Show WITH A BRASS BAND That is One Way of Making Love in Peru f PULLING HIDES OFF LIVE ANIMALS I How Wornout Donkeys are Kent Golnc Until They Pall Dead in the Harness Some Illustiativc Anecdotes LIMA Peru Dbc 111S90 Special correspondence cor-respondence of TEE HEUALDJ In common trith other Spanish Americans the Peruvians Peru-vians show a strange mixture of gentleness and cruelty sentimentality and heartlessness heartless-ness They are excessively polito to the minutest detail of an exaggerated etiquette on all occasions at home or abroad Their voices are always low and musical their vivacious gestures and profound obeisances the perfection of grace and their everyday manners such as Lord Chesterfield might have envied If a lady young or old handsome or hideouscomes into any pub lis place where gentlemen are congcgated instantly the buzz of conversation ceases every man rises to his feet takes off his hat and remains standing until she has passed out or isseated When a funeral procession proces-sion goes by men in the carriages in the horsecars on the streets and in the doorways door-ways or balconiEs of their houses uncover and bow their heads and the same custom is observed whenever tho door of a church is passed THEIU nnrEKEXCK TO TEE AGED the obedience of adults to their parents their tenderness to the young and tnoir toleration tol-eration of and charity toward the vast army of beggars are beautiful to behold end worthy of emulation They will put themselves to the greatest amount of trouble to serve a stranger without expectation of reward their hospitality hos-pitality unbounded their generosity proverbial pro-verbial and for a point of honor most of them will lay down their lives Yet tho temporarily reduced will resort to a thousand thou-sand polite pretexts to get money out of 3 ou such lor example as a dead friend who had recently lost all his property and whose collin must be bought by subscription subscrip-tion wont you donate ten dollars toward so charitable an object or a tale of woe about a poor widow and her children left penniless in the cold world who are desirous o desir-ous of going to their relatives in some distant dis-tant place surely the senora will be happy to assist them etc etc I myself subscribed sub-scribed small amounts from time to time for dozens of cofllns and poor widows with weeping families until I learned the little game EVEN THE PERCVIAX HIGHWATIIAX will take off his hat to you in the most def erentialmanner before politely requesting your money or your life and if it comes to the unpleasant necessity of forcibly taking the latter in order to secure to former he will crave your pardon while plunging his dagger into your vitals will compliment your handsome appearance in death and tarry long enough at whatever risk to him selt to not only bury you decently but to set up a cross over your grave so that future fu-ture passersby may pause to say prayers for your unshriven soul In all the months I have remained in this country I have never seen a child whipped and have scarcely heard one cry The poorest poor-est of them loves music and poetry flowers and sentimentality more than his daily meat and drink 5 et a vein of coldest cruelty and utter heartlessness runs through tile best of them This is evidenced in many ways besides the bullfight the cockpit and their conduct in war Perhaps the most common example is in their treatment of dockeys 2Jo tongue can tell what those patient and tractable little creatures are made to endure en-dure till MERCirCL DEATH AT LAST releases them from torment overwork and slow starvation Everywhere we see pitiful examples of beasts bearing heavy burdens upon raw and bleeding bacifs which daily press deeper and deeper into the festering flesh until the bone is laid bare and still no attention is paid to it nor is the burden in any way lightened We see them with huge welts crisscrossed along their backs and flanks raised by the merciless mer-ciless whip which falls unceasingly whether the poor animals travel fast or sow Some have their cars lopped and Lronen by blows from cudgels and many have their nostrils slit up on each side the pose so that there many be no nonsense in the way of difficulty in breathing and consequent loss of speed in the higher altitudes alti-tudes The theory appears to prevail that a donkey don-key can carry as much as can be piled upon hum aud they are generally covered from head to tail with loads that bulge far out on each side or when carrying human freight two men or a couple of women or three or four boys JSESTRIDE HIM AT ONCE When hardly able to move either from excessive burdens or lack of food his energies en-ergies are stimulated as long as possible by twisting his stub of a tail or his sensitive ears or by tho boy who rides him who selects a nice soft pot somewhere on the animals flank or fore shoulder and works away at it with a rusty nail or scrap of iron or tin till the hide is worn away the raw Hush exposed and bleeding and then to continue nagging the wound Not less to be pitied are the street car mules and horses which are beaten incessantly I inces-santly no matter how hard they pull or how desperately they exert themselves lash lash goes the long heavy whip over suffering backs up grade and down from cawn till midnight An extra man is hired for the express purpose of whipping the animals who stands beside the driver and appears to be about the most industrious person in Peru The most bloodcurdling cruel thing that has yet come under my observation is the manner in which are obtained the socalled pigskirs that so commonly servo for bottles and casks THEY ARE SOT TilE HIDES Or PIGS but those of sheep and horrible to relate are pulled off the living animal the poor cheep being actually l skinned alive or more correctly speaking skinned dead for of course ho does not long survive the operation oper-ation The modus operandi is as follows The beasts are driven ono by one to the appointed place and firmly tied to a stake Then the hide is neatly cut around the neck and down tho middle without touching touch-ing the flesh or severing the arteries or hurting the animal much after which hooKs aro fastened into the loosened skin a rope being attached to each hook strong men take firm grip on the ropes and pull backwards back-wards pulling and pulling until the hide is torn off clean to the tail It is said that during this frightful torture the cries of the poor sheep are almost human in their expression of agony and that the bloody quivering mass sometimes lives several minutes The only excuse for the barbar ouspractice is that the skins are much more flexible and durable when thus taken off alive than when the animals are dead A YOCTHrCL ARMY OFPICER who was introduced to our party by tho resident consul his been exemplifying Borne of the traits of his race in a marked manner He was immediately taken by our Yankee young lady and redoubtable warrior though he desired to bo considered consid-ered desired to surrender unconditionally at first sight < Our little colonel as wo called him was hardly moro than a boy and like the rest of his class was a scion of aristocracy It is not uncommon to find captains in their teens in the Peruvian army and all of tho officers are tho sons of first families quite separate and apart from tho common soldiers who are half breeds called Cholos and the military bands which aro mostly made up of negroes lie wore the usual toggery without with-out which a Peruvian officer is never seen at home and abroad to weddings and funerals Uto mill and to meeting consisting con-sisting of gaudy scarlet trousers with abroad a-broad black stripe down the outside of each leg a black jacket heavily braided and loaded with brass buttons red cap profusely pro-fusely adorned WITH GOLD ItUAlD AXD A SWORD thlt persisted in slipping around and 1 nearly tripping him up every time he crossed the parlor floor The persons who I make clothes for tho Peruvian army evidently evi-dently expect them all to grow for the trousers are invariably so loose and baggy that the seat appears near to where the knee ought to be and the knee midway between j be-tween that member and the ankle making the side strips look like black serpents But the jackets are so short and small with a tendency to ride upwards that the rear buttons which are supposed to mark tno waist line occupy a prominent position near the shoulderblades The little col onel was very demonstrative demonstra-tive in his love making so far as sighs and sheeps eyes go but found himseli wonderfully won-derfully hampered by the restrictions of local etiquette The objoct of his devotion could speair but little Spanish and he not a word of English and of course he could never see her at all without the presence of her mother But when the latters back was turned as was sometimes purposely I done when a convenient mirror would reflect re-flect the scene he would Instantly throw himself into the posture of THE TYPICAL GRAND OPERA LOVEII with head on one side eyes in line frenzy rolling and both hands pressed to the region of his heart to tho infinite amusement amuse-ment of the lookcrspii One day he astonished us by pleasantly remarking You may perhans observe that I show a need of washing but I took cold last week and am no yet rid of it And then we remembered the Spanish superstition supersti-tion held in universal respect that it is dangerous to wash ones face and hands during a cold though it may last a month The young colonel was not of those plebeians ple-beians who serenade their Dulcineas with guitar or mandolin assisted by the voice nothing but tho full brass band would satisfy him when tho intensity of his feelings feel-ings demanded musical expression We endured it several times but finally were obliged to beg him to desist on the ground that we couldnt afford the expensewhich will be readily understood when I explain I that the regiment baud was thirty pieces strong every man of them addicted to beer which is alt imported and costs SO cents per bottle and that custom permits them during an evenings serenade to order whatever what-ever they like TO DRINK AT THE XEUISST BAR tho bill to be paid by the unfortunate person per-son to whom tile music is addressed The Sociedad Benelicencia or Benevolent Benevo-lent Society of Lima which exercises a general supervision over all the public charities has lately given a series of Sunday Sun-day afternoon bullfights with hired jiicta dores and pfcadores from afar to increase their fund from the proceeds The bullfights bull-fights of Peru are not nearly so barbarous as those wo have witnessed in Mexico and Cuba because here no blinded horses aro forced on the horns of the maddened foro to be gored to death for the delectation of spectators and then dragged out with the entrails protruding But at its best the socalled sport is cruel enough to satisfy the most bloodthirsty and to sicken the unaccustomed The Sociedad though made up of the strictest church people does not scruple to accept a share from Sunday bullfights from the cockpits lottery ventures gambling houses and similar sim-ilar entertainments and institutibns contending con-tending that it is well TO TAKE FROM TilE DEVIL anything that can be captured for a worthy cause rather than to let the tail go with the hide1 Here is a hint to those good people who object to making the liquor traffic pay a part of the burden imposed on society in the pauperism it induces as is provided in the license laws on the ground that it is compromising with Satan By the way I have often heard in churches hero the tinest waltz music rendered by the full choir in a jubilant burst of melody just before the most solemn and impressive of all ceremonials the elevation of the Host and when I mentioned the matter one day to a priest of my acquaintance he said And wily not pray Why should the Prince of darkness have all the best and most joyful music and the Lord of Hosts only the most dolorous FANNIE B WARD |