They All Wore Silk Hats And The Glossiest Black Broadcloth, Not Even A
Pair Of Trousers Of Any Other Shade
Was seen; and all wore the scarlet
silk or fine cloth waistcoat which, at that period, was considered the
right
Thing for every citizen of the republic to wear; also, in lieu
of buttonhole, a scarlet ribbon pinned to the lapel of the coat. It
was a pretty sight, and the concourse reminded me of a flock of
military starlings, a black or dark-plumaged bird with a scarlet
breast, one of my feathered favourites.
My rambles were almost always on the front, since I could walk there a
mile or two from home, north or south, without getting lost, always
with the vast expanse of water on one hand, with many big ships
looking dim in the distance, and numerous lighters or belanders coming
from them with cargoes of merchandise which they unloaded into carts,
these going out a quarter of a mile in the shallow water to meet them.
Then there were the water-carts going and coming in scores and
hundreds, for at that period there was no water supply to the houses,
and every house-holder had to buy muddy water by the bucket at his own
door from the watermen.
One of the most attractive spots to me was the congregating place of
the _lavanderas_, south of my street. Here on the broad beach under
the cliff one saw a whiteness like a white cloud, covering the ground
for a space of about a third of a mile; and the cloud, as one drew
near, resolved itself into innumerable garments, sheets and quilts,
and other linen pieces, fluttering from long lines, and covering the
low rocks washed clean by the tide and the stretches of green turf
between.
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