Brazil, the Amazons and the coast . otthe wiping out, of the upper class ; a class which, with all itsfaults and mistakes, has yet many good and noble men init. Remember that Brazilians are expiating the sins of theirfathers, as well as their own. Society here was wrongly con-stituted in the outset; it is not the fault, but the misfortune, of the educatedclass, that they areseparated from therest of the nation. I do not mean tosay that the mechan-ics and shopkeepersare better, as a class,than the merchantsand gentlemen ; theyare ignorant, anddirty, and degraded;that is obviousenough to any str
Brazil, the Amazons and the coast . otthe wiping out, of the upper class ; a class which, with all itsfaults and mistakes, has yet many good and noble men init. Remember that Brazilians are expiating the sins of theirfathers, as well as their own. Society here was wrongly con-stituted in the outset; it is not the fault, but the misfortune, of the educatedclass, that they areseparated from therest of the nation. I do not mean tosay that the mechan-ics and shopkeepersare better, as a class,than the merchantsand gentlemen ; theyare ignorant, anddirty, and degraded;that is obviousenough to any stran-ger. But their workgives them brawn,11 and their povertyprotects them, in ameasure, from immorality ; physically, they are the superiorsof the upper class ; mentally, they might be, if they had achance. So Rio social life goes on, with its mingling of good andill; the ill sadly near the surface, it must be said ; the good,more than we know of, maybe, often hidden from mixture is tempered by impulsive, sociable manners,. In the Passeio Publico. SOCIAL LIFE AT RIO. 4/7 and quick wits, and ready tongues ; and then there is thefrosting of Prench pohteness over all. I can lounge in thecafes, and interest myself in the lively conversation aboutme ; my neighbor lights his cigarette with mine, and toucheshis hat, and is quite ready to answer questions. Of an even-ing, I can saunter through the Passeio Publico garden, listen-ing to the music, and watching the students strolling aboutthe gravel walks and exhibiting themselves, after the mannerof students elsewhere. It is a pretty place, this garden;the people are proud of it, and indeed, it would be an orna-ment to any city, with its stately palms and noble old is a marble-paved promenade fronting the bay ; ofa fine evening you will find hundreds of idlers here, fromthe pleasure-loving city : people neatly and quietly dressed,after the French fashion, conversing in low tones and po-litely making way for each othe
Size: 1398px × 1788px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublishernewyorkcscribnerss
