PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF RIO DE JANEIRO. 481 



advantages of education, there is something in their home- 

 life so restricted, so shut out from natural contact with ex 

 ternal influences, that this in itself tends to cripple their 

 development. Their amusements are as meagre and scanty 

 as their means of instruction. 



In writing these things I but echo the thought of many 

 intelligent Brazilians, who lament a social evil which they 

 do not well know how to reform. If among our Brazilian 

 friends there are some who, familiar with the more pro 

 gressive aspect of life in Rio de Janeiro, question the 

 accuracy of my statements, I can only say that they do 

 not know the condition of society in the northern cities 

 and provinces. Among my own sex, I have never seen 

 such sad lives as became known to mo there, lives de 

 prived of healthy, invigorating happiness, and intolerably 

 monotonous, a negative suffering, having its source, it is 

 true, in the absence of enjoyment rather than in the pres 

 ence of positive evils, but all the more to be deplored be 

 cause so stagnant and inactive. 



Behind all defects in methods of instruction, there lies a 

 fault jpf ^domestic education, to be lamented throughout 

 Brazil. This is the constant association with black ser 

 vants, and, worse still, with negro children, of whom there 

 are usually a number in every house. Whether the low 

 and vicious habits of the negroes are the result of slavery 

 or not, they cannot be denied ; and it is singular to see 

 persons, otherwise careful and conscientious about their 

 children, allowing them to live in the constant companion 

 ship of their blacks, waited upon by the older ones, play 

 ing all day with the younger ones. It shows how blind we 

 may become, by custom, to the most palpable dangers. A 

 stranger observes at once the evil results of this contact 



21 EE 



