Wichita eagle., 1889-08-27
THE GAY CITY OF MADRID,
IMPRESSIONS OF THE LIFE OF THE
SPANISH. CAPITAL.


| SPANISH. CAPITAL.
| Indescribable Gayety and brightness Of the
| ssreets-Peints of Interest Where His
tory was Made-A Glimpse OF Home
and Kitchen.
Spain has the fortune to lie little aside
| from the personally conducted" infested
paths of travel-aSabbathd days journey into
the land of romance. Its history is hung
about with glamour such as nowhere else
conceals the scars of time or the paltry and
sordid movements Of that great disenchanter,
| the present There is probably nowhere else
a people having so great part in the annals
of the world, whose work in the vineyard Of
the nations Is SO entirely done and whose i'm
portance IS so much matter of sentiment.
| Most even of studi0us readers know more
of the life of Spain in the time of the Moors
| or of Columbus than Of today, and to such,
especially now and in Detroit, where there is
an especial interest in that country. some ex-
tracts from translation of the description
Of Madrid, written by Ednondo de Amicis,
will be welcome.
! 1t gives picture of the modern city and its
people, written with the peculiarly light and
vivid touch which distinguishes De Anicis.
and in the appreciative spirit OF genuine
| cosmopolite.
| 'The train stops he says; ~ get out and
| find myself in square full Of carriages in
] the midst Of a noisy crowd; thousand
hands were stretched out toward my Yalise;
a hundred mouths shrieked in my ear. 1t is
an indescribable confusion of porters, hack
men, guards, guides, boys and commissioners
of casas de huespedes- I make way for my
self with my elbows and Jump into an omni-
| bus full of people and away we go. We pass
| through large street, cross a great square.
traverse broad, straight street and arrive at
the Puerta del Sol 1t is stupendous sight.
1t is an immense, semi-circular space, sur
rounded by high buildings, into which open,
| like ten torrents, ten great streets, and from
every street come G continuous noisy wave of
people and carriages, and everything seen
| there is in proportion with the vastness Of the
locality. The sidewalks are as wide as streets
and the cafes as large as squares; the basin
of fountain as large as lake, and on every
| side there is a dense and mobile crowd, q
deafening racket and an indesoribable gayety
and brightness in the features, gestures or
colors which make you feel that neither the
populaco nor the city ara strangers to you,
and which produces in you a desire TO mingle
in the ttI1nult, greet every one and run here
and there rather to recognize persons and
things than to see them for the first time.
II get out at hotel, leave it instantly and
begin roaming about the streets at random.
jump intoa carriage and say to the coach
man 'Vuelar I pass the statue of Murillo,
reascend the streetAlcala, traverse the street
OF the Turk, where Gen. Prim was assassin
ated; cross the square of the Cortes, in
which the statue of Michael Cervantes
stands; emerge on the Plaza Mayor, where
the Inquisition lighted its pyres turn back
and, In front OF the house of Lopez de la
! Vega, come out on the immense square of the
Orient opposite the royal palace, where rises
the equestrian statue of Philip ", in the
! midst Of garden surrounded by forty colos-
sal statues climb again toward the heart OF
the city, crossing other broad streets, gay
squares and cross roads filed with people;
then finally return to the hotel, declaring
that Madrid is grand, gay, rich, populOus
and charming.
SPANISH SAUCES AND GRAVES
Signor de Amicis leaves bis hotel for
case de huegpades, evidently the American
equivalent of q boarding house Of the better
class, which he evidently greatly enjoyed.
He says;
''These guest houses gro nothing moro than
families who furnish board and lodging TO
students, artists and strangers, at different
prices, but always more reasonably than tho
hotels with the inestiulable advantage that
one enjoys o breath of home life therein,
forms friendships and is treated more like
one of the family than like baarder. The
| landlady was good woman i'll the ffties, the
widow of painter who had studied at Rome,
Florence and Naples and had retained
throughout life q grateful and afToctionate
recollection OF Italy. She, too, quite natural
| II evinced lively interest for our coIn -,
and displayed it every day by being present
when / dined, recounting to me the life, death
and exploits of all her relations and friends
as if we're the sole Confidant she had in Ma
drid
"a little good viii sneeded in order to ha-
bituate ones self to certain sauces and gravieS
peculiar to the Spanish kitchen-but l accuS-
| toned myself to them. The French, who in
the matter of cooking arc as difficult to please
as spoiod children, cry ont against it. Du-
mas says he has suffered from hunger in
Spain. They mix things a trife too rIuch,
abuse the use of fat and season too highly,
but really rot enough 10 take away Dumas
appetite They arc masters, among other
things, of sweets. Then comes their pIchero.
a national dish eaten every day by tins Span
iards in every placesand tell the truth when
say that devoured it with voracious en-
joy1nent The pGchero is, III regard to cult
nary art, what an anthology is to literature.
1t is little Of everything and the best.
"a good slice of boiled meat forms the nu-
cleus of the dish around it are the wings of q
fowl, piece of sausage, lard, vegetables and
ham; over it, under it and in all the inter
stices are garbanzos. These are a species of
beam but they are larger, moro tender and
richer in flavor than ours. Such is the ordi-
nary puchero, but every family modifes it
according to its purse; tie poor man is con-
tent with meat and garbanzos; the gentle
man adds TO i. hundred delicious tidbits.
At the bottom it is more OF a dinner than a
dish, and many eat nothing else. Detroit
Free Press.
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