The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-06-08
OUR FOREIGN LETTER.


could enjoy (0 table d'hote and practise
our lengua Castellana on innocent, un-
suspecting fellow-boarders to the man
ner born. We found one, Gale de Gra-
cia.
In no country of the world does one
realize so fully that good food is sup
piled by the Deity and cooked by the
devil, as in Spainl 1t is scandalous how
much good food is spoiled in the cook
ing
The turkey whose physical condition
has been so much commented upon and
whose ownership has been attributed to
Job, was there baked, stewed, broiled,
fried in olive oil of suspected authentic
ity-butter is an unknown quantity to-
mato omelettes garnished with feathers
boiled bacalao (codfsh) with whiskers
on; and a new dish, rice half boiled $50
that it would crunch under your teeth
like pop-corn), with poached eggs Of
venerable antiquity.
Spain, from Barcelona to Gibraltar, is
one continuous smell of burnt rancid oil.
We did not, fortunately, need to stay
long, or Our fate would have been to be-
come as lean and lantern-jawed as the
Knight of the Sorrowful Figure, Don
Quijote de la Mancha And at table
d'hote they were so polite To the SER
wants: "Hagame listed el favor de pas
arme el bacalao?" Kindly do me the
favor to pass me the cod-hsh).
But as compensation their wines we're
excellent, and the first evening we treat
edall hands to Val de Penas. A Spaniard
ordered in reciprocation aguardiente
(brandy), blend which would strangle
alligator. We thought it was an at
tempt to poison us Cubaphobes.
When the ice is broken the Spaniards
are gay as children, naive and charming.
They served up the Cuban question
hotter than the table d'hote.
The gist Of their argument was: For
the last fifty years Spaniards have resist
ed the autonomy of Cuba. Now that we
have conceded autonomy principally to
conciiate the United States) we close all
doors looking to secession, to independ
dent self-government. We maintain that
the Antilles are not colonies but prov
inces of Spain like the rest of the PENN
sula.
One example of England giving au-
tonomy to colony is no precedent for
Spain.
We want our colonies to be integral
parts of the mother country. We cannot
and will not give them up after having
sacrificed SO many lives and spent so
many millions.
And war between the United States
and Spain? Would there be any profit
totbe United States? Even after the loss
of thousands of dollars, what use would
it be to the Americans. OF course, they
can take Cuba but only after it would
bedevastated-a smoking mass of ruins,
and Spain would continue to wage war
and never make peace!
Would the Americans undertake to
capture Madrid? Would they repeat the
folly of Napoleon I?
But the United States are twelve days
from Spain, for transport ships, and even
if they did succeed in landing troops in
Spain, very few of her soldiers would
ever leave its soil. Spain has her inalien-
able rights, and she purposes to remain
mistress of her own house.
A nation as proud, as generous, as he
roic, will never give up the struggle.
Other countries do not know us, and we
suffer through the ignorance and preju-
dices which have obtained abroad, where
we are judged only by Our estudiantinas,
our bull fights, and our pretty manolas.
From the Cuban question to bull
fighting is big jump, but the tourist
student often has to make bigger.
1t has been said that the public taste
for bull-fghting is dying out in Spain.
| believe the opposite to be the fact!
Among the first things I read in
Madrid was an article about a project to
bringan enormously large and powerful
elephant from the Geological Garden at
Amsterdam, to Madrid, and pit him
against tiger lion, white bear, and
against five bulls.
The town was covered with flaming
posters Of the approaching corrida-six
bulls from the famous ganaderias (pas-
turages) of the lineal descendant of Co.
lumbus (our Chris)
know Of no more magnificent spec
tacle than bull fight. AS to its moral
ity, or its influence on a nation of anna
teurs at this port-that for the moment
will not discuss.
Those who believe that the sport is dy-
ing out should see such crowds as Rem
nyson and | beheld streaming from la
Puerta del Sol, filling the wide avenue,
Gale Alcala, and finding place in the cir
Gus with its room for twelve thousand