Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 29, Number 12, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 17 September 1898 — Page 6

llIFE IN PORTO IlICO.

MARGHERITA ARLINA HAMM TELLS ABOUT THE WOMEN.

"Their Character as Shown In IreM and Honie Decoration—Veranda* and Balconies Are Nearly All They Get of Outdoor JLife.

[Special Correspondence.)

NEW YOBK, Sept 12.—To the traveler from the United States who lands on Porto Bican soil after five days' buffeting by sea and wind the island is the land of the lotas eaters. The first deEire is to hire a hammock. The people seem nnder the same spell. They take things easily, calmly, glowly. The motto of the commonwealth should be their own Spanish phrase, "Con Patienza." Even basinets domanding physical exertion is carried on with the lazy indifference which to a New York commercial mind is at times irritating and of-

A FOKTO ItlCAN MATRON.

ten exasperating. In social life the eame spirit prevails. The womeu aud children seem to get up in tho morning when they please and to spend hours lolling about the cool rooms or pleasant courts of tho hou.se before making their toilet or taking a Hubf-timtial meal.

In the early hours they have coffee, an excellent article made from the native berry a fruit, auEuglisli biscuit or a square of bread and sometimes a little pieco of cold meat or a bit of food left over from tho day before. Tho broad is excellent. It averages as well as that in tho JJew York hotels and is better than that supplied in American homes. Tho cooks display considerable ability in this field aud take a special delight in siakirr? loaves of all possible shapes, si7,08 and qualities. The people consume bnt little water as a beverage.

Tea drinking is not so common as in tho States, but coffee drinking is universal and almost continuous. They use largo quantities of light Spanish wines, which, though a trifle coarse, ore palatable, nourishing and, most important of nil, vory cheap. What little water is used is cooled, not by ice, but by boing kept in nnglazed red clay bottlos to which the Anglo-Saxon has applied tho ridiculous name of "monkeys." Yet, although every one uses wine, inebriety is exceedingly rare. I have never seen a Porto Ricnu woman who did not nso wine, aud I never saw one intoxicated.

Tho morning appnrel is scanty and suited to the warm climate. It consists usually of an embroidered chemiso, a loose wrapper and a pair of heelless slippers. Tho middle and working classes use a bright colored cotton cloth slipper with rope soles, while tho well to do have dainty little affairs in kid, morocco, turkish leather, cordova silk and ?atin. These run to colors and aro very pretty and artistio Tho wrappers are made of lawn, grasscloth, pineapple cloth and other popular Spanish fabrics.

Later in the day the women dress and ore ready for calling aud receiving calls. The corset used is a Spauish corset which is moro like those of the middle ages than of today. It seems stronger and more unwieldy than anything worn by American women. Fashionable ladies, however, employ those of Parisian make. Over this is worn a Spauish jacket with flowing sleeves aud a basque flounced or trimmed with lace or embroidery. The skirt is veiy full, and beneath it is another skirt, sometimes of silk, but more often of handsomo Spanish limn. Great attention is paid to tho footwear, a small foot, long aud narrow, a high instep, a small ankle and tightly fitting boot being considered the marks of aristocracy.

The houses are furnished with great taste, but seem a little bare at first sight. This is do© to the absence of carpets, rugs and heavy hangings, which aro wisely omitted by tho inhabitants. Where these? are employed by newcomers unfamiliar with the local conditions they become very moldy in the wet season and are invested at all seasons with the numerous forms of insect life found in Prrto Rico. The ideal home has a of noble planks of hard wood, •which from washing, oiling and robbing often gleams like a mirror, or it niay be in luarqueterie, which is of recent introduction, or eh-e of stone, brick, marble or mosaic. The verandas and courts lire paved with stone flags or with large and substantial bricks. The kitchen is usually separate from tin* rest of the bouse and is provided •with curious brick ovvns and charcoal hraasier#, where a meal can be prepared with great promptness and a small outlay for fuel. The furniture is, when viewed as a elan*, artistic and sensible. It is made of the beautiful native cab* iuet woods, and chair*, sofas and looog** have caned seats and are very seldom upholstered.

The Porto Bican women have a

ftsiilf

charming fad for rose cnlture and vie with one another in producing the largest, sweetest and most brightly colored flowers. In one garden in Coamo I saw a display which wonld do credit to the best Fifth avenue florist The lily family thrives and presents many varieties unknown excepting in Louisiana and Georgia. The flower market of New Orleans gives a good idea of all the largest cities of Porto Bico. Two features of social life in Porto Rico appeal forcibly to ease and comfort. One is the number and excellence of the baths. There are public baths at various places, and in I nearly every house, unless it be of the 1 poorest kind, is a great tank, like those employed by the ancient Romans, where an abundant supply of water enables the family to plunge and cool off through the sultry season. The other feature is tbe system of verandas and balconies. They are situated on both tbe interior and exterior of the.house and are always cool and shady. They keep the living and sleeping rooms within tbe house cool and in a perpetual twilight. The floors are usually of brick and are washed or sprinkled at least once a day in the cool season and almost every hour in the summer. The brick absorbs the water immediately and at the same time permits it to be evaporated by the beat of the atmosphere. To increase comfort the embrasures which face the sun aro provided with awnings, shutters or bamboo screens, from which the women of the house can look without exposure to the sun and also without being seen by passersby. Most of tho houses have the little postern gate which marked all medieval architecture and where the romancer and novelist always pictures the nocturnal lover being killed by the jealous husband, the proud father or the fierce bravo.

I spoke about this to one of the prominent officials of tho leading city, and he smiled significantly and said: "The present is the child of the past aud there aro romances today the same ae in the years of Charlemagne. In the postern gate of that handsome estate yonder just a few years ago one of our citizens surprised and killed a handsome young man who was paying attentions to tho former's wife."

These verandas and balconies are the sceuo of nine-tenthsof woman's outdoor life in both Porto Rico and the mother country, Spain. It is contrary to etiquette for a lady to go walking or to promenade, and when she attends mass it must be with her family or a duenna. The pleasures of shopping aro to her an unknown world. The nearest she ever gets to the bargain counter is when a peddler or clerk from some store brings and exhibits his goods in the cool of the veranda. The peddler is the more popular character of the two, as he has all tho gossip of the town and can tell the latest scandal on the next block, the gossip of the capital or the news from Madrid and Barcelona. A mute evidence of the habits of tho people is found in tho iron or stone balustrades of the verandas. They are so worn and polishod by the hands and elbows of their fair owners and the daughters of the family as to lose every mark of their original shape. Living upon the verandas takes away some of the privacy of life, especially in regard to conversation and amusement. Walking or riding along the narrow streets, one can hear the discussions on either side from tbe houses just above her head. In the evening tho laughter over stories, the quarrels over games of cards, the Candle lectures of shrewish wives and the domineering talk of tyrannical husbands are andiblo from nightfall until nearly midnight. Best of all is the music, iu which tho Porto Ricaus excel. The piano nud violin, guitar and flute, mandolin and bandolin, castanets, triangle and oven tho banjo aro heard from early morning until lato in tbe night. Good playing is universal aud good singing the rule rather than the exception. Tbe musio is melodic. The dance tunes of Spain, tbe songs of light operas, the arias of grand opera and the marches of all nations are the favorite subjects of the players.

Tho well to do have country seats as well as city homes and move to and fro

PORTO IttCO COUNTRY B0C8R AND GARDEN. as suits the fancy of the people or the dictates of local fashion. Iu the couutry the women and children have the wider latitude of the garden as well as tbe honrc, while in the city they are confined to the four walls of the casa or those of the small yard, which looks for all the world like the jail inclosures of American cities.

ARCHER ITA A MJNA AIM.

Glasgow Eaglish.

Tbe spoken English of the upper circles of Glasgow has been subjected to criticism. It is alleged that the fashionable folk say "too bed" for too bad, "teb" for cab, "eoeent" for accent, '•fesliim** for fashion, "hnbiUisbed" for embellished, "clakhs" far clerks, "ather" for other, "siusitive" for sensitive, et& It is asserted by some that this mode of prcamnciation is only affectation. by others that it is' ground into the pupils in the more "fashionable*

Lord Cromer.

To read Egyptian-French accounts of Lord Cromer, you r^onld picture him a stiff browed, hard mouthed, cynical, taciturn martinet. To look at the real man, you would say that he gave half of his time to sleep and the other half to laughing. Lolling in his carriage throngh the streets of Cairo, or lighting afresh cigarette in his office, dressed in a loose fitting gray tweed and a striped shirt, with ruddy face, short white hair and short white mustache, with gold rimmed eyeglasses half hiding eyes half closed, mellow of voice and fluent of speech—is this the perfidious Baring, you ask yourself, whom Frenchmen detest and strive to imitate? —this the terrible Lord Cromer whom khedives obey and tremble?

His demeanor is genial and courteous. His talk is easy, open, shrewd, humorous. His subordinates admire, respect, even love him. He is the mildest mannered man that ever sacked prime minister. Only somehow you still felt the steel stiffening the velvet He is genial, but he would be a bold man who would take a liberty with him he talks, only not for publication he is loved, yet he must always be obeyed. Velvet as long as ho can, steel as soon as he must— that is Lord Cromer. "Egypt in 1898," by G. W. Stevens, ^7

Do Not Read In the Cars,

A London publisher whose eyesight has become so impaired that he finds himself able to do scarcely any reading warns readers against working their eyes when traveling in the cars. He says: "For many years past I have been in the habit of reading and writing for some hours in the train almost daily, and my present trouble is undoubtedly traceable to this cause." v.--'

Oculists are now unanimous in tbe statement that after a certain time, which varies in different individuals, readiug in the cars is a positive danger to eyesight. The page is in constant vibration, and the eyes are strained in trying to follow automatically the rapid movements. Too much light is almost as bad as too little. Reading by a powerful electric light invariably brings on eye troubles. People would make their eyes remain serviceable much longer if the instant the printed letter becomes blurry or tho reading matter gets out of focus they would eeek the best professional skill and prepare to use glasses, This may be at any age between 18 and 40.

A Flirtation Checked.

One day when Queen Victoria was present in her carriage at a military re view tho princess royal, then rather.a willful girl of 13 or 14, sitting on the front

Eeat,

The Screw of Archimedes.

Archimedes of Syracuse, when he was in Egypt, invented a machine for pumping bilge water out of the holds of ships. This instrument was also used in the delta for purposes of irrigation. Diodorns Siculus twice refers to it (i., 84, 2 v., 87, 8). A curious model of such an instrument, probably of the late Ptolemaic period, has been found in lower Egypt. It consists of a terra cotta cylinder with a screw inside it 10 inobes long and 4J^ inchos in diameter. Near the center of the outside is a band with crosspieces. These may represent footholds and suggest tbat tbe machine was worked after the manner of the treadmill. Such screws were probably made of wood. No other example of this screw seems to have come to light. —American Journal of Archaeology.

The Barly Umbrella.

We may infer from the following announcement, copied from The Female Tatler of Dec. 12, 1709, that the umbrella at this period was regarded as too effeminate for tho use of a man: "The young gentleman borrowing the umbrella belonging to Wills' coffee house, Cornhill, of the mistress, is hereby advertised, that to be dry from head to loot on the like occasion he shall be welcome to the maid's pattens." About this time it was customary to keep an umbrella in the halls of larger houses for use in rainy weather, for shelter in proceeding from the house to a covered conveyance, and doubtless the one alluded to Sn the advertisement above quoted was for that purpose. if

A Rhodes' Anecdote.

Hero is a new anecdote abont Cecil Rhodes: In 1884 he Was severely attacked in the press, and notably by one journalist to whom he had given very considerable assistance. "I do call that man a hound," said one of Mr. Rhodes' friends, "alter all jm have done for him."

Hr. Rhodes flushed up, and with one of his sudden though rare explosions barst out with, "Hound yourself! Do yon think I wanted to bribe the man?'*

A a a

Optician—My dear sir. your caeei la hopeless. Customer—And am I doomed to blindnemt

Optician—It Is Inevitable. I think yco'd batter look at my beautiful line of artificial ejasatoooe.—Jewelers' Weekly

TERHE HAUTE SATURDAY EVENING MAIL, SEPTEMBER 17, 1898.

seemed disposed to bo rather

familiar and coquettish with some young officers of the escort. Her majesty gave several reproving looks without avail. At length, in flirting her handkerohief over the sides of the carriage, the princess dropped it, too evidently not accidentally. Instantly two or three young officers sprang from their saddles to return it, but the voice of tbe queen staid tbem. "Stop, gentlemen, leave it just where it lies," she said. "Now, my daughter, get down from the carriage and piok up your handkerchief." There was no help for it. The royal footman let down the steps for the little lady, who proceeded to lift from the dust the pretty piece of cambrio and lace. She blushed a good deal as she turned her head saucily, but was doubtless angry enough.

Amazing: Cleverness of liirds.

There is something very remarkable int the almost reasoning powers manifested occasionally by birds in eluding pursuit or in turning attention from theii nests and young, bnt in few is this more noticeable than in the duck tribes. In Captain Black's narrative of his arctic land expedition the following instance of this is given: .One of his companions, Mr. King, having shot a female dnck, fired again and, as he thought, disabled its male companion. Accordingly, leaving the dead bird, which he had the mortification of seeing shortly afterward carried off by one of the white headed eagles, he waded into the water after the drake, which, far from being fluttered or alarmed, remained motionless, as if waiting to be taken up. Still, as he neared it, it glided easily away throngh innumerable little nooks and windings. Several times he reached out his hand to seize it, and, having at last with great patience managed to coop it up in a corner, from which there appeared to bo no escape, he was triumphantly bending down to take it when, to his utter astonishment, it looked around at him, cried "Quack T* and then flew away so strongly that he was convinced he had never hit it at all. Th3 bird's object clearly was to draw tho gunner away from its companion.

Pagodas as SLU Offerings.

"Just as brewers and other evil men in England conciliate heaven by erecting churches so the bold, bad, bloody handed Burman makes it all right for the next existence by erecting pagodas. In proportion to the height of the pagoda bis heap of sin disappears. And as the Burman, like tho rest of us,, looks after his own wants rather than those of his ancestors, he builds a pagoda all to himself, and allows his grandfather's to topple over. An uncle of the deposed king must have been round shouldered with the weight of his wrongdoings.

Anyway, at tho foot of Mandalay hill—a nice, breezy eminence, admirable to givo you an appetite and a pain in the back—he built 729 pagodas, though tho guides count wrong and say there are only 450. But perhaps they mention the smaller number out of regard for their monarch's uncle, not wishing to expose tho real magnitude of his sinfulness. The pagodas aro all white and set out in rows, and under each were what we pronounced to be tombstones. Wo were wrong, for the inscriptions were not to the dear departed, but constituted a complete oopy of the law in the Pali tongue.—Travel

When Wellieffton Was maa.

The Czar Nicholas' visit to Windsor in 1844 afforded Murray an opportunity to be present at one of the few occasions when the Duke of Wellington lost control of himself. He did it at a review before tho queen, her imperial guest, and the royal family, when, contrary to his orders, issned for tho queen's convenience, the guns were fired. The hero of a hundred fights stormed in "a most violent manner."

When the prince tried to pacify him by saying it was doubtless a mistake, he replied: "It is very good of your royal highness to excuse it, but there should be no mistakes. Military orders should be punctually obeyed, aud 80 long as I command the army they shall be obeyed!" The emperor was astonished, and the suits looked at each other with blank faces, while the artillery was ordered off tbe maneuvering^round

The Boston of It.

"You would bo pretty,1' persisted the other, "if you didn't know it yourself." The gorgeous Boston creature shook her head. "I can know nothing," she argued. "I have mental impressions, but they do not establish external fact. Externality is a figment of subjectivity. Ergo, I do not know I am pretty, quod erat demonstrandum." Casuistical subtleties, doubtless, but cot easily to be swept away for all that.— Detroit Journal.

In 15 years Russia has sent 624,000 persons to Siberia, fully 100.000 relatives of prisoners having accompanied the exiles of their own free wilL

Disease weaves its web around people a little at a time. They are not dangerously ill all at once. The beginnings of illness are

mere trifles. First a little indigestion, perhaps or headaches or an occasional bilious turn. It is hard to realize how yon are being tangled up in the strands of sickness until you are fairly caught

Nearly all serious illnesses begin with some stomach or liver trouble, or with a costive condition of the bowels. These functions have got to be put in good condition before there can be any recovery from any disease no matter what its name or nature, and it is because Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery acts directly upon the liver and digestive organs that it has such a marvelous effect upon all diseases of malnutrition.

It gives the digestive system power to assimilate nourishment and make good blood it drives out bilious poisons it creates the red, vitalizing, life-giving elements in the circulation and builds op the weak and wasted places in every corner of the constitution.

Taken in conjunction with Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets, it relieves obstinate constipation and keeps the bowels in a perfectly natural condition.

Mrs. Ella Howell, of Derty. Perry Co., Jwl. writes: In the ywr of 189* I w» tdfffl with There was

was swelled across my stomach hsd a ridge around my right side, and in a rirort tijae was Mooted. I was treated lay th«e of oar best pnyridau bat got no reueC Then Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery was recommended to aw aod I got it. and commenced the tote of it. I began to fee a change for the better. weak I could not walk acraaa the room without assistance. I took Dr. Pierces Golden Medical Discovery and Ids Favorite Prescription' and one lottfe of tbe-Fteanat Pellet*.' VbeRao to liuatow very fist after tbe use of a firw bottles. The physicians who attended me disease was leading into coemption, had qntte a cnoghTMid the home physician jpwe we np to it God that say care & pwiaaaf

S«4' 5*

Up! Up! Up-to-date

mmMRvmmi.

To the Rcscue.

RBlll^laKj|s was in danger PLUG there would be an army of men (who chew it) ready to rescue it?—large enough to shovel Spain off the map of Europe. No other chewing tobacco in the world has ever had so many friends.

Demember the name when you buy again.

TJ II TT1 B. O. IIUDNUT, President. WILLARD KIDDEU. Vico-l'resldoat. G. A. CONZM AN. Cashier.

Vigo County National Bank

Capital $150,000. Surplus $30,000.

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