The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-08
STREET LIFE OF SEVILLE.
GAY AND VARIED pANORIUA IN
 THE HOME OF CARMEN
And Don Juan-The "Baiber'' of the Opera and George EIiops "spanish
 Gipsy"-Where Nlurillo Lived and


 Gipsy"-Where nlurillo Lived ant Especial Correspondence of the Jour
 nal and Courier)
 Seville, Spain, Feb. 3.-Outside of Spain 1t is hard to think of this old Moorish city except as a place where ii IS always moonlight, where it's inhabi- tants habitually converse in the melodi- ous manner of the operatic stage, and where it's ladies, forever young, spend their lives on Juliet balconies listening to lovers filling the dreamy air of night With the tinkle of guitars; most fin constant moon," of coquetry and mur- der, of signal lights in windows, and gages d'amour fluttering down, and daggers unsheathed, while the Sereno on his rounds yells "All's we'll" to the sleeping city. Notwithstanding the great antiquity of the place, it's wealth and wars and splendid achievements, the world remembers it mainly as the home of those two delightful reprobates, Carmen and Don Juan; also of George Eliot's Spanish Gipsy" the celebrated Barber of Seville" and a hundred oth- CT heroes and heroines of poetry. fiction and the drama. Though distressing changes have taken placei in recent years, such as trolley cars changing past the thousand-year-o palaces, and electric lights illuminating the narrow streets and bringing out in too bold re- lief the Juiiets in their balconies and the crumbling statues of meriaeval Saints, 1t is still eminently grand-opera town. You see the costumes of the stage on every side, and imagine yourself wit messing a never-ending rehearsal. Eve- ny street is a well-set stage scene, from the Gale de Sierpes of the fashionable shops, to the quays where the hustle of commerce is going on, and the Pirates of Penzance may be aboard any of the queer river craft. The men, with slouched hats drawn over their heads, or the peculiar turban-like caps seen nowhere but in Spain, and picturesque scloaks thrown over their shoulders, are the typical stage villains and brigands, or wear the air of Gil Bias, Don Juan or a Trovatore. The barred win dows are those of the stage castle, the Imprisoned ladies look as if just ready to sing their parts, and the gay, short. Bkirted senoritas in the streets are the dancers of the ballet. Indeed, a hand organ man, or a passer-by with any sort of musical instrument, might ex- temporize a ballet in five minutes in any Spanish street.
 Though romance has grown a trifle short of "the garish light of day" he. still walks abroad by moonlight in Se- vile. Look out of the windows at any hour of night
 Hike a throb of the heart of midnight, I hear a guitar lightly humming."
 A song floats up to the waiting maid- en, and rose, fan or billet-deoux drops down to the adorer's feet. But alas! Spanish lovers are not what they user to be. In the beautiful long ago statues had their noses and other fea- lures intact-when Murillo painted and Sancho PanZa rode, and the Barber of Seville pursued his barbarous calling, the loye-lorn Don would plant himself beneath his dulcineas' balcony, dash cloak, guitar and sombrero to the earth and scourge himself with metallic whips. such as penitentes use to-day, until his noble blood gushed forth. An, Spanish liking, fostered on the bull fight. The gentle dove of senorita would clasp her hands in ecstacy and cry 'Esta bueno! It is we'll. Beat yourself more, and more and more. Now love you. Now am yours, and che rattled her window-bars in efforts to get at him. To-day the cruel chain scourges, with leaden tips to their many lashes, are altogether out of fashion, except for holy nuns in the convent do- ing nightly penances; and sometimes modern lovers do their musical wooing by proxy, with hired musicians, con the expense of band as suffi- cient proof of love and homage.
 < By the way, I have tried to locate Figaro, the charming Barber" whose place of business, according to the ope- ra score, was on the plaza Santo To- mas, just back of the Alcazar. There is no striped pole there now, nor any other sign of barber-s shop. The wonder is that no enterprising tonsorial artist of to-day should have bethought himself to turn few extra pennies by locating in the same place. The old saying, Tt is ] waste of father to shave an ass." orig Inated in Spain. There the donkey's backs are shaved in different designs, 5uch as stars and crosses and coats of arms, half-moons, monographs, etc, through a mistaken idea of the beauti- full. Poor burro!-poor indeed from first 10 last. Small, brown and brave, al- ways docile and industrious, and always abused; nothing shows the Spaniards character more clearly than his treat nent of animals. The meek and help ess slave of the family is seldom sta oled and never decently fed. He is anywhere, among the stones or lands, and left shift for himself in the natter of food and drink, his owners gentlest "Get up" being a brutal blow between the eyes. Not least among his woes is this senseless barbering, which 1 g usually done at the blacksmith's by a clipper and is a sight of in- crest to the lazy populace, not one of | whom feels the faintest spark of sym oathy for the wretched victim. The ectly bare, where he most needs it's | protection, both from the burn | ng sun and the galling burden of the | :addle, with it's weight of brass nails { md tufts of gay woolen.
 As for the fair and fickle Carmen, the | 'igarette-girl of the opera, the govern nent tobacco factory o1 Seville, where