Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-11-23
Description Of a. Bull Fight and
the Ladies Who Attended 1T. 4

description OF a. Bull Right and
the Ladies Who Attended 1t.
! Charles Dudley Warner gives this hui
morous account in the November Cen
fury OF "a fashionable bull fight at Seville,
and describes the ladies' in attendance:
The ladies of.Spain, except in some
remote town in~the mountain regions,
have laid aside the national costumes, and
dress according to the dictates of Paris,
preferring even the French fans to their
own decorated with the Incidents of the
bull fight and the serenade. In Seville
the black lace mantilla is still worn at
church, and to some extent on the
street; but the hat is the cover of the
new fashion, more's the pity, and the
high combs have gone altogether. I do
not know why woman, even plain
woman, should be so utterly fascinating
and falling gracefully ever the shoulders,
with pointed toes, and moving her large
fan with just that noncbalant air so &C.
curately calculated TO wound but not to
kill. In the whole assembly I saw
only one or two national cos
tumes-the mantilla and the high comb,
with the short petticoat, brilliant in
color. Nothing could be more becoming,
and it makes one doubt whether WO-
mans strongest desire is to please, and
whether tits not rather to follow the
fashion, when we see q whole patton
abandon such charming attire. But
the white mantilla is de riguer for bull
fight, and every lady wore one: It was
little cdd to see, ladies in the open
light of a brilliant, cloudless day, and in
the gaze OF public, in full-as it is called
costume of the ball room; but the
creamery white mantillas softened
somewha the too brilliant display, and
threw over the whole the harmony OF
subdued splendor. What superb Span
ish lace, blonde, soft, with silken lus-
ter, falling in lovely folds that show its
generous and exQuisitely wrought fig
ures, each leaf and stem and flower the
creation of dainty fingers! Such work
as this, of such a tone and ineness in
such large mantillas, sweeping from the
head to the train, is scarcely to be found
in the shops nowadays. These were heir
looms-great grand lace, long
yellowing and growing rich in locked
chests, worn only on state occasions,
and now brought forth to make BULBS
holiday.
We spent good deal of the waiting
time in scrntinizing the packed seats for
beautiful women, and, I am sorry to say,
with hardly g reward adequate to our
anxiety. I am not sure how mach of
the beauty ofthe women of Seville is
traditional. They have good points.
Graceful figures are not uncommon, and
fine teeth and dark, liquid, large eyes,
which they use perpetually in aillades
destructive to peace and security. And
the fan, the most deadly weapon of CO.
Quetry, gives the coup de grace to those
whom the eyes have wounded. But the
Seville women have usually sallow, pas
ty dead complexions. Perhaps the
beauty Of the skin is destroyed by cos
metics, for there was not lady at the
bull fight who YVES not highly rouged and
powdered. This gave an artiticiality to
to their appearance en- masse. Beauty
Of feature was very rare, and still rarer
was that animation, that stamp of indi-
vidual character, loneliness in the play
Of expression, and sprightliness, that
charm in any assembly of American
women. No, the handsome woman in
the ring were not numerous enough to
make an impression on the general mass,
and yet the total effect, with the blonde
lace, the artificial color, the rich toilet
and the agitation OF fans was charming.