Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1886-01-30

IN NnlssenSant Place fD NAyr In During kh9
WInter.
The first thought thai i stranger gives
to Madrid on his arrival Is inspired by
tlie climate. writes Il correspondents of
tire San Francisco Chronicle. Ii. i pncaa-
liar. There is nothing exactly Ike IL
elsewhere in the world 70 ono who
has spent half n seorc Of years in SAN
Francisco and u year in tho tropics.
Egypt, Algiers, and Italy. II il indescrib-
ablytayingS layehad some Iittlecx-
perience in climates. have felt the
fogs and mists that creep in the winter
over the delta in Tonquin: have had d
touch of the autumn winds that come.
down from the Alps and the plains Of
LOnbardy; sliiyercd under tho October
lsliStFal 1t MarseilIes. crown nervous in
the nnrthers If California, and been
pierced to the bono by the penetrating
airs that harrow thc soul Of the traveller
in winter ON tho lower Mississippi. All
these winds are possessed of certain
individuality, and, though they never
send the thermometer down into the
neighborhood of the bulb, they 90
through and through the body like an
lev blade. But one and MI If these
winds are less cold, less characteristic
than the biting airs Of Madrid, which,
whether in rest or in motion, whether
they can sweep down ON this lofty pla-
teal, from the north, south. east. or
west, freeze the marrow and shake You
ike the agsic without congealing the
blood. You might feel them less ii pre-
parations were made To resist them, as
in the climates where the winters are 80
decided that tlsey have no doubt regard
ing their meaning. But serious pro-
visions for winter are made nowhere
in Spain. In the south Of the peninsula.
in lien of good. honest. sensible stoves
or fireplaces. there ARE furnaces fed with
charcoal not unlike those used I'M Japan
and China, around which families
gather when the temperature is. Il little
below the ordinary, and over which So
cial parties, assembled for an evenings
pleasure, bend and hover with hats and
cloaks on. In Madrid there are also the
brazierS, but preparations are somewhat
more elaborate, though not in propoT-
ton to the increased severity of the cli-
mate, where rigors are usually attribut-
eel TO the Guadarrama range Of nlouE-
tains, Il short distance to- the northwarsl.
But the Guadarrama is connected by
spurs with the Pyrcnees, and the chill il
i concentration Of the low temperatures
Of all imaginable upper regions, includ-
ing the C;tvennes. the Alps, the cold
northern seas, with something polar
thrown in gratuitously. You think it
ought to freeze, but it does not freeze.
You are III momentary expectation that
1t will snow, hut il does not snow. You
wake in the morning expecting to find
the water frozen in your pitcher, but
that special act Of congeaIation has not
occurred, though your suilerings are
greater than in the region where such
Il result comes nightly. As you shiver
and shake in your bedchanaber, SO YOU
shiyer and shake all over your hotel, In
the rorridors, in the reatling-roUm, in.
the dining-room. Fslel isdear anil ccpno-
inized. There are braziers on the land
ings and gas stoves in the dining-room
which difiilse their feeble warmth only
Mt dinEer-timc. In the streets everybody
appears to lie in Il state Of red-nosed dis
comfort. The whole male population
r9lshes about wrapped in cloaks. the
cavalier being impossible without this
loose, ilappiiig. beIlying garment Of tra-
dition, like a great jail delivery of
heavy Williams bent on mischief, though
assembling for the moment. The right
side Of the cloak is thrown round over
the left shoulder and brought up over.
thc nose. aud over this barrier Of new
aud richly lined or faded and fraged
broadcloth the men glare at one another
as If each held everyone be meets re-
sponsiblc for his climatic sutlcrings. No
one can blame amiablc Alfonso for huy-
ing s,lccnn,hcd to il climate 20 alb
normal, 80 slctestable, which. by i Curl
GUS atmospheric clectism has contriycd
to unite ali fhc bad qualities Of ali tho
bad winter climate of the world.
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