The Republican journal., 1900-08-30
makes
U9aR WOmen
- STPONG,
sick WOmef1
WELL.

"AAA II
the general badness of Spanish inns.
Close by is the Plaza Mayor, the great
square which for three hundred years
enjoyed the reputation Of being the
finest i'll Spain. capable of holding
twenty thousand people, where bull
| tights were held for the amusement of
kings. One side is occupied by munici-
pal buildings, the three other sides by
| arcades of arches, on Corinthian col
umns-the whole marvellous sample
| OF Picturesque architecture But its
glory has long since departed. Behind
those splendid arcades are dark, dirty.
poverty-stricken shops, and back of
them are narrow, lll-paved alleys, lined
with tumble-down palaces and swarm
ing with beggars. All day this once
proud Plaza is deserted-except for the
beggars, asleep i'll the sun: but in the
evening the few remaining students
congregate there, staggering up and
down. arm i'll arm, proudly wearing
their ragged cloaks like regal ermine.
putting their ilterminable cigarettes
and shouting their Castilian songs. The
Old fashioned spanish student" asso-
clated i'll the mind with strolling bands
OF musicians, escalades of balconies. and
the roguish exploits 50 charmingly pic
tured III the pages of THE Bachelor of
Salamanca" and Ceryantes Tia Fin
glide, is almost extinct. The ugly black
costumes OF the order are vet worm
but the lockwood fork and spoon. stuck
III the cooked hat, are nowadays only for
ornament and are no longer used to fish
out tldblts from the caldrou OF the CON
vent Kitchen. Since the construction of
lallroaus IN this part of Spain has tles-
troyed the business Of the muleteers
the troops OF rollicking youths that for
merly oyerlan these provinces-clear-
ing the larders OF the ventas and arous
ing the ire of jealous husbands have
entirely disappeared. There is Span
ish proverb which compares a student
without Il guitar to a comet without a
tail and truly, one is as conceivable as
the other III Salamanca. Every student
has more OF less musical ability, and the
performances of the experts would win
applause from the ''end men, of anv
minstrel show. Poor as they are, and
often hungry, his beloved guitar is the
last possession the scholar will part with.
His books go first, his cloak, his coat
but never his music maker until reduced
to the pangs of starvation. The NUM-
cipal authorities of Salamanca have no
jurisdiction over the University, which
has Its own government and courts.
The old-time Beadles, charged with
preserving the peace, have a hard time
of it to keep in order the madcap stu
dents whom another Castilian saving
calls The BedouinS of guitar and dag
ger. 1t is said that the University
declplne is very lax, only a nominal at
tendance at the lectures being expected.
The sole and Indispensable requisite to
graduation is thorough knowledge of
Latin, i'll which the candidate for a de-
gree must be so proficient as to read
and write it with the same facility as he
does his native tongue. The doctors of
the various faculties are distinguished
10y tassels upon their caps-red, blue,
green, yellow OF white, each depart
ment of science having its peculiar
color-and funny it looks to see dried
up, leathery old gentleman stalking
solemnly about, with cap perched rak-
ishly on one side of his bald head. a
gaudy bunch of silk dangling above his
nose.
The University buildings covera great
deal Of ground, but everything about
them indicates the decayed fortunes of
the venerable institution. You enter by
way of the Library, whose facade alone
a triumph of the decorative and herald
ic styles worth an architects visit
to Spain. 1t is of the richest period of
feIulllanu ana Isabella, the creamy
stone having been as wax in the hands
of the artists, who evolved a maze of
scrolls and tracery, amid medallions and
badges innllmerable. The Inscriptions
are i'll Greek-''The Kings to the Uni
versity, and this to the Kings That
dilapidated portion which answers to
'The schools of Oxford begun in the
year 1415, in the romantic age of Juan
III, patron of literature and the trouba-
dour-has gorgeous Picturesque front
and curious COnvocation House. Now
days the students are lodged in private
houses and come up here for their
classes The little square behind it,
surrounded by collegiate buildings, is
much like any other college quad"