Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-05-14
ANpoRRAN CUSTOMS.
Law-Maklng in the sleepy Little Republic
s of tho Pvrenees.

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When the air is clear Of revolution
aAlndorra is ahappy valley indeed. There
are no written laws; every man is bound
by his honorTa truly Spanish arrange
sment. Serious crimes are practically
unknown, and during the past hundred
years only one criminal has been push.
GLOVER the preeipice on the Catalonian
border-that being tho Andorran form
otNcapital punishment. Education is
gratuitous; lawyers are unknown, and
no mans land is mortgaged. This little
territory is the paradise of the law Of
primogenitnre, for many properties
have belonged to the ancestors Of their
present owners for eight hundred years.
Beyond Magma Charta and the records
5of births, marriages and deaths, the
state archives + exceedingly meager;
for in . land where the
pledge Of honor has been
observed with such scrupulous nicety
there is little necessity for wasting time
by putting things in the bond. The Gen
erals Council meets in the acity's Of An.
dora every Sunday and holiday. Tho
sessions are held in the "DomIs Com
sill. sedus justitia, a very ancient
piece of architecture. adorned with the
sovereign arms of the republic. This
andSthe old church near by are the only
two buildings Of interest in the country.
Ameetingg Of the council is a most pic
turesque sight. The members arrive
withsthe utmost p%unctuality, and are all
arrayed alike in gray knee-breeches, rcd
WOODEN waistcoats, light blue stockings,
shoes with silver buckles, black silk ora
watts, and cockedhats Over all wear
bong black mantles lined with
crimson. The captain mag
istrates'' are arrayed, like
Ham-et, in black velvet; and, in virtue
of their position as judges and COM
manders Of the forces, they alone of all
subjects Of the republic wear swords.
Nearly every decision is arrived at
unanimously, andsthe debates, If report
ed at SO much per folio, would not keep
a shorthand writer in pencils and note-
books. The Domus Consilii is At once
Legislative chamber, town hall, prison,
school and hotel, for it contains q large
dormitory, in which councillors from i
distance sleep when stress of weather
prevents their immediate return home
The average Andorran toilet is q. much
less brilliant affair than! that OF members
of the council. Spanish ideas Of clean
illness prevail, and it is not
usual-except among the half
dozen noble families-to sleep in
sheets. Indeed, save on state oc-
c~asions, when he brings out his finery,
the citizen of the Andorran republic is q
somewhat sordid person. When there
lis a great function, however, he consid-
ers it due to himself that he should make
a brave show, The Andorrans are said
to be very hospitable, but they are snf-
ficiently unsophisticatedft to be suspicious
of tourists, whose ways are dark and
mysterious to them. Andorra is pre-
sumably the only civilized State in the
world without a newspaper. Il offers q
peculiarly promising field to enterpris-
ing Journalists who can write Spanish,
for, although firearms are almost too
plentiful, there is not a marksman in
the republic who can hit a COW standing
at a couple Of hundred CHI
cage Times.