At The Door Of The Church The
Gentleman Would Make His Bow And Withdraw To The Street Before The
Building, Where A Sort Of Outdoor Gathering Was Formed Of All Those
Who Had Come As Escorts To The Ladies, And Where They Would Remain
Until The Service Was Over.
The crowd in the street grew and grew
until there were about four or five hundred gentlemen, mostly young,
in the gathering, all standing in small groups, conversing in an
animated way, so that the street was filled with the loud humming
sound of their blended voices.
These men were all natives, all of the
good or upper class of the native society, and all dressed exactly
alike in the fashion of that time. It was their dress and the uniform
appearance of so large a number of persons, most of them with young,
handsome, animated faces, that fascinated me and kept me on the spot
gazing at them until the big bells began to thunder at the conclusion
of the service and the immense concourse of gaily-dressed ladies
swarmed out, and immediately the meeting broke up, the gentlemen
hurrying back to meet them.
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. It was the spot where the washerwomen were allowed to wash
all the dirty linen of Buenos Ayres in public. All over the ground the
women, mostly negresses, were seen on their knees, beside the pools
among the rocks, furiously scrubbing and pounding away at their work,
and like all negresses they were exceedingly vociferous, and their
loud gabble, mingled with yells and shrieks of laughter, reminded me
of the hubbub made by a great concourse of gulls, ibises, godwits,
geese, and other noisy water-fowl on some marshy lake. It was a
wonderfully animated scene, and drew me to it again and again: I
found, however, that it was necessary to go warily among these women,
as they looked with suspicion at idling boys, and sometimes, when I
picked my way among the spread garments, I was sharply ordered off.
Then, too, they often quarrelled over their right to certain places
and spaces among themselves; then very suddenly their hilarious gabble
would change to wild cries of anger and torrents of abuse. By and by I
discovered that their greatest rages and worst language were when
certain young gentlemen of the upper classes visited the spot to amuse
themselves by baiting the _lavanderas_. The young gentleman would
saunter about in an absent-minded manner and presently walk right on
to a beautifully embroidered and belaced nightdress or other dainty
garment spread out to dry on the sward or rock, and, standing on it,
calmly proceed to take out and light a cigarette. Instantly the black
virago would be on her feet confronting him and pouring out a torrent
of her foulest expressions and deadliest curses. He, in a pretended
rage, would reply in even worse language. That would put her on her
mettle; for now all her friends and foes scattered about the ground
would suspend their work to listen with all their ears; and the
contest of words growing louder and fiercer would last until the
combatants were both exhausted and unable to invent any more new and
horrible expressions of opprobrium to hurl at each other. Then the
insulted young gentleman would kick the garment away in a fury and
hurling the unfinished cigarette in his adversary's face would walk
off with his nose in the air.
I laugh to recall these unseemly word-battles on the beach, but they
were shocking to me when I first heard them as a small, innocent-
minded boy, and it only made the case worse when I was assured that
the young gentleman was only acting a part, that the extreme anger he
exhibited, which might have served as an excuse for using such
language, was all pretence.
Another favourite pastime of these same idle, rich young gentlemen
offended me as much as the one I have related. The night-watchmen,
called _Serenos,_ of that time interested me in an extraordinary way.
When night came it appeared that the fierce policemen, with their
swords and brass buttons, were no longer needed to safeguard the
people, and their place in the streets was taken by a quaint, frowsy-
looking body of men, mostly old, some almost decrepit, wearing big
cloaks and carrying staffs and heavy iron lanterns with a tallow
candle alight inside.
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