Mid-West Quarterly, The (1913-1918)
Date of this Version
1914
Abstract
The lower classes in Portugal, particularly in the country, are as hard working, sober, peaceable, and well-mannered a people as one could hope to find. They are, however, incredibly ignorant. To me it was a joy and wonder to find in Lisbon that the servants could not tell time by the clock, and that they thought the French tongue was merely an impediment of speech. I twas a temptation never before dreamed of and triumphantly endured, to discover that the washerwoman would accept with childlike faith whatever was offered her because she could not count money. As for reading and writing, they are -to these simple people something like miracles of cleverness.
Comments
Published in THE MID-WEST QUARTERLY Vol. 1, No. 3 (April 1914).