The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-04-26
Street Scenes I'm Madrid.

The Madrilenos offer not . hat, but
rather an extremely round, contradic-
tion to the general and accepted idea Of
the national appearance. Slenderness
Is the exception with them. Their city
Is forced flower in the midst of noun
tain lands, and the men themselves
rejoice in q rotund and puffy look Of
success, which also partakes Of the hot
house character. They are people Of
leisure, and, after their manner, OF
pleasure. How they swarm In the cafes,
In the Gate OF the Sun-where they keep
mp the Moorish custom OF calling walters
by two claps Of the hands-or on the
one great thoroughfare, Cslle de Alcala,
or in the bnll-ring Of q. -Sundayi They
are never at rost, yet never altogether
active. They never sleep, or II they do,
others take their places IN the public
resorts. The clanior Of the streets, and
even the snarling cty of the newsvend-
ers1"La Corresp1ndeneiG, or "EI
Democrdta-a''--is kept mp until the
small hours; and At five or six the rest
less stir begins gain with the silver
tinkhng of feet m . bells.s There are
no night-howling wstchmen in Madrid,
but the custom of street-hawking Is
rampant in Spain; and here, in addition
to the newsman, we have the wall of the
water-criers ministering to an unquench-
able popular thirst, the lottery-ticket
sellers, the wax-m tsch peddlers, and .
dozen others. The favorite bird of the
country is q kind of lark called diosdro,
much hung in cages outside the win-
dows, whence they utter-with that
monotonous recurrence which seems Q
fixed principle Of all things Spahish-a
hard, piercing triple note impossible TO
ignore. This loud, persistent sstwit,
twit-twit, +" resembling ct . distance the
click OF castanets, begins with daybreak,
and gives most discouraging notion of
the Spanish musical ear.
OF course there b home life and there
10 family affection In Madrid, but the
stranger naturally does not see q great
deal Of these; and then It may be doubt
ed whether they really exist 10 the same
extent as in most other civilized capi-
tails. 1t becomes wearisome to make
sallies upon the town and day after
| day find so much of the population try
ing to divert itself or killing time in the
cafes snd clubs. The feeling deepens
that they resort to these for want Of 8
sufficiently close interest In their homes.
More than that, they do not seem really
TO be amused. Even their Language
| fails to express the amusement idea; the
most that anything can be for them, in
the vernacular, is entertaining. Still
the choice of light diversion is varied
enough. ..Opsrs hourishes in winter, in
spring and summer the bull fight; thea
ters are always in blast; !; .cocking- mains
are kept up Hitherto gambling has
been another pastime, until checked by
the authorities. Not content with all
this, the Madrilenos seek in lottery shops
that excitement which Americans derive
from, drinking-saloons. The brightly
lighted lottery agency occurs as fre-
quently rs that other indication of dis
ease, the apothecary's window, in Amer
Jean cities. People Of all classes hover
about them both by day and by night.
Posters confront you with announce
ments of the Child Jesus Lottery, the
lottery to aid the Asylum of Our Lady
| of the Assumption, or the National,
which is drawn thrice q month, with a
chief prize of thirty-two thousand dol
lars, and some four hundred other pre-
miums.' There are many small draw
ings beside constantly going on; not a
| day passes, in fact, without your being
solicited by wandering dealers in these
alluring chances at least half q dozen
times.-George p. LGthrop, is Harper's
Magazine.