The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-11
BEING GENTLEMAN IN SPAIN.
Government Employ or a Pension
Prizes for which All strive.

Prizes for which All strive.
DR.. Field in New York Evangelist,
How is a higher class so numerous as
that in Spain to be supported? Some may
become officers in the army or navy but
for the larger part there is little hope of
anything eft for gentleman" except to
get some employment under the govern
ment; and to obtain that however hum
Bile the position and petty the pay. is the
ambition of many a man in whose veins
flows the blue blood of the proudest fami-
lies of old Spain.
A Spaniard would rather die than not
keep up appearances. If he aspires TO
position In society," he will try 10 appear
rich, or, at least, independent while in
reality he may be desperately poor. To
this end there are two things which are
more important to him than food aud
drink-a carriage and box at the opera!
To show himself in the Prado al a GER
tain hour of the day. and in the opera
at night, satisfies his ambition. For the
rest, how he lives, nobody knows and no.
body cares. He need not give dinners; In
deed, he may not have dinner TO give,
or even to eat himself When he comes
back from his daily drive, and allghts at
his door, he may retire into the recesses
VI HIS cIdilDeF, ana tneT6 pdFtdke or the
meanest food to satisfy the cravings of
hunger, and nobody be the wiser. The
Spaniards have a convenient proverb that
1.-THE stomach has no wlndows!' What a
man wears on his back is exposed to the
gaze of all men; but what he eats no.
body sees. Or if, indeed, he does not eat
at all, nobody can see that his stomach is
very lean and hungry, when ne muffies
his cloak about him. and salles forth to
ba
nance Some of the stories which were
told to me in Madrid of the petty econo-
mics TO which gentlemen in good society
were reduced. were quite equal to any
thing in the shifts Of Don Quixote.
But the Spanish cavalier is not yet at
the end of his resources or the attainment
of his highest felicity There is one more
prize TO be gained. and his happiness will
be complete; IL is to get a pensIou-a hope
which would be chiIherical in a country
where such rewards were bestowed only
for distinguished public services. But they
do these things differently in Spain. Here
pensions are given for all sorts of SER
vices or for none. The most trifling claim
Is recognized by the assurance of a GER
tain sum from the government. Ii may be
very, very small; but no matter for that
1t is fixed; and so long as il secures the
recipient from absolute want, it is enough
From that moment he will set up as a
gentleman. and not do another stroke of
work to the end of his days.
Thus 1t is that the pension roll of Spain
has become so great. Every new admin
istration that comes in has fresh army
of favorites to be rewarded for devotion
to their political leaders, and the number
swells larger and larger from year to year
All this is a burden which the state has
10 carry, and as 1t takes the labor of two
able-bodied men TO support a third idle
one, the drain upon its resources is enor-
nous.
But what cares the happy pensioner?
For him life's woes are ended, and its joys
are but just begun. Every day he will
spend his morning at the cafe, where he
will sip his coffee, read his journal, and
twirl his cigarette; the afternoon he Will
take his ride or drive Except Sundays,
when he will go to the bull-ring) and the
evening he win spend at the theater or
the opera. When life flows on with this
smooth and even current, in a perpetual
round of amusements, who can wonder
that the Spaniard is perfectly satisfied
with himself and his country? Why should
he not be? Is not his country the greatest
in the WOrldP