advertised for fifteen days, as the law directs, in the most public
places of this city, and no one having appeared to deny their right
to become husband and wife, they therefore on this day agree to
become such, and have taken upon them the vows required and
recognized by the law. Therefore, this day, at seven o’clock in the
evening, assembled with them in the municipal palace, I, General
Basidio Gabante, President of the Eastern Federal District, by
order of the Governor and President of the Municipal Council, in
the presence of Felipe Aguerra, an engineer, citizen of this
Republic, and Luis R. Tores, merchant and citizen of the Republic,
have declared the evidence of their free will and right to
matrimony sufficient under the law.
“Then was read to them, as above named, section thirteen of the law
of the Republic, which explains and sets forth the reciprocal
rights and duties of the husband and wife. Immediately thereafter I
asked Serapio Antonio Gutierez the question, ‘Do you wish to take
Felipa Rivas as your wife?’ who then answered in a distinct voice,
‘Yes; I want her, and take her thus.’ Then I asked Felipa Rivas,
‘Do you take Serapio Antonio Gutierez to be your husband?’ who in
the same manner answered, ‘Yes; I want him, and take him thus.’
“Addressing myself to both, I said, ‘You are now joined in
matrimony, perpetual and indissoluble, and you are required to
support and assist each other, and provide each other, and the
children that may be born to you, with the necessaries of the home,
and be to each other a comfort and a blessing.
“The above, having been properly witnessed, was signed by the
married couple in my presence, and immediately entered in the book
of civil registry.
“SERAPIO ANTONIO GUTIEREZ.
“FELIPA RIVAS.
“FELIPE AGUERRA, _Engineer_. } _Witnesses._
“LUIS R. TORES. }
“JULIO BAEZ PUMAR, _Clerk_. BASIDIO GABANTE, _Prefect_.”
[Illustration: A BODEGA.]
Under a glass cylinder, on a stand beneath the banner of Pizarro, is a
large book bound in scarlet plush, with heavy gold clasps and hinges, in
which the contracts are kept and the record of Venezuelan wedlock
preserved. All the Catholics go at once to the church from the municipal
palace, and repeat their vows, with the benediction of the priest, but
this is not essential. At this same office the record of births and
deaths is also kept in the strictest manner. Formerly, as in Cuba, the
legitimacy of a child and permission to bury the dead could be
acknowledged by the Church alone, but the republic has confiscated all
the cemeteries, and opened the gates to those of every faith, Jew or
Gentile, Protestant or Catholic.
The Government is very exacting in many respects. One day a little boy
was stolen. The only clew was given by some children, who saw their
playmate seized by a man who drove away with him in a hack. Every
hackman in the city was arrested and thrown into prison; every coach was
seized, with its horses and harness, and notice given by the police
authorities that not a wheel should be turned in the streets until the
child was found. These summary measures made every coach-owner a
detective, and finally the hackman who was engaged in the abduction
confessed, and the child was recovered without the payment of the ransom
demanded.
The police arrangements in Caracas are excellent; there are no robberies
or murders, and one seldom sees an intoxicated man upon the streets.
Liquor is sold at nearly all the groceries, or bodegas, as they are
called, and the _aguardiente_ which the common people use is the most
vicious sort of fire-water; but the punishment of offenders is extreme,
and those who have not sufficient self-control to drink moderately are
taken in charge by their friends at the first sign of intoxication.
There are several street-car lines in Caracas, and the conductors carry
a horn, which they blow upon approaching a street-crossing, as is the
practice in Mexico. The cars are all open, and are small, being capable
of holding not more than twelve or fourteen people.
The burial of prominent men is attended with great pomp and ceremony,
and it is customary to have those who are present at the funeral sign a
testimonial to the worth of the dead, or pass a series of resolutions
setting forth their merits and distinguished traits. These tributes are
placed in the coffin, in order that in case the remains should ever be
disinterred, posterity would know the character of him whose bones they
handled. When a member of the family dies, it is customary to drape the
furniture and pictures of the parlor in mourning, and to let it remain
so for a full year.
[Illustration: A GLASS OF AGUARDIENTE.]
The etiquette governing the habits of the ladies is the same that exists
in Mexico and other Spanish-American countries, it not being proper for
them to appear alone upon the streetsor in public places. They go to
mass accompanied by a colored woman as a duenna, who carries a chair for
her mistress to sit upon during service, there being no seats or pews in
the churches. In the evening women are seen in large numbers upon the
streets, and at the plaza where the band plays they swarm in gayly
dressed crowds. The ladies of Venezuela are said by travellers to rank
next to those of Peru for beauty, although it would be as much as a
man’s life is worth to intimate such a thing to the brothers and lovers
of Caracas, who very naturally and properly concede nothing in this
respect to “the daughters of the sun,” as the Peruvians are called. The
Venezuela girl has more animation, more vivacity than her sister across
the Cordilleras, and perhaps more intelligence, for she possesses more
liberty of thought and action than the ladies in other countries of
Spanish America, and more attention is paid to her education. The
climate of Caracas is similar to that of Lima, and although the city is
almost under the equator, it has an altitude of eight thousand feet, and
is surrounded by snow-clad mountains which temper the heat of the
tropics and make a temperature like that of June the whole year round.
The ladies have therefore the same clear, rich complexion of an olive
tint, and the same great “melting eyes.” Their features are usually of
artistic perfection and their figures Venus-like. They have no national
costume, but dress in the latest Paris styles. The milliners and
modistes of Caracas go to Paris twice a year, and the wives and
daughters of the rich men of the country order their dresses there.
There is more society than in Peru, and during the winter season Caracas
is very gay. At the opera the boxes are invariably filled with ladies as
handsomely dressed and as highly bejewelled as can be seen at the
Metropolitan Opera House or the Academy of Music in New York.
There are a large number of American families in Caracas, and several
Venezuelan gentlemen have married in the United States. One of the
loveliest girls in Venezuela is the granddaughter of “Josh
Billings”--the late Henry W. Shaw. Twenty years ago or more a merchant
at Caracas named Señor Don Santana sent his son to Poughkeepsie to be
educated, and while he was there he met and married the daughter of Mr.
Shaw. The young man has succeeded to the business of his father, and is
now at the head of one of the largest mercantile houses in the republic.
Mrs. Guzman Blanco is the handsomest woman in the
[Illustration: A VENEZUELA BELLE.]
country. She is a tall, slender brunette, with brilliant eyes and
complexion and a sylph-like figure. Her husband worships her, and she is
said to be the only person in the land to whom the Dictator’s iron will
has ever yielded. She is quite as famous for her loveliness of
disposition as for her personal attractions, and her charity and
generosity are proverbial. Every artist in Venezuela has painted her
portrait a number of times, and in the room which Guzman Blanco uses as
an office there are seven pictures of her, in various costumes and
attitudes, and two busts in marble. Mrs. Guzman Blanco is the leader in
fashion as well as society, and all her dresses are made by Worth. Each
spring and fall, when they are received from Paris, the ladies of
Caracas are invited to examine them. In a room adjoining the chamber are
a number of large glass-cases, like those in a modiste’s shop, in which
her treasures always hang; and whenever a reception is given by the
Dictator this wardrobe is open to visitors--a new and novel idea, but
one which gives the ladies of Venezuela great pleasure. Mrs. Guzman
Blanco was in New York with her husband a couple of years ago, where her
beauty attracted much attention.
The Venezuelans are the most courteous people that can be imagined.
Impoliteness is unpardonable. The clerk with whom you deal over his
counter expresses his wish that you may live long and prosper, and
thanks you gratefully for giving him the pleasure of showing his goods,
whether you purchase anything or not. When a gentleman meets a lady, be
she his sweetheart or his grandmother, he always says he “is lying at
her feet,” and he would rather be shot than pass before her. They are
not the semi-barbarians some people in the northern continent suppose.
They have accomplishments which ought to make the rest of America
ashamed. Usually they are able to speak three or four different
languages, have refined tastes in art and music, and, while they lack
ingenuity, and usually do things in the hardest way, are nevertheless
possessed of the keenest perceptive faculties, and seem almost to read
your thoughts. It is not difficult to make known your wants, even if you
cannot understand a word of their language. They do not allow smoking in
the street-cars and public places, as in Mexico and Havana, and although
it is the privilege of the masculine gender to stare at the feminine
with all the eyes they have, the men are never rude, and ask the pardon
of a beggar when they refuse to give him alms.
But the people always put the locks upon the wrong door, and wrong side
up. When they build a house, it seems as if they studied the most
difficult mode of construction. They erect solid walls first, and then
chisel out cavities for the timbers to rest in. There are no stoves or
chimneys, and charcoal is the only fuel. Gas is produced at four dollars
and a half per thousand feet, from American coal which costs twenty
dollars a ton. There is no glass in the windows, but a grating of iron
bars keeps out intruders, and heavy wooden shutters shut out the air and
light. Such blinds as are common in North America would be the most
admirable protection, but no one has ever introduced them, and the
people will continue to swelter behind solid shutters until the end of
time.
[Illustration: THE LOWER FLOOR OF THE HOUSE.]
The rooms of houses are not plastered, but the joists are all exposed.
The floors are of tile, and paper is pasted upon the walls, which are of
cement and stone. In the court of every house are the most beautiful
flowers. Tuberoses grow on great trees, and the oleander is as common as
the lilac in New England. The parks look like the botanical gardens of
the North, and in the evening are always thronged with gentlemen and
ladies until a late hour.
Guzman Blanco, the uncrowned king of Venezuela, the man whose authority
is more absolute in this republic than is that of any king in Europe in
his own dominions, is a native of Caracas, where he was born fifty-five
years ago. His father was the private secretary of Bolivar, and at one
time a member of his cabinet. He died only a short time since, and his
funeral was a pageant which was surpassed in the history of the country
only by the demonstration at the removal of Bolivar’s remains. He was
active in the affairs of State almost until his death; now an exile, now
a minister, vibrating between the extremes of power and poverty, as the
party to which he was attached was up or down; and under this confusion,
in the atmosphere of revolution, young Guzman was educated. He added the
name of Blanco--that of his mother--to his baptismal name, to
distinguish him from his father, and became Guzman Blanco; but he is
more often called General Guzman by the people nowadays. When a mere boy
he became a soldier, and had his ups and downs until the year 1874, when
he led a successful revolution against the existing authority and became
President. Since that year several attempts have been made to overturn
him, but none has succeeded, and being a man to win friends as well as
to acquire power, his political strength has grown with years until his
authority is now absolute.
There is, and always will be, a difference in opinion as to his personal
character and motives. That he is vain and imperious is admitted, and
that many of his acts would not be tolerated by such a people as those
who live in the United States cannot be questioned; but, conceding
everything his enemies may say as true, it is nevertheless a fact that
since Guzman Blanco has been ruler over this republic it has prospered
and had peace--something it never had before. There have been varied and
extensive improvements; the people have made rapid strides in progress;
they have been given free schools and released from the bondage of the
Church; the credit of the Government has been improved, its debts
reduced, and the interest to its creditors is for the first time in
history paid promptly, in full and in advance. The moral as well as the
mental and commercial improvement of the people has been the result of
his acts, and as long as he lives their lives and property will be safe.
A man under whose influence such progress has been made can be pardoned
for the delinquencies of which Guzman Blanco is accused; and while his
vanity is amusing, it nevertheless, in the forms it takes, illustrates
the pride he feels in his achievements, and the realization of the
importance of his career in the history of his republic.
Upon the pedestal of one of the five statues he has erected to his own
memory appear the words:
TO THAT ILLUSTRIOUS AMERICAN,
THE PACIFICATOR AND REGENERATOR OF THE UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA,
=GENERAL ANTONIO GUZMAN BLANCO.=
In these words the purpose and ambition of the man appear. To be the
“Pacificator and Regenerator” where Bolivar was the Liberator is worthy
the ambition of any man; and he who will erect a statue of Washington as
the ideal his people should carry in their minds cannot be without a
good motive somewhere in his consciousness. Future historians, when they
look back upon the career of Guzman Blanco, will be more generous than
contemporaneous critics, and will forget that he erected these statues
to himself.
There are three statues to Guzman now standing in Caracas, but nobody
would believe it if the number of tablets erected in his honor were
told. You can scarcely look in any direction without being officially
informed in letters carved in enduring marble that this, that, or the
other thing was done by the order of, or under the administration of,
that illustrious American, etc.
One night all these statues and many of the tablets were pulled down. It
is a curious story, and the United States has what the play-bills call a
contemporaneous human interest in the affair, for the _casus belli_ was
a Boston girl.
Guzman, when he was President, had a nephew of whom he was very fond,
and who was made by him the commander-in-chief of the Venezuelan army.
He was engaged to an American girl, whose parents lived in Caracas then,
but now in Boston. For some reason the girl’s father and the President
had a violent quarrel, and the former was notified that it would be to
his welfare to leave the country. In these Spanish-American countries a
man who values his life never awaits a second invitation of this sort,
and the Boston gentleman, with his family, took the next steamer. They
were accompanied to La Guayra by the young general, who made no secret
of his sympathy with the father of his _fiancée_, and expressed his
views of the President’s tyranny in a very emphatic manner. Guzman sent
for the young man, and advised him to hold his tongue and let the girl
go. The passionate lover gave his uncle some very plain words, which
ended in his being offered a choice between his commission in the army
and his North American sweetheart. He broke his sword over his knees,
threw the severed blade at Guzman’s feet, and tore off his epaulettes.
That night all the statues of Guzman fell down. It was discovered that
the bronze had been sawed where the feet met the pedestals, and a rope
used to tumble them over. Of course the young general was suspected, and
he followed his girl to Boston to escape his uncle’s wrath. The romance
ended in a marriage, as all good love stories do, and after residing in
Boston the couple returned to Caracas, where they now live--she one of
the most attractive and accomplished ladies in the city, and he an
exporter of coffee and chocolate. Guzman has never forgiven him, and
some of his friends think his life is not safe there, but he laughs at
their timidity.
[Illustration: AN OLD PATIO.]
Guzman’s private residence is the finest in Venezuela, and a full-length
portrait of James G. Blaine adorns his parlor. That apartment is very
handsomely decorated and upholstered, the work having been done by
artists imported from Paris; but there is such a vivid brilliancy in the
frescoing, the fabrics, and the furniture that one wishes these tropical
people who have so much money had a little more refinement of taste.
One of the most striking incidents in the career of this extraordinary
man was his defiance of the Pope. To realize its full significance, it
must be understood that Venezuela has always been a Catholic country;
that there was not a Protestant church in the whole country; that Guzman
was himself born and baptized a Catholic, and that under the
Constitution the archbishop was a member of the National Council. Guzman
first suppressed all the monasteries and nunneries of the country, and
confiscated their property, which was converted into houses of useful
education. Then, in 1876, he sent to Congress a message, in which he
said:
“I have taken upon myself the responsibility of declaring the
Church of Venezuela independent of the Roman Episcopate, and ask
that you further order that parish priests shall be elected by the
people, the bishop by the rector of the parish, and the archbishops
by Congress, returning to the uses of the primitive Church founded
by Jesus Christ and His apostles. Such a law will not only resolve
the clerical question, but will be besides a grand example for the
Christian Church of republican America, hindered in her march
towards liberty, order, and progress by the policy, always
retrograde, of the Roman Church, and the civilized world will see
in this act the most characteristic and palpable sign of advance in
the regeneration of Venezuela.
“GUZMAN BLANCO.”
To this the Congress replied:
“Faithful to our duties, faithful to our convictions, and faithful
to the holy dogmas of the religion of Jesus Christ, of that great
Being who conserved the world’s freedom with His blood, we do not
hesitate to emancipate the Church of Venezuela from that Episcopacy
which pretends, as an infallible and omnipotent power, to absorb
from Rome the vitality of a free people, the beliefs of our
consciences, and the noble aspirations and destinies which pertain
to us as component parts of the great human family. Congress offers
to your Excellency and will give you all the aid you seek to
preserve the honor and the right of our nation, and announces now
with patriotic pleasure that it has already begun to elaborate the
law which your Excellency asks it to frame.”
This declaration of independence caused a great sensation in the
Catholic Church, and excommunication was threatened to all who failed in
their allegiance to the Vatican; but neither the Government nor the
people were to be intimidated, and the Pope has since tried diplomatic
measures to restore union with the Mother Church. There has been a
nuncio there for several years, and he resides there still, but is
making no progress.
Macuto is the Newport of Venezuela--the summer, or rather the winter
resort of the wealthy and aristocratic, who find the temperature of
Caracas trying upon their constitutions, and seek sea-air, sea-bathing,
and flirtations under the palms. It is six miles from La Guayra, and is
reached by a tramway, over which a little dummy engine goes shrieking
every half hour, and by a broad boulevard which would furnish as
delightful a drive as that upon the beach at Long Branch were it not for
the dust, which is almost hub-deep, and nearly suffocates one. La
Guayra, as I have stated, has the blissful reputation of being the
hottest place on earth, shut in as it is by mountains on all sides but
the west, and blistering not only in the direct heat but in that
reflected from the rocks, which is a great deal more oppressive--a
pocket which no air except the west wind, the hottest of all, can reach.
But Macuto is around the corner, one might say--around a point of rocks,
and upon a little peninsula that stretches out from the beach, where it
can catch not only all the breezes that ruffle the sea, but the winds
that come from the mountains, down a ravine through which flows a
beautiful stream as cool as one in the Adirondacks.
It was Guzman Blanco, of course, who found out this little settlement of
fishermen, built the seawall to protect the peninsula, made the
boulevard from the city, built the railroad, brought plenty of fresh
water from the mountains, and built bath-houses there; so that the
people of La Guayra can in twelve minutes leave the hottest place on
earth for one where the air is always fresh and cool, where yellow-fever
never comes, and where a good salt-water bath can be had for the sum of
six cents in Venezuela money.
The bathing arrangements are quite odd. The sharks are so numerous that
it is dangerous to bathe in the surf, and nobody cares to have his legs
bitten off; so a semicircular pen of piling has been erected, at
government expense, reaching about a hundred feet into the sea. Through
this piling the surf beats fiercely. The pen is divided in the centre by
a high wall, one side being for the ladies and the other for the
gentlemen. At the shore end is a miniature castle of stone, likewise
divided into two rooms, with a row of benches around the wall, and hooks
over them on which to hang clothes. Everybody bathes _au naturel_;
bathing-dresses are unknown. You pay five cents for a ticket, and ten
cents for a sheet, which is used as drapery and as a towel, and then
undress. The attendant hands you the sheet when you are stripped, and,
concealing your nakedness with that protection, you climb down the stone
stair-way, hang your sheet over the railing, and plunge in. The water is
glorious, warm and salty, so dense that it will almost bear you on the
surface, and deep enough to swim and dive. When you have had enough of
it, you climb up the stairs, seize your sheet and throw it around you,
and sit on the bench until you are dry enough to resume your clothes.
Some of the more modest ladies, or, they say, those who have no charms
to display, wear in the water a sort of night-dress made of towelling,
but the pretty ones wear nothing but smiles--not even a blush.