The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-11-20

cult to the bounty of nature.
The Indian Mt Home.
Somewhere in this field he usually has
his little jacal-the same kind of rude hut
which his fathers inhabited before the dis
eovery OF America. 1t is built of small tree
trunks, or canes, set upright in the ground.
with floor of earth and roof of straw. The
interior is also much the same. There is a
fireplace of the most primitive construc
tlon, near which are the stones for crush
Ing corn and cooking tortillas. His dishes,
cups, platters, and vessels, are gourds or
cocoanut shells; his only light by night is
that of pine torch or stick His bed is a
pile OF canes, or slight elevation Of the
floor of hardened earth; and upon this
wretched sleeping place the whole family
throws itself promiscuously, with no mattress
nor other covering than the clothes they wear
py day. Having lived thus from time i'm
memorial, 1t is hardly to be expected that
b creature SO densely ignorant and entirely
without ambition or aspiration will be muck
benented by che new system of educatiors
from which SO much Is honed in Guatemala
Remembering that these people compose
fully two-thirds of the population, and that
they positively will not work unless COM
PEELED to, we cease to wonder that the coun-
try is confronted with q serious labor Quea-
ton.
Acting upon a hint from the President
huAI Cuc u1PpOOIOuc Is GIG u Tue pet luSLlIU-
ions OF the government, we boarded tram
car at his door and went out to see it. Or.
rather. we went part way by tram car, for
although rails had been laid to the gates OF
the hippodrome, three miles or more from the
Plaza d'Armas, the cars 10 not run on them
beyond the city limits, except when races are
In progress. You can walk the last half mile
on broad, unpaved avenue, lined with great
trees that meet and arch overhead. On either
side extensive meadows slope to the foot
hills, and the view of the volcanoes is very
hne The hippodrome is simply half-mile
racing track, now grass-groNn and used only
for running races 1t was laid out by the
elder Barr1os who also planned its circular
music pavilion, and the grand stand, fur
n1shed with restaurant and barluom. Around
It's edges are several curious two-s stored
houses, with wide piazzas running around
their upper floors The:e were a private
enterprise of Barrios, who built them for
rent, as lookouts, on race days.
The Bull Ring.
At the opposite end sf the city, near the
railway station, is another and more fayorite
attraction, the plaza DE- torros, or bull ring.
It is d good-sized circle Of plastered brick,
the outside stucco colored strawberry pink
Bull fights are given here on Sunday after
Moons and fiesta days, whenever the necessary
p1cadores, matadores, and chulas come along:
and now and then an amateur performance is
AAvoAA ~ SAo 6AAuCu yOoLu lOf sweet CQaElLy
sake, as We give charity balls. At least once
year there Is regular season." of several
weeks duration, when some second-class
company comes over from Spain or Cuba for
the purpose The arena is after the same
model as the old Greek and Roman amphi-
theaters, for the Spanlard inherited this spe-
cies of barbarism from his Roman ancestors,
the bull fight being the only survival of the
gladiatorial combats. The ring is capable of
seating 1000 people, and is always crowded,
we are told, during function" The walls
are about fifteen feet hgn, appropriately
painted blood-red inside, and decked with
bags. The seats are raised, as in a circus, tha
topmost circle being rooted and sheltered from.
the sun, and for these double price is charged.
inside this ring Of seats, the place of combat,
open to the sky, Is Enclosed by moderately
high fence, in front of which are wooden
guards, behind which the fighters can dodge
for safety when holly pursued by the bulls
Four or five bulls are usually slaughtered at
one performance, and several poor old horses
killed by being forced, blindfclded, upon tho
horns of the enraged animals, before the pop
ular thirst for gore is appeased; but seldom,
far too seldom, 1t seems to me, is man In
jured. AS to the moral effects on any nation
Of such an institution, it Is unnecessary to
speak, The fact that not only the ignorant
classes, but that gentlemen, ladies, and little
children, actually enjoy seeing noble animals
goaded, tortured, and finally killed, merely
for so-cagled sport, speaks volumes In re-
gard to Spanish character.
FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD.