to the inevitable, and think of that expressive SpanishAmerican saying, "Paciencia, pulgas, que la noche es larga!" "Patience, fleas, for the night is long!"

As I have already said, Nicaraguan clubs cannot be held to possess any great attraction for local masculine society. The average club consists, as a rule, of a couple of long rooms, tenanted by two or three cardtables, rows of rocking-chairs, an indifferent piano and a worse billiard-table, a bar, and frequently a flat roof, used in the cool of the evening as a smoking lounge, completing the establishment. With regard to club life, I would merely remark that here indeed you will find the veritable embodiment of the sameness, insouciance, and indifference invariably displayed by the Spanish-American.

And now a few remarks on other phases of Nicaraguan life and customs. Enter the narrow street, gaze around on massive wall and tiled roof, lofty portal and grating of rusty iron, with the hush of old-time stillness over all. Pass out along the narrow pathway of sunscorched pavement, by the open-doored shops and stores, denoted always by some specific name, high-sounding and pretentious, such as "The Pearl," "Precious Things," "The Emerald," " Elegance," and take a glimpse at the interior of the private houses with their paneless, ironbarred windows, so suggestive of either the convent or the jail. Stout wooden shutters inside, generally closed from nine o'clock in the morning until the afternoon, keep out the heat and dust, the latter for two-thirds of the year being a source of great annoyance. Through open windows the same picture of family life presents

the

itself as it has done for ages past, as it will do for years to come. A bare room with little attempt at adornment, and less sign of comfort; two rows of rocking-chairs fronting one another, tenanted by the listless inmates, the male sex ranged on one side, the ladies on the other, this rule of the division of the sexes being strictly observed. The sole exception, somewhat rarely made, is in the case of the accepted suitor, who has the privilege of occupying a chair at the side of his sweetheart.

The idleness of the ladies, who are sadly uneducated and ill-informed, is something stupendous, the only work patronized being some piece of trivial embroidery, a marked contrast, be it noted, to their Indian sisters, who are hard-working and correspondingly strong. And here from hour to hour they sit and rock, -the "Rock of Ages," I have heard it called,—a marvellous phase of sociability, strictly Spanish-American. A curious home-life indeed, that seems to have but one object, and that the killing of time, which soul-stirring occupation is pursued with a minimum of domestic effort. Family diversions are very limited, consisting of a little piano-playing, a great deal of church-going, an occasional tertulia (evening party), or dance, and last, but no means least, the bi-weekly paseo in the plaza, where they participate in what appears to the uninitiated a very banal business, the evening parade of local society, including the upper ten, the alta sociedad. Sometimes they go to the theatre, the families in the boxes, the young men in the stalls, always the division of the sexes as far as

possible, carrying out rigidly the wonderful SpanishAmerican maxim, that if two of the opposite sex be left together, some harm is sure to follow.

The ways of love-making deserve some passing notice. Strictly speaking, in accordance with the unwritten laws of Spanish Central America, the lover is absolutely for

bidden to enter the house of his inamorata, and, even when, prior to his amatory inclination becoming evident, he be an intimate of the family, all friendship ceases the moment it is known that he is "haciendo el oso," "playing the bear," as they say, to one of the young ladies. Seeing that the unfortunate Romeo has to carry on his courtship in the most stealthy manner possible, the only

opportunity of speaking with his lady-love being through the reja of the window, where he is to be found night after night haunting the iron railings with a pertinacity that would do credit to a Yankee commercial traveller, the phrase seems somewhat of a misnomer; he certainly never gets a chance of hugging. The enmity provoked in the bosoms of the young lady's family is really remarkable. He is cut by all of them, and must ever be on guard against the sudden appearance of his probable future relations on the scene of his amorous dalliance. Such, then, are the pains and penalties of daring to fall in love, and under the circumstances the lover ought to be a very unhappy man, but I do not know that he is. Questioned on the subject, he will tell you that their methods of courtship, with the thrilling excitement to be found in stolen interviews, accomplished only by unceasing intrigue, are infinitely preferable to the tame Anglo-American custom, and that he fails to see any attraction in being allowed to accompany one's sweetheart when she takes her walks abroad or in being constantly in her company. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule of courtship among the more advanced section of society, when the lover is allowed not only to enter the house but to take his seat at the side of the young lady; everything he has to say, however, must be spoken in presence of members of the family, or at any rate of the duenna, who never for a moment leaves him alone, and under no circumstances allows herself to be caught napping. Notwithstanding all this excessive vigilance, the standard of morality is by no means high, as indeed

might be expected from the training given to men and women (but especially the convent education of the latter), and from the indolent life invariably led.

No lady receives a gentleman's visit alone, unless it be that of one of the priests, who, by the way, are generally reported not to neglect their opportunities. The privi

leges and power of the priesthood are, however, fast on the decline, and the more intelligent section of society is gradually emancipating itself from at least the worst features of their national religion. The men of the upper classes are never seen at service, and seldom enter a church, except on the occasion of a funeral or some ceremony, but the women of all classes attend morning