The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-05
UPPER CRUST in OLD MADRID.
The Duchess Of Alba Is the Mrs. Astor of the Spanish
Capital.

the fairy godmother of the neighbor-
hood. Last summer the poor people of
SOntana gave a midsummer night S
festival on top of q. neighboring noun
tain. The Warehouses climbed the
difficult pathway to the top, entered in
to the spirit of the festival and danced,
with peasant and rustic, the Aragonese
Jota. With ali this, she is still suffi-
GENTLY bigoted to make the annual pill
grimage to Lourdes.
AS for the aristocracy of genius,
apart from the royal family and the
diplomatic corps. there is very little of
it to be found among the prominent
ladies of the capital of Spain. The
queen, who interests herself for every
thing connected with science, litera-
ture, or the arts, lives quietly and in
retirement. and her influence on society
is, therefore, not great Formerly, the
Duchess of Medinaceli maintained a
salon in which the artists and celebri-
ties gathered, and where the Spanish
poet Juan Tenorio Jose Gorilla made
his debut.
In general, ladies of the Spanish ar
istocracy suffer from an education in
the convent which, while it does not
prevent their enjoyment of the worlds
good things, renders the world of
bellies lettres a terra incognita to
them.
Ten or II years ago there came TO
Madrid a lady from Spanish Gallc1a,
Donna Emilia, Countess Pardo Bazan,
and over this she published several ro-
mances and feuilletons. AT first she
was surrounded by a very small but
bright and clever circle, recruited al
most exclusively from the upper mid
die classes. Later she aspired higher
and became the fad" of the period.
Now no evening gathering in the very
uppermost crust of Madrid society is
considered complete at which 1.-The Par
do BaZan' does not appear.
For many years there have been
Monday evening readings in the Ateneo
club: these readings have always been
clever and interesting, but they were.
as rule, exclusively attended by gen
tlemen, few ladies appearing now and
then in the gallery. One day there ap-
peared in the papers the announcement
Next Monday, at the Ateneo. read
ing by Donna Emilia Pardo Bazan."
1t was a revolution. A scramble en-
sued for tickets. Before evening the
issue was exhausted. All Madrid. that
is. all Madrid society, attended the
reading; the crowd was so big, the hum
so palpable, the excitement so great,
that the reading, really very able pa
per. was heard by but a small minority
of those present. 1t made no difference.
Public readings are now the fashion;
the University has set aside several af-
ternoons in each week for public read
ings, and Donna Emilia Pardo Bazan
is the favorite reader. All Madrid So
ciety-ministers of the cabinet, gener-
ais, financiers, members of the cortes,
the foreign ambassadors, with their
wives, attend them.
If Madrid ever becomes literary.
art-loving, misunderstanding city, the
credit will belong to this clever grass
widow. The Countess Emile Pando
Bazan is by no means pretty or attrac-
tive; she is short and corpulent, and
eccentric in dress. She likes light and
glaring colors, and is not particular as
to whether they harmonic or not She
colors her black hair a reddish tint;
but her fine eyes. her high forehead,
and the friendly, clever expression of
her features indicate the mind of the
thinking, the soul of the poet. She edits
a literary-critical periodical, and writes
most of the editorials herself: she is
the leading feuilletonist of the Impair
cial," and seldom passes year with
out the publication of at least one new
novel.