Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-05-30
wAsHwoMEN OF MADRID.
Ten Thousand Who Daily Ply Their Trade
on the Banks of the Manzanares.

Madrid's river of high-sounding
name, the Mazanares Is spatter of
wet from the Guadarrama Mountains
in winter, muddy torrent in spring. Il
sand-blown ditch in the summer. and
hardly a capable sewer at any time of
the year. 1t comes down from the cold.
gray heights to the north of Madrid.
and winds half way around the city
from the northwest to the southeast.
What water flows through it breaks in
sandy shadows, forming innumerable
little islands and curiously bounded
strips of land all accessible by any bare
foot boy or girl.
Ten thousand women soak and splash
and souse and beat the linen of Madrid
within its scant waters every day. Not
an article of clothing is elsewhere
washed. No other than these Mazanares
lavanderas are permitted to labor as
laundresscs; and for three miles up and
down the stream, from opposite the in
fantry and artillery barracks. upon the
heights of Montana del Principe, past
the windows of the Queen Regents
apartments in the royal palace, and
circling around away beyond Toledo
Gate, the moving dots of red and blue,
yellow and gray. comprise this great
army of Amazons, with arms and legs
on them like tree trunks; with voluptu-
Gus breasts and shapely necks;. hard
muscled and bronzed rs Turks;t he most
arduous tolers, the wiekedest black
guards, and withal the sunniest tenn
pered souls in Spain.
There are three grades in this labor.
They are the mistresses, or amas, the
overseers or ayudantas, and the lavan-
dcras themselves. All are women. The
first are the agents who receive the
work from the hotels, great houses. and
the city agencies, in huge lots, and are
responsible for its safe return. The
ayudantas or overscers are really the
forewomen of from a dozen TO score
of lavanderas each; and they are re-
sponsiblc for work placed in their
hands by the amas. At in the morn
ing. winter and summer, the lavanderas
will be seen. many of them with chill
dren trundling beside them, creeping
along from the barrios abajos or lower
quarters of the city toward the Man
zanares. Near the river is an asilo or
asylum, refuge for their children.
BY 6 o'clock you might count from
5000 to 5000 of the strange creatures
at work. The entire sloping. sandy
banks are covered with drying poles.
At this time of the year the water from
the mountains is of icy temperature.
But it seems to make no difference with
their labors. Here and there huge
cauldrons contain boiling water. From
time to time trifle of this is poured in
the little hollow where each one tolls in
the sand and water; but this seems TO
be done more from habit than necessi-
ty. Each lavendera brings her own
huge roll of bread. perhaps bit of
cheese, n elaspknife to prevent undue
liberties from the struggling soldiery
near as well rs to use in cutting bread,
and, just before noon, they breakfast in
huge wooden sheds on salt fish. pota-
toes, and coffee, with measure OF red
wine provided by the anna. duplcat-
ing this meal 1t dinner at in the
afternoon.
They eat like animals, and the mo-
ment their food is disposed of the tinkle
of the guitar is heard. and you or any
kindly disposed passer may dance with
:hem us did, until the thirty minutes
allowed them for food and refresco
have expired. On these occasions every
one dances, girls of Is and women of
So and the scenes along the Manzan-
ares are very picturesque and interest
ing. But when | tell you that one of
these iron-framed wenches must wash
and dry ready for the ''starching,"
which is done by the criadas in the
city,pieces of linen equalling the cleans
ing of seventy sheets, in order to earn
20 cents per day, the poetical sense in
it all is with the interested onlooker
rather than with the drudging lavan-
deras Of the Manzanares. PttS6ur1
Dispatch.