The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-06-01

icy, but decide that it is the only way
to end the war.
"Ay! pobres hijos (sons) de Espana"
exclaimed fat, good-natured priest;
that our best boys should be sent down
there to be shot by guerilla "niggers,"
or die of fever. To the reproaches of the
officers of Americas filibustering aid,
pleaded the millions Of pesetas which
the Government has spent in guarding
the coast to prevent these expeditions
and the money and provisions sent by
Americans to the starving concentrates
driven from home by the wicked Weyler.
At the country stations, the typical
troubadour- in abominable old
rags, and with haggard, ferocious faces
-thrum their guitars and sing, then
pass round the hat asking aims, Una
limosina por amor de Dios."
A Spanish priests hat would make a
sensation at any masquerade ball. I'm
agine stiff, black felt hat, at least three
feet across, with the brims turned up at
nle sides, making a projecting roof be-
hind and before. 1t would be difficult to
invent anything more fantastic; the
good-natured priests, however, have dig
ni6ed, tranquil faces, and 60 about as if
their consciences were perfectly easy in
regard to the shape Of their hats and the
attention they secure from strangers.
Our neighbors offered us bread, sar-
dimes, wine, and fruit from their provi-
sions, with the courteous phrase, "Gusta
listed conner (eat conmigo," and, their
polite formalities accomplished, they ate
like ogres and drank out Of something
which looked like bladder. This YES
sel'' they hold with both hands at some
distance from the mouth, and then
squeezing it deftly squirt a stream OF
wine down their throats. Rennyson
tried it and almost choked himself.
We saw at the stations peasants load
ing wine for shipment to Madrid, in
goat-skins which looked like loathsome,
water-soaked, dead animals!
Riding along these dusty, interminable
plains we saw big, sad-eyed oxen draw
ing the tabled cart, the driver asleep in
his mantle; brigandish-looking peasants,
with carabine strung on the saddle, cuch-
lilo (knife) in the belt, sombrero pulled
down over the eyes; long files of dom
keys, half OF the body shaven, loaded
with wine in goat-skins; straw or faggots
strapped fast with thongs; market-places
covered with mules and donkeys pictur-
esquely harnesseda and decorated with tas-
sells, rosettes, ribbons and feathers; and
ferce-looking men dressed like mas
queraders, with navajas (razors) or cuch-
illos conspicuous in their belts.
Shunted at station somewhere in
, CASTLE, waiting for train to pass, we
heard strange, horrible noise, cross
between the filing Of saw, skinning q
live cat, and syren fog-horn! We al
E sprang to the windows. 1t was only ar
ox-cart going by. The driver had prob
ably put the grease in his soup instead
: OF on the complaining axles.
a The train runs through the plains o
4 Aragon, in the valley of the Ebro, which
S we cross at Saragossa; through th'
e great, parched, desert plains, yellow
n sand, and gray rocks of CASTLE, tn,
p scene of some of the exploits of Dor
n Quijote de la Mancha in his self i'm
: posed task Of "redressing wrongs ant
y abuses; several hours are we in sigh
:. of the Guadarrama mountains, through
: Guadalajara to Madrid