The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-31

search for them; like sins, they will l speedily find you out! The peculiar
 wit of the Spaniard, as well as his indo- Ience is shown in the military names he has bestowed upon his abounding vermin, while taking no pains to ,erad- icate them. Those belonging to the
 genus PediCubus he calls infantry; fleas,
 cavalry, and the humble but industri-
 ous laborer in the human vineyard,
 known in the far west as "B fia,' is
 classes as artillery. Mosquitoes are ap-
 propriately styled trumpeters; reaches,
 drummer boys; and so on to the end of
 the chapter.
 I am told by Americans who have
 made the Spanish tour, that in every
 city where considerable time is to be
 spent, it is far better to eschew hotels
 and seek some casa de buespedes-a
 sort of boarding house, equivalent to the
 French pension. There are several of
 them in Toledo, the best kept by two
 elderly senoritas. in a narrow street near the cathedral Wherever you To-
 cate, sleep is almost out of the question,
 except during the middle of the day
 when man and beasts are taking their
 siesta. These narrow alleys, within
 high blank walls, carry sound like
 trumpet. Not only the serenos, yelling
 the hours and the state of the weather,
 make night hideous, and people return
 ing late from club or opera, pounding
 upon their doors to awake the sleeping
 mebe, or calling the policeman with his
 duplicate keys-but ordinary conversa-
 tion has the effect of shouting and the passage of q mule sounds like the tramp
 of an army.
 Setting out from Fonda Imperial to
 "do' the town, you find yourself at once
 in the old Moorish Plaza de Zocodover-
 suk in Arabic, zoco in Spanish, soke in
 English, signifying market place.
 Readers of Servants, and Lazarillo de Formes, will recall this zocodover as the
 haunt of rosues and these proud but poor Don Whiswerandos who swaggered and starved with their capas y espadas
 For years it was the site of national
 sports of fire and blood, the auto de fe
 and the bull fight. Now 1t is favor
 ite promenade and the general lounging place of idlers, including many haugh- ty and hungry Don, wrapped in his pie turesque capa, with his sword in Toledo fo rthey meet you at every turn-quaint old houses, picturesque groups of build ings. hooks and corners crammed with historical and traditional interest, the marks of Romans, Goths, Saracens, and Christians who have in turn reigned in these lordly towers and eft memen- toes of their occupation. Before com ing to Spain you read much of the wonders of Toledo, and perhaps agreed with the writers that the old city ought still to be- as formerly, the capital of the country. Once on the spot, you find It's objects of interest more numerous and wonderful than imagination had pictured; but at the same time, you probably decide in mind that place so inaccessible, so medieval, so hopelessly out of touch with the life and spirit of the age is not fitted for Nineteenth l century seat of government. even inl slow going Spain. Everything shows the extreme age of the city, and the im- pression 1t creates of sadness and solem- nifty intensfies as time goes on. ..ever was a town more beautifully situated than this Grown of Spain" upon it's granite peaks eighteen hundred feet | above the encircling Tagus-the tawny 1 river, that bursts like a wild thing | through the nearby mountain gorge and l foams at it's feet. Some unknown writ CT says: "Toledo has the color, the | roughness, the naughty poverty of the | sierra on which 1t is built It is less a | town-a noisy affair yielding to the | commodities of life--than a significant | spot for the soul. Secret and inflexible, | with it's vast cathedral spining skyward, 1 it's alcazaras and palaces with their | hidden mysterious patios, it appears in this harsh, overloaded land, like an | image of exaltation in soliture--a cry in the desert"
 Tourists come to gaze upon the dead city as they visit the sphinx antiquari- ans, prowl among it's ancient monu- ments and shrines poets and painters find here rich material fo rtheir art. an dthe builder suggestion for his mod ern designs, Though there is so much to attends it's former glory you feel that infinitely more has vanished under the hand of the spoiler-that nothing ever was, or ever could be young in this skeleton city, "where the voice of the Goth echoes amid Roman ruins, and the steps of the Christian tread on the heels of the Moor" The place abounds with noble examples of Saracen archi- lecture, for the reason that few of it's ruins have been "restored"-heaven save the mark.--or disfigured by white wash. Turn where you will, the eye is delighted by ornate facades, carved sateways, quaint windows with balco- nies and cross bars, soft tinted azuelas an dthe horseshoe arch with It's beau- tiful curve; and upon all is the mellow hue of Withered pomegranite Time was when Toledo's one hundred and eleven churches, including the magnifi- cent cathedral, were crowded with wor-