The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-04
THE OBSTINATE SPANIARD.
His Way of Making Mere Facts Fit In
with His Theory of the World.

new 1Ork 0uu.
We'll. I suppose by this time your
friends, the Spanish, will begin. to believe
they really did get the hot end of 1t last
Sunday" said one Long island suburbanite
out on the uncovered part of the bridge.
"Oh, no." said the man who lived in
Spain before he settled in Flatbush mot
WHAT"
Il say. not at all. You don't understand
the Spanish people. / don't understand
up one or two points in the course of a
long experience. Let me tell you story
in Illustration One summer evening when
! was at school in England, not in Spain.
four or five of us boys were watching the
sunset. Presently young Spaniard who
had only recently arrived-and he happened
to be from Havana. too-came and Joined
us. We had just been wondering why the
sun seemed to get so fiat as 1t got near
did seem to fiatten and we all had
different ways of accounting for the phe-
eigner, who understood hardly six words of
English at that time, one of us told him
in French what we were talking about He
nodded and smiled, just to show that he
understood, but he was standing with his
back to the sun and didn't turn around to
look at it,.
ask the Spanish gentleman if he could tell
us why the sun seemed to be swelling out
right and left ike that; Co. Bn t the Spanish
back to the sun. Then we suggested to him
all our different explanations one after an
other. but he dismissed every one of them
of his head. At last when our interpret r
once more demanded of him the Havana
theory OF the thing, he Vouchsafed to say
in French:
+. 1t does not look So because it can
could do could not make that Spaniard turn
around and look at the sun for himself.
" m said the untraveled American,
:" Not particularly said the other. If
1t comes to being mulish | can give other
instances just as strong. Do you know how
they don't light fires under them: that
would make them go too fast--I mean on
sether a lot of stones on the box beside him.
and every now and then, when the mules
get, too slow, he just fires rock at the
leaders head AT least that was what my
driver did. and 1t interested me very much.
for 1t was when l first went to Spain and
everything interested me- So / asked nv
driver why he didn't use a whip. He looked
at me very seriously and said that a Span
ish mule didn't need a whip. / thought he
at the seat beside him and poked at the
wheeler with an alpenstOck / had strapped
up with my waterproof and things Wen. l
had TO stop it and apologize or get out and
fight the driver on that narrow. lonely road
side
Why? Didn't your plan work as we'll as
1T made the mules go all right. but the
driver said It didn't. He said they were not
common mules. but Pyrenean mules of blue
blood and that if l did it again thew would
be insulted and die there rather than haul
us a step further. He himself was very an
CRY and swore between his teeth. and he
fired fresh broadsde of rocks just when
the mules were doing unusually well.
But about the coolest piece of polite OBJ
stinacy ever met in Spain was at a little
country railroad station / was so inconsid-
crate as to ask the station master If he
thought my train would be on time. | ought
to have known that Spanish trains never
are on time, as we understand the term
The answer / got was enough 10 wilt me.
The station master smiled magnanimously,
without doubt sir.l But the schedule time
came and no train. couldn't say any more
to the station master on that subject but
he saw me look at the clock once or twice.