The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1888-11-16
s?Aln.s EAlR DANES
The Ways of Maids and Matrons I'm the
Land Of the Troubadours-

The Ways of Maids and Matrens I'm the
Land Of the Troubadours-
When Spanish woman Is beautiful
she is beyond compare; but this
transoendent beauty, contrary 20 what
travellers would have us believe. Is the
exception rather than the rule In
Spain, and the common type Of woman
kind is not prepossessing, whilst, sad
to say. a Spanish woman's good looks
last but a brief span, and as she puts
ON years she invariably puts on flesh,
whilst long before she arrives at the
age when we in America consider
woman has right TO be both sfair
and fat. . the symmetry of her form Ia
certainly not of the character that an
aesthetic poet would rave about In
| fact. one OF the chief reasons why so
few foreigners marry Spanish women
| Is, / believe. on this account A man
must be very much gone on the
senorita of his choice and be possessed
of a Bayardian loyalty II he does not
desire to escape from the engagement
on seeing his mether-in-law elect Is
is really tax upon any mans chfvalry
and devotion to be suddenly confronted
with mamma and the senoras of the
/ family, and to know that the sylph-
like Venta by his side viii inevitably
become every whit as bulky and nm
wieldy as they.
Chaperoning Is vigorously exercised
in all parts of Spain, a country where
1t is not respectable for a female to go
out alone. Every young woman. even
unto them who are perfectly capable
of taking ca;e of themselves, has her
chaperone when she takes her walks
| abroad.
Argus may have been cute, but In q
trial OF vigilance would, think, be
inclined to put my money ON the Span
ish materfamilias, who not only keeps
her chicks under her wing with q care
equal to that of the most devoted
mother hen, but she can sight posi-
bic poaeher long before he is visible TO
the ordinary eye. But then, in justice,
it should be added that it would not be
safe for any young girl to walk in the
streets unattended, for Spaniards,
although exceedingly punctilious and
/ formal, are not in reality courteous.
and their views in regard to women I'm
general are embraced in cynical Tai
leyrand's three golden rules: L'oppor-
tIHfte, L'opportunite. L'opporfHnfte
Then Spaniard-s everyday language,
even in the presence of his women
| folk, is of the most free-and-easy de-
/ scription.
Spanish women have fewer vices
than those of many other nations.
They are naturally voIuptuous, but
they are scrupulously loyal to those
whom they love, making devoted,
obedient wives, without bothering
/ their heads about woman's rights, or
| any of those questions which vex the
souls of their more masculine-minded
| sisters in this country. They have all
| the curiosity and but little of the in
I tuition common to their sex in European
countries. They have all the Moslem
woman's hatred of physical exercise.
Whilst the majority of the lower classes
can hardly read or write, the educa-
| ton of the middle classes is practical
| Y limited to q grounding IN matters
! appertaining to the rights and usages
If the mother church. Their liter
.ture is almost entirely of q religious
haracter, interleaved with vulgar ac-
counts of the doing of the buII-ring.
3f the works of foreign authors she
znows but little, even by name, whilst
7er acquaintance with those of her
ewn countrymen Is, as rule, confined
. trashy productions of questionable
character Madrid Letter.