Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-22

anu mhEDle Dar0. 1LS hscurlaA Is nug6,
damp, out-of-doors cellar. Its squares, plaz-
as and paseos, the resort of dolorous idlers,
convey a sense of austere solemnity and
loneliness. Its royal picture gallery, admit
ting OF no equal in the world in point of
rare works Of the oldest and greatest mas
tiers, may also with equal justice admit of
no equal In the world as the most made
quate collection of representative schools of
art extant.
SIMPLY REPUGNANT AND BAD.
1t does not possess single cathedral; and
/ you cannot find a church within its enVirons
worthy moments attention by the student
of ecclesiastical art. Its river OF high
sounding name, the Msnzanares, is a spatter
Of wet from the Guadarrama mountains in
winter, muddy torrent in spring, a sand
blown ditch in the summer, and hardly a
capable sewer at any time of the year. Its
people ape the French in dress, attempt En-
| glish manners in the saddle or carriage; and
possess none of the better, and all of the
worst, characteristics and qualities of the
entire nation. Madrid is simply the great
prison house of tottering Spanish royalty;
| the breeding spot of aimless revolution and
| disorder socially the most corrupt of all
| European cities; and, as an abiding place,
c.
the certain beginning and end of lingering
death. !,
All this being true. and immeasurably
more emphatic in the experience than
through the consciousness derived from
reading it in print, my own interest quickly
passed from contemplation OF Madrid as the
royal city of Spain, with nothing truly
Spanish about it, to the study of two lowly
classes, the lavanderas, or washerwomen of
the Manzanares; the Spanish Gipsies of the
| quarter known as the Barrio de las Iniurias
! ' Cambroneras" and to few hours idling
in the Campo Santo, at the lowlv grave OF
Espronceda, the mad poet of Spain"
This dripping thing they call river,
the Manzsnares, 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 acces-
sible by any barefoot boy or girl. Ten
thousand women soak aud 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
MANZAEAREs LAvANDERAs
are permitted to labor as laundresses;
and for three miles up and down the stream,
from opposite the infantry 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 BILE, yellow
and gray, comprise this great army OF ANA
IONS with arms and legs Oh them like tree
trunks; with yoluptuous breasts and shapely
necks; hard-muscled and brunzed as Turks;
the most arduous toilers, the wickedest
blackguards, 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
lavanderas themselves. All are women.
The first are the agents who receive the
work from the hotels, great houses, and the
city agencias, in huge lots, and are respon-
Slble for It's safe return. The ayudantas or
overseers, are really the forewomen of from
dozen to score of lavanderas each; and
they are responsible for work placed in their
hands by the amas. At 8 in the morning,
winter and summer the lavanderas Will be
seen, many of them with children trundling
beside them, creeping along from the bar
rios absjos or lower quarters OF. the city
toward the Manzanares. Near the river is
an asilo or asylum, a refuge for their chill
dren.
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 iov tenn
perature. But it seems to make no differ
ence with their labors. Here and there huge
cauldrons contain boiling water. From
time to time trife 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 necessity. Each Law
sndera brings her own huge roll of bread,
perhaps bit of cheese, claspknife to pre-
vent undue liberties from the struggling
soldiery near, as we'll as to use in cutting
bread; and, just before noon, they breakfast
in huge wooden sheds on salt fish, potatoes
and coffee with measure of red wine pro-
vided by the anna, duplicating this meal as
a dinner, at in the afternoon.
THEY WELCOME THE DANCER.
They eat like animals, and the moment
their food is disposed OF, the tlnkle of the
guitar is heard, and you or any kindly dis
posed pasSer may dance with them, as I did,
until the 30 minutes allowed them for food
and refresco have expired. On these occa-
sions everyone dances, girls of IS and women
of so, and the scenes along Manzanares are
very picturesque and interesting. But
1 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 equaling the
cleansing of 20 sheets, in order to earn %
cents per day, the poetical sense in it all is
with the interested on-looker, rather than
with the drudging lsvanderas of the Man
zanares.
To the southwest of the old city, between
the tine Toledo Bridge and the huge but un-
artistic Toledo Gate, and near the bank Of