood for his fire. With it he kills Jhe steer or sheep for his meal and with it he eats. The first time you see this gaucho eat you shiver with uneasiness. You see, he cuts off a generous slab of the roast, takes a firm hold of it with his teeth, and, holding it so, proceeds to trim off a bite at a time, close to

hl's lips. Every time that big, vicious knife sweeps upward you feel sure the man will elice off a part of his nose. But you need have no. fear; the gaucho is an artist at carving, even when it comes to his human enemies. Here in the Argentine country I have seen dramatised the old Bible phrase, "He took up his bed and walked." These people are particular about their beds. Every servant girl cornea to you with her bed under her arm. Usually this is just a folding

canvas cot, but often a substantial iron bed. On the road you will eee gauchos riding with their bed and all worldly possessions tied to their saddle. Little children going out to service go through the streets carrying their beds with them, while every river steamer carries the cots of its passengers who are on the move. Courting here is done in the open street The houses stand close to the walk and at the twilight hour you may see the gallants standing at the low "windows or at the half-open garden gate talking to their dark-eyed sweethearts. If the father and toother approve of the young fellow he is given a chair or more often invited in. If" the parents disapprove the girl is called from the window and sometimes abused for talking to her caller. Revel In Grief. These people are very emotional. Color, music, tragedy, comedy they must have in the crude lump and lots of it They revel in their joys and also in their griefs. Mourning is herd can tied to an almost horrible excess. Not long ago a native mother died and er,ery one of her seven children, even the new-born baby, is swathed in black. Not only are the ..top dresses of the little girls black, but'also their little petticoats. The most dismal sight in these tiny town streets are these crowds of black-dressed children. I know a servant girl who drapes herself in heavy black crepe even when she goes to hang out the washing. Crepe is fearfully expensive in these countries, and this girl, whose relatives are delicate and much given to dying, is many pesos in debt for just crepe. I went to the theater in a small town to see some native, plays. It was not

the humorous bits of acting that brought the storm of applause. It was the touches of pathos, of despair, of horror, even thdugh these were crudely, clumsily and foolishly done.

AVENIDA DE MAYO BUENOS AIRES

Cathedral, Buenos Aires.