The Dickinson press., 1883-11-24
Description of Bull Fight ana
the Ladies Who Attended 1t.

Description of Bull Fight ana
the Ladies Who Attended 1t.
Charles Dudley Warner gives this hui
morous account in the November Cen
fury ola fashionable bull fghta 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 a woman, even a plain
woman, should be so utterly fascinating
in q mantilla, thrown over a high comb
and falling gracefully over the shoulders,
stepping daintily in high heeled shoes
with pointed toes, and moving her large
fan with just that %nonchalant air so &C.
eurately calculated to wound but not to
hAAAs LII VdO WAOlO do6OuuOly L 6hW
only one or two national Co.'s
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 it is not rather to follow the
fashion, when we see a whole nation
abandon such a charming attire. But
the white mantilla is de riguer for a bull
fight, and every lady wore one. It was
a little odd to see ladies in the open
light offs 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
somewhat the too brilliant display, and
threw over the whole the harmony of
subdued splendor. What superb Span
ish lace, blonde, soft, with a 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 q tone and fineness in
such large mantillas, sweeping from the
head to the train, is scarcely to be found
inthe shops nowadays. These were heir
looms-great grandmother's lace, long
following and growing rich in locked
Cllcoto, WOIA Ouly Oil 6thte OCCdSJOIlS,
and now brought forth to make a bulls
holiday.
We spent a good deal of the waiting
time in scrntinizing the packed seats fol
beautiful women, and, l am sorry to say,
with hardly a reward adequate to our
anxiety. I am not sure how IHch 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 eillades
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 compilations. Perhaps the
beauty of the skin is destroyed by cos
metics, for there was not a lady at the
bull fight who was not highly rouged and
powdered. This gave an %artifciality to
to their appearance en- masse. Beauty
of feature was very rare, and still rarer
was that animation, that stamp of indi.
vidual character, loveliness 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 animpression onthe general mass,
and yet the total effect, wi.h the blonde
lace, the artificial color, the rich toilet
and the agitation Of fans was charming.