Show to vegetate in a delightful climate whose hottest suno iams are cooled by breezes blown from an jean snow fields exempt from all ex capt perhaps those that skiing from natural causes such as love that Is the delight ot ike m chile to prom enade in the cool of the evening in the garden of delight the public garden of the populace and still later to attend the opera or tertulia as the soda gatherings in the private houses are called is almost the sole diversion of the chilean the fail chilean rises late la des habille she dawdles about amusing herself with fancy work or nothing at all until sheer ennui drives her forth to seek relaxation in shopping or mak ing calls then the glossy hair mounts high on the head in a heap marvelous to behold she dons a pair of french boots with heels so high one they do not cripple the foolish wearer after the day comfort in slipshod slippers she sallies forth with stately tread solo mon in all his glory was never sc gorgeously arrayed ever closely at tended by a servant who Is expected to attend to her most trivial needs in the early evening she repairs to the promenade to enjoy a little music or abild flirtation the latter being confined discreetly to sighs eyes and possibly po sibly following footsteps bo pass the das in this land of indolence for the women days go by monotonous ro md year in and year out As for the men they omit the mass wh ch the women always attend the r covered by the long black mantua cohering indeed many onus as regards neatness of toilet they attend a little to any business tey may have during the middle of the day but most diligently to the opera the promenade and the gaming table for the night gambling is a national habit in most of tha swell est classes of valparaiso and san tiago the gaming table is regularly set it and forms the most important feature of private enteria like the baccarat of great britain which some time ago plunged his now royal highness of england into such torrid water even the poorest peons and edest gamins may be seen at all hours betting and centavos the pennies and nickles of this country with as much eagerness as the wealthy mine owner stales his golden ounces the tallest gambling that ever came under the writer s ob took place on a steamer ply ing and talcahuano when a man who had becenti re centi struck it rich in the atacama mines lost 90 in a single night there is a law against gambling but well in regard to an american wrestling with the mysteries of chilean house keeping I 1 can give you a slight in sight into my own we engaged a cook who promised faithfully to come on a certain morning retaining our predecessor s man servant neither of whom spoke a word of english while according to the ie of one s purchase it was most amusing to me to see men hurrying in every diorec alon with these tins at the dinner hours we managed to live or rath er exist in this way tor a week all the food halt cold and I 1 always had a ho suspicion that the tins were neve more than halt washed and really all the food most did taste tinny but if people will visit a foreign country with out knowing the language they must take ahe consequences after a week of this sort of living we obtained a cook I 1 smile now when I 1 think of how I 1 was obi ged toi approach her each morning w ith a dictionary in one hand money in the other giving mhd necessary orders tor the day it was not difficult to catch the spanish pronunciation and the follow ing dialogues usually occurred yu papas huevon huevos beefsteak on a city street I 1 1 1 I want potatoes eggs and beefsteak to which the servant replies sl sen orata muy bueno very well miss our man servant we are obliged to magnificently style him majordomo takes charge of the dining room waits at table and acts as chamber maid it is a singular fact that the chamber maids of chile are almost invariably of the sterner sex up the one staircase everything must come the first thing I 1 hear uncomfortably early each morning is the step of the water carrier who with unnecessary clatter brings us two begs of water daily for which he Is paid 2 per month then comes our breadman to whom we pay SO cents per day for what our family of are supposed to consume then the milkman charging six cents for halt a pint and lastly but surely not the least of necessary evils the cook bringing the day s supply of market ing and fuel sunday Is the day tor tary visiting in chile and in case you haie a letter of introduction to senor so and so and have been recognized by receipt of a card saying he will celebrate celebi ate greatly acquaintance with ou and that his house and all t contains Is at your service a mean ingless phrase by the way you may call and be received cordially by his wife who will serve you with tea and entertain you to the best of her aall icv until midnight regardless of the host s absence for he Is rarely at home after sunset ladies are seldom attended home b anybody but a servant no matter what the nour as in chile it would be considered very bad form tor the man of the house or a man friend to perform this with us pleas ant duty government build ng we unfortunately were equally agnor ant of spanish we took possession on the day appointed ea but a la fris no cook appeared there was nothing in the house but groceries and bread as at the moment we were unable to buy anything being unable to speak the language or traffic con the gentlemen ret arned to the hotel while we ladies were corn belled to content ourselves with bread and butter and I 1 fear a few regrets audibly expressed A friend calling the evening suggested that we have our meals brought from tle cafe a common custom here pending the arrival of our cook one has a set of tins made fitting one into the other a wire passing through rings at the sides the bottom tin contains coals and the meats vegetables etc are placed above one another in the successive tins the strings of tins v in length |