| Show pe perils r s cap capital ito gets new ne w D dress r ess lima ancient city of the Pi Is transformed into modern metropolis Pro prepared pared by national geographic society washington D C service here building demolishing there installing modern water and sewerage systems tearing up rough age worn cobblestones et ones putting down smooth ma modern dern concrete and asphalt in 16 their stead opening up new highways both to tile the mountains and the sea and developing 4 motor routes to the oft outlying lying regions of the plain thus the in makers akers of new lima glriia are transforming the peruvian capital city of the Pi the older portion of the cit city as well as the newer region which circumscribes cum scribes it Is sharing in the tha modernization 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 ope one another at a time and the one on the outside must keep ir close watch lest he be struck by a pass passing ilig trolley old and aid new right fight for supremacy the blue necked turkey buzzards have lost their role as the official al scavengers the oxcart ox cart has given place largely to the motor truck the old barouche has abandoned the streets to the modern automobile and the patient donkey Is making his last stand even Pl Pi stern old palace Is feeling the urge toward modernization in days gone by there wits was no street in lima that had a single name throughout its length vach each block had its own particular designation the two streets that lead from the plaza san martin to the national palace are six blocks long each possessed six different names bames one for each block i the municipal authorities wanted to change all this and gave each street a single designation for its entire length the one they called the alron de la union and the other the alron Ca but the populace would have none of it the man who did business on the northwest side of the de armas still wanted to fo have his store Y salo of shoes in a peruvian market on banos and the one who held forth on the next block still insisted he was doing business on mercaderes Merca deres and they continue to io do so consequently the giron de la union Is swallowed up by the several calles which compose it it these may be named without mod ern day rhyme or r reason and they certainly are without alphabetical alphabetic alor or other indication of their sequences but the people cling to them despite whatever confusion it costs the p post ost office however much it way may perplex the visitor and whatever harvest it may bring the taxi drivers I 1 how the system works many I 1 interesting stories are told illustrating how this mysterious system works one concerns concern sa a stranger who hailed a taxi in calls calle la merced and asked ased the chauffeur to drive him to Ba quijano vel ante cinco the driver did not bat nn an eye but drove like jehu up jesus jesua nazareno skidded on two wheels into info giron Oa Ca raced around plaza san martin and whirled up through doza boza Itin landing ding his shaken passenger at the address given on the same came street but simply in the next block from where he be started I 1 the name Merci Mer ideras tells us of thedac when that block was the wall street of lima and banos or the public letter writers who were sheltered under ua the portals on the west side of the plaza calle alantas proclaims the square where the ladles of perus golden past spent theli their husbands substance in riotous purchase of shi shawls Awls homes puns indian textiles and lingerie girle the hi history of limas past Is written in her streets in names that the municipality bonx lon t has ans wanted to wipe wip e oui out in favor ot of through designations and numbered blocks block ft but the people of the city cling to their streets with a devotion that will not permit con to triumph over romantic ties with the past in wandering about the old city one comes upon many an architectural relic of the days of the viceroys vice vlee roys but among all of these none Is more impressive than the monastery of san francisco there one amny be ushered into ie a porcelain nin garden where th the 4 artistic tiles of the cl cloister olster compete with the living flowena that tha boohr bloody ia the earth they no oile one lins has i a more fully the effect of this porcelain garden than mr F P farrar of the west 0 aj leader dera he be says la Is a porcelain garden a ceramic her bor der of springtime where the blues of delphinium and lupine the yellow of and the gold of colchicum the creamy white of arabis and the malves mauves of blend luto into the fresh foliage of the overhanging trees and the azure of the new washed skies 1 l the charm of the story of the origin of f this porcelain nin ga garden aden almost equals the beauty of the ceramic triumph itself on a november morning in 1619 a vast crowd had gathered in the rinza plaza de armas annas for there was waa to be a public hanging and these events were roman holidays for the populace the public crier had announced announce dl the warrantable and nd royal addlen cla of this C city ity of the kings has condemned to suffer a shameful death on the gallows alonso godinez Godl nez native of guadalajara in spain for the murder of marta alarta villoslada without fear of judgment human or divine let him who did so pay the penalty I 1 this sentence Is to be read in the presence of all lest they meet a like end I 1 lot let justice be donel came cama a reprieve the condemned man had taken his big stand beneath the noose and the hall hang 9 man was nervously adjusting the fatal knot suddenly a monk pushed his way through the throng climbed the gallows platform and handed a parchment to the captain of the guard glaid after the latter had read it the two engaged in a moment of animated conversation after which the padre led ed the condemned man away and into iltz the portals of the monastery monaster y of san francisco the no crowd disappointed hung about the Pl azuela de san i francisco discussing this strange overthrow of justice and berating those who had denied them their holiday but later the reason tor for reprieve became known that morning the condemned man had made what he thought would be his last confession on ear earth i th to the prior of the monastery he said aid that he was a potter by trade and that he had warned learned the art both of making and setting tiles years before dona catalina Cata llna cunnea huanca had brought from spain a magnificent collection of af 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 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 an opportunity to let tile the man who had murdered a woman in a drunken brawl repent his sins in a lifelong task of setting these splendid tiles so he hasten hastened Iid to the viceroy to implore the pardon of the murderer and the viceroy a descendant of the berglas Bor glas seeing poetic justice in remitting the penalty of the scaffold and imposing task of service that would 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 which tn in their mellowness richness and seductive beauty rival those of the alhambra itself and it Is doubtful if outside of spain there Is to be found a finer example of porcelain entablature in the heyday of its art than here lima Is peculiarly a city of churches with some 70 to in its ita limits and with nearly four centuries of outstanding ecclesiastical tradition behind them the people are much given to buying religious objects the ca thedral Is a magnificent structure much larger than pizarro built but still not so grand as the one erected during the early years of the 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 Is a celebrated image presented by the emperor charles V of spain and in the chapel arcedeano Arced lano an original painting attributed to murillo Murl llo representing jesus jesua and veronica here rests a glass and marble casket which Is most interesting of all for it contains coni ains the half mummy half skeleton reputed tobe to be the remains of the great fashionable hatt hats taboo the attire for church occasions Is perhaps the most conservative CO in the new world even those women who dress dresa in the latest parisian modes elsewhere put on their plain black mantillas cantillas man tillas when going to church in in some congregations those who come co me in fashionable headgear are told politely to remove them and substitute their mantillas cantillas man tillas 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 guises of that name but now the headquarters of the ministry of foreign relations the city odthe of the kings long hasteen has been famous for its brilliant social life with a constant succession of luncheons teas din dinners neri dances champan adas and receptions nearly four centuries of wealth leisure and opportunity have written their impress ot of culture on the descendants of the nobility and official classes of of the colonial regime most of the higher class residents tso so to speak board with their cooks alit latter are given specified allowances each day and out of that aro ara expected to keep ke ep their masters tables up to the exacted standard and to keep the market men with whom bom they deal happy through gratuities doled out to them 4 |
