The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-07-21

en over to alleged news rom spanish | sources, and it's supply of foreign mat | ter is hardly a stickfull You may read | of affairs in your own country from an angle of vision altogether new to you, and learn of Boston as bordering on I bowling wilderness, San Francisco as | few hours run from New York, and Chicago as inha bited by Indians, bears and buffalos.
 After nightfall the Puerto del Sol as- sumes it's gayest aspect. The immense plaza, brilliant with the electric light, and the gasJets of innumerable shops, has, with the decline of the sun, drawn to itself, as to a focus of political dis cussion and amorous intrigue all the wit, beauty and gallantry of the capi- tai. "Fosforas!" "Ceri Ilos" screams the vender of wax matches. as he offers his tray of decorated boxes containing the tiny tapers which are in such extra ordinary demand in land where eve- rybody smokes. "Cuidado!' (take care) rings out the warning of the mueteer,
 as he urges on his string of mules, per- haps twenty, driven tandem, that-no respecters of persons-oblged even the gold-laced aptaingeneral to retreat on the double quick. The mule string is in turn driven hurriedly aside to permit
 the passage of diligencia, with its six
 caparisoned horses and load of perspir-
 ing travellers peering curiously through
 a whrlwind of dust. Tn addition to the
 common types of the city, the Puerto
 del Sol rarely fails to exhibit represen-
 tatives of every province in the king
 dom; Andalusan majos; Murcians in
 kilt and manto; Maraeatos in trunk
 hose and doublets: Salamancan stu
 dents in sombre black; tonsured all
 deanos of the Balearic Isles; Aragonese,
 Valencians, and even Moors and Ser
 bers from the Spanish colonies of Afri-
 ca. The balconies of the houses are oc-
 cupied by senoras and senoritas, in fes-
 tive apparel and garlanded with roses:
 while through half open doors issue the
 click of castanets and the tinl1le of gui-
 tars, indicative of merry making going
 on within. The cafes with their walls
 of plate glass, their gliding and gor-
 geous frescoes and thousands of mir
 TOTS are crowded to repletion with ani-
 mated crowds. Such a picture does the
 Gate of Sun" present every pleasant
 evening; and at this time of year it's
 lights are seldom extinguished, or its
 promenade deserted until the melancho-
 ly cry of the watchman announces the
 dawn of day. Sun worship could never have originated in Spain. It is often said that the most delightful thing in Spain 1t its blue sky, and the most de- teStable thing Is the sun that causes it. No Spaniard would ever have sold his shadow to the devil, like the German of the story, for such a paltry thing as a purse of gold that never became emp ty; for, much as he likes gold. he loves shade more. All day are the streets de- serted; but no sooner has the sun set than the whole population comes pour ing forth, to enjoy the cooling breezes | and listen to the bands while prome- nadng round and round the plazas. No other city in the world can turn out 1 SO many fine teams of Andalusan | horses, as proud and graceful as their masters and mistresses; and on the | other hand nowhere can you see so | many ignobe mule teams amid such a of artistocratic carriages. Those who set in carriages drawn by mules appear not a bit less vain-glori- )us than those behind the highest step- ping steeds, and doubtless the former consider themselves infinitely higher in
 he social scale than the multitudes lfoot On Sundays and holidays there s such a dense throng of dedestrians md carriages that one progresses but 'lowly--and that Is Just what you want, as there Is so much to see in the way of genuine local color"
 From the eastern side of Puerto del sol--the point where King Alfonso was fred upon by an assassin some years lgo-a street leads straight to another splendid bit of local color in the Plaza )riente. The latter is beautiful little park, with a bronze equestrian statue If Philip " in the center, which is aid to be the most perfect work of it's iind in existence. And 1t ought to be, or three of the greatest geniuses of the ime contributed to form it's faultless proportions. The model, taken rom he kings favorite charger, was ketched by Velasquez and carved by 1ontanes, both unrivalled in the differ mt branches of their art; and it was falileo who suggested that the lower art of the statue be cast solid and the
 pper half hollow, In order to preserve he balance. It was cast in Florence in 620 It is nineteen feet high and 1eighs one hundred and eighty hun- red-weight; yet the horse curvets, sup orted by the hind legs, and the mane nd scarf appear to absolutely float in he air. Round the oval garden, of 'hlch this celebrated statue forms the are scattered fourteen CO., ,ssal statues of kings and queens, in ronze and marble. Nearby, on the fit is the Royal Palace, and on the ght the royal theater. A few rods eyond the latter you come to the pla- l de Isabel Segunda, with it's fragrant arden and queer statue of the Drama snow-white marble. Then there is le Plaza de las Cortes, in front of the panish House of Commons. It's chief traction Is the bronze statue of Mi- r le de Cervantes, the author of Don O uixote. Dressed in the old Spanish f ,stume, the greatest author Spain ever |, 'oduced Is represented as hiding under t1 6 cloak his crippled arm, mutilated at c epanto-a thing which he never did
 life, 1t being the pride of his exist
 ice. Reliefs on the pedestal represent l' e 1nimitable adventures of the Knight of the Sorrowful Counte- $ ance." The considerable cost of this u onument was defrayed out of the s' ula de Cruzada; thus Cervantes, who Il Id fallen into i'll repute among his d