The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1896-11-19
Written for The CoMMoNwEALrH.1
LETTER ABOUT SPAIN.
CRUEL BULL FIGHTS.
Other Notes Of Travel.
XII

Since leaving home about five year
ago I have visited some of the wei
known points of interest in Europ,
fand also travelled along the Africa,
coast of the Mediterranean and int
Asia Minor. went from Genoa tt
Gibraltar and then went up to tn,
Alhambra. I travelled enough in
Spain to seeefor myself that the Moor
lsh civilization has left its impress al
over the country. The ALEXANDRA il
beyond description. The Spaniards
say that Christopher Columbus dis
covered America and Washington Ir
wing discovered the Alhambra. 1 was
shown the room in which Washington
Irving stopped. / saw the progress OF
restoration of the Alhambra which is
going on at government expenses.
That progress is at a. snail's pace. They
will do about as much in one year. as
would be accomplished ln>this country
IN one week.
Turning from the beauty and grand
eur of the Alhambra, with its lace-work
and coloring of red, blue and gold, and
looking towards the Sierra Nevadas
| with orange groves at their feet, 1
went down to the headquarters of the
Gypsies. Spain is the stronghold of
the nomads. AS I came up saw the
King of the Gypsles. He Is swarthy,
lnedium-slzed man, and was gorgeous
~ dressed. He had in his right hand
4 staff, and with this he struck an at
titude and looked as though he was a
man OF some consequence, but all that
he wants is fee. He Is always on the
lookout for strangers and he has his
picture to sell. If there are ten in
party and one of them buys one of his
pictures he will want them all to buy
one and then he will give polite bow
and move aon. AS I went towards the
heart OF the Gypsy quarters it seemed
rs if the earth must have opened and
vomited up beggars, large and small,
men, women and children. They
seized my horses and even jumped into
my carriage. They ran after me with
astonishing speed and endurance, even
childran. 1t did astonish me to see
how they could keep up with my
horses, going very fast and the driver
still whipping them-' The girls and
boys were barefooted and half dressed
The little children from sflve to ten
years old had nothing on them. I was
told that there were some beautiful
girls among the Gypsies and they were
good dancers, but what I really saw
was an ordinary Spanish dance by ug
ly, tat women. There were none of
the beautiful costumes, or beautiful
women which had been promised be-
fore going there. The dancers are
really fat, lazy girls. l paid a fee to
20 in and see the dance, and then they
wanted more money. The dancing
vas nothing extra. / have seen better
at one of our old time country dances.
[ saw the narrow streets of Seville and
walked along the Main street which Is
20 narrow that it Is called the Snake"
The Alcazar attracted my attention
very much, with its story added above
the old structure for the accommoda-
tlon of the King and Queen when they
visited the town. / saw Cordova and
went into the Mosque which has tour
hundred and sixty-seven of the beauti-
fully crowned Moorish columns, of
which there are not two alike.
At Madrid 1 saw several bull-fghts.
I shall never forget that sight. I had
often wondered how bull-fghting
could be a national amusement. The
bull-ring is only 30 by 80 feet and there
are seats all around it, something like
4 show and will seat more than 10000
people. There are where you can see
finely dressed ladies' in their silks and
satlns. Nearly all the fashionable la
dies were smoking cigarettes and we're
in full dress. Bull-fghts have cruel
features, but the real cruelty is not to
the bulls, but to the horses, as far as
could see. I saw, tour bull-fghts and
they all terminated in the same way.
The horses upon which the bull-fight-
ers rode were ripped open by the bulls
every time. Around the ring went
one horse, stepping upon his own en-
trails and on his back was the rider. The
bull gored the horse the second time
and he fell but was not killed.. and as
he Law on the ground the bull attacked
him the third time. The horses are
led in the ring blind-folded. The horns
OF the bulls are sharpened like needles.
After the bull-fghting and the hand
somely dressed crowd was riding away,
I noticed something odd which l have
never seen described i'll print. Here