| OCR Text |
Show Peru's Capital Gets New Dress Lima, Ancient City of the Pizarros, Is Transformed Into Modern Metropolis. (Prepared by National Geographic Society. Washington. D. O WNU Service. DEMOLISHING here, building there; Installing modern water and sewerage systems; tearing np rough, age-worn cobblestones, cobble-stones, putting down smooth modern concrete and asphalt In their stead ; opening up new highways both to the mountains and the sea; and developing develop-ing motor routes to the outlying regions re-gions of the plain: thus the makers of New Lima are transforming the Peruvian Per-uvian capital, city of the Pizarros. The older portion of tlve city, as well as the newer "region which circumscribes cir-cumscribes It, Is sharing In the .modernization. .mod-ernization. True the older section is and must remain an area of one-way streets, for Its thoroughfares are so narrow that even street cars must observe the one-way law. Likewise, the sidewalks are so lacking in elbow room that only two people can pass one another at a time, and the one on the outside must keep a close watch lest he be struck by a passing trolley. Old and new fight for supremacy. The blue-necked turkey buzzards have lost their role as the official scavengers; scaven-gers; the ox-cart has given place largely to the motor truck ; the old barouche has abandoned the streets to the modern automobile; and the patient, panniered donkey is making his last stand. Even Pizano's stern old palace Is feeling the urge toward modernization. moderniza-tion. In days gone by, there was no street in Lima that had a single name throughout Its length. Each block had Its own particular designation. The two streets that lead from the Plaza San Martin to t he National Palace are six blocks long. Each possessed six different names, one for each block. The municipal authorities wanted to change all this and gave each street a slnglr"Ldesignation for Its entire length. Til; one they called the Giron de la Union and the other the Giron Ca rabaya. But the populace would have none of IL The man who did business on the northwest side of the Plaza de Armas still wanted to have his store j, . , -v? Sale of Shoes in a Peruvian Market. on Eseribanos, and the one who held forth on the next block still insisted he was doing business on Mercaderes, and they continue to do sit. Consequently Conse-quently the Giron de lu Union Is swallowed swal-lowed up by the several callcs which compose It. These may be named without mod ern-day rhyme or reason, and they certainly are without alphabetical or other Indication of their sequences; but the people cling to them, despite whatever confusion It costs the post ollice, however much It may perplex the visitor, and whatever harvest It may bring the taxi drivers. How the System Works. Many Interesting stories are told Illustrating how this mysterious system sys-tem works, tine concerns a stranger who hailed a taxi In I'alle I.n Merced and asked Ihe chauffeur to drive him to "Baquijuno volute cinco." The driver did not bat an eye, but drove like Jehu up Jesus Nazareno. skidded on two wheels Into Giron Carabaya, raced around Plaza San Martin, and whirled up through Boza, landing his shaken passenger at the address given giv-en on the same street, hut simply In the next block from where lie St art eil I The name Mercaderas tells us of the day when that block was the Wall Slreet of Lima and Eseribanos or the public letter writers who were sheltered under the portals on Ihe west side oT the Plaza, ('alio Manias proclaims the square where the ladles of Peru's golden past "spent their husbands' hus-bands' suhslance In riotous purchase of shawls, homespuns. Indian textiles, and lingerie." The history of Lima's past Is written writ-ten In her streets. In names that the municipality hut t has wanted to wipe out In favor of through designations and numbered blocks. But the people of the city cling to their streets with a devotion that will not permit convenience con-venience to triumph over romantic ties wllb the past. In wandering about the old city, one comes upon many an archllectural relic rel-ic of (he days of Ihe viceroys; hut, among all of these, none Is more Impressive Im-pressive than the monastery or San Francisco. There one may be ushered Inlo a porcelain garden where the artistic tiles of the cloister compote wllb the living Mowers that binou' i the earth they Inclose. No one has il-scrliieo more beautifully beauti-fully the elf en of this porcelain garden gar-den than Mr. F. P. Farrar, of "The West CWiSl Leader." "Hero," ho says, "Is a porcelain garden, a ceramic border bor-der of springtime, where the blues of delphinium and lupine, the yellow of cytlsus and the gold of colchicum, the creamy white of arabis and the matives of aubrletla, blend Into the fresh foliage of the overhanging trees and the azure of the new-washed skies." The charm of the story of the origin of this porcelain garden almost equals the beauty of the ceramic triumph itself. it-self. On a November morning in 1019 a vast crowd had gathered In the Plaza de Armas, for there was to be a public hanging, and these events were Roman holidays for the populace. The public crieT had announced: "The Warrantable and Royal Audlen-cia Audlen-cia of this City of the Kings has condemned con-demned to suffer a shameful death on the gallows Alonso Godinez, native of Guadalajara, In Spain, for the murder mur-der of Marta Vllloslada without fear of Judgment human or divine. Let him who did so pay the penalty I This sentence Is to be read In the presence of all lest they meet a like end! Let Justice be done !" Came a Reprieve. The condemned man had taken his stand beneath the noose and the hangman hang-man was nervously adjusting the fatal knot. Suddenly a monk pushed his way through the throng, climbed the gallows gal-lows platform, and handed a parchment parch-ment to the captain of the guard. After the latter had read It, the two engaged in a moment of animated conversation, after which the padre led the condemned man away and into the portals of the monastery of San Francisco. The crowd, disappointed, disappoint-ed, hung about the Plazuela de San Francisco discussing this strange overthrow over-throw of justice and berating those who had denied them their holiday. But later the reason for reprieve became known. That morning the condemned con-demned man had made what he thought would be his last confession on earth, to the prior of the monastery. He said that he was a potter by trade and that he had learned the art both of making and setting tiles. Years before, Dona Catalina Huanca had brought from Spain a magnificent collection of tiles for the decoration of the new cloisters at San Francisco; but neither plan nor a tile setter had come with them, and Lima had no tile setters. So for years the tiles had been piled up In a corner of the monastery mon-astery ; many were stolen and more were broken. Would Providence ever open a way for their setting?" Here seemed to be the answer; the prior saw au opportunity to let tiie man who had murdered a woman In a drunken brawl repent his sins In a lifelong task of setting these splendid tiles. So he hastened to the Viceroy to implore the pardon of the murderer, and the Viceroy, a descendant descend-ant of the Borgias, seeing poetic justice jus-tice in remitting the penalty of the scaffold and Imposing a task of service serv-ice that would require a lifetime, granted the commutation of sentence. One can see today the wisdom of that act of mercy-tempered Justice. Alonso Godinez was a true artist, who loved his work and threw his soul Into it. Today "the walls blossom with pictures pic-tures which In their mellowness, richness, rich-ness, and seductive beauty rival those of the Alhatnbra Itself ; and it Is doubtful doubt-ful if outside of Spain there is to be found a finer example of porcelain entablature en-tablature in the heyday of its art than here." Lima is peculiarly a city of churches, with some 70 In Its limits; and, with nearly four centuries of outstanding out-standing ecclesiastical tradition he-bind he-bind them, the people are much given to buying religious objects. The Cathedral Ca-thedral is a magnificent structure, much larger than Piznrro built, but still not so grand as the one erected during the early years of the viceregal regime and destroyed by the great earthquake that wiped out Callao, the nearby seaport. The high altar Is of massive silver construction. In the chapel of the Virgin Vir-gin Is a celebrated Image presented by the Emperor Charles V of Spain, and In the Chapel Arcediano an orig lnnl painting attributed to Murillo. representing Jesus and Veronica. Here rests a glass-nnd-marble casket which Is most Interesting of all, for It contains the half-mummy, half-skeleton half-skeleton reputed to be the remains of the groat conqueror. Fashionable Hats Taboo. The attire for church occasions Is perhaps the most conservative In the New world. Even those women who dress In the latest Parisian modes elsewhere put on their plain black mantillas when going to church. In some congregations those who come III fashionable headgear are told po lltely to remove them and substitute their mantillas before they are allowed to be seated. Among the fine old residences of Lima one of the most Impressively beautiful Is the famous palace of Tor-re-Tagle, once the home of the marquises mar-quises of that name, but now the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign For-eign nidations. The City of the Kings long has been famous for Its brilliant social life, with a constant succession of lunch eons, teas, dinners, dances, ohiinipan adas. and receptions. Nearly four con t lilies of wealth, leisure, ami opportunity oppor-tunity have written their impress ot culture on the descendants of the no-bilily no-bilily and olliclal classes of the co Initial regime. Most of the higher class residents, so to speak, ho' rd with their cooUs 'I'll latter are given specllled allow ances each day, and out of that arc expected to keep their masters' tables ta-bles up to Hie exuded standard, and to keep the market men with whom they deal happy through KraluiUcs doled out to Ihciu. |
