The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-06

land and America; they only intensity tht
prevailing reddish brown with restless
/ shadings Of deeper hue. The ugly browf
sheep are tended by shepherd boys-Ol
! rather by shepherd dogs. which do the act
ual work while their lazy masters "loat
and invite their souls, with the aid Of
1 the siesta. the guitar the cigarette, and
( the garlic pudding. Farther up, great
/ Aocks Of goats brows among the cliffs and
along the Drinks Of ravines. where it looks
/ impossible for the tiny hoofs 10 find a
foothold. They are closely followed by
. short skirted shepheTdesses as fearless
! and sure-footed as they: but the girls are
/ shod with hempen soles, which are not
/ slippery like boot leather, and cling bet
! ter than bare toes. A frequent sight is
/ that OF some rascally peasant, whom one
! longs to beat helping himself along the
weary upward trail by holding fast to his
donkeys tail. as the poor little beast al
ways loaded TO the limit Of endurance,
scrambles up the zig-zag sleeps. At liz
teTvals little booths are met, built in re-
cesses Of the cliffs that border the noun
tain pass, like cupboards hewn out Of SOL
ID rock. On a narrow ledge, in nets, hang
oranges, grapes. and garlic. Another Eght.
more frequent and less agreeable, is that
Of wooden crosses. each surrounded by a
some poor travellers murder by banditu.
The scene grows wilder and grander as
you approach the summit. The Sierra Mo-
rena divides the valley of the Guadalquivir
from that Of the Guadiana. The railway
is a fine specimen of engineering English,
I BELIEVED. often climbing along a shelf
Of rock overhanging dizzy precipices,
winding in and out among fantastic cliffs
and cayerns-an ideal lurking place for
knights OF the road. At one point the
trains run through a wild and savage
gorge named Despenaperros-"P the
Dogs Over" Doubtless the singular title
was bestowed in memory of some desper-
ate, but now forgotten, struggle between
Moors and Christians, in days when these
mountains formed a partial barrier be-
tween the two races.
Descending the other side of the Sierra,
we come at last to the desolate plains
Of La Mancha familiar TO the reading
world as the region where Don Quixote
rode the raw boned steed. While confined
in the prison of one of its secluded viii
lagos Miguel de Ceramics Saaevedra, the
greatest literary genius that Spain ever
produced wrote his immortal satire on
the foibles Of a decaying age of chivalry.
Better than guide-b book to this part Of
Spain is a copy Of Don Quixote," which
you may buy in any Spanish shop. Ger
vantes sketched from nature, with art in
tensely realistic. Except in the character
OF the Don himself. which no doubt fitted
those times to perfection, every detail of
the story, written in the last quarter of
the sixteenth century, can be distinctly
traced and verified at the resent day.
Such an accurate pen-artist Of local scenes |
was he, and so little has the country
changed in four hundred years, that you
may easily follow the footprints of "the !
Knight Of the Sorrowful Countenance."
Here is Tobasio, the home OF the never |
to-be-enough-a admired Dulcinea." Yonder |
is the Venta de Quesada.. where the Mad |
Knight received the accolade.
The Lakes OF Ruydera and the Cave OF |
Montesinos are still the same; and SO are |
the muleteers AMI the wineskins. the |
hocks Of sheep tended by shepherds, and |
the wind mills swinging their mighty /
arms as they grind the corn. Just as in /
Cervantes' day. In changing cars at Man !
zanares you have a couple Of hours to |
wait, in the immediate vicinity of Quix- /
0te's most famous exploits. Here is the |
inn where he was knighted. and before its /
door a swineherd. who may be a lineal /
descendant Of the warder of the story, |
still winds his horn. Its old, old well con- |
tinues to afford water TO vagrant mule /
teers, successors to the unfortunate whose 1
head was broken for disturbing the mad |
mans vigil. Upon the edge OF the well is |
a deep indentation. believed to have been /
made by the armor OF Don Quixote. |
The stone must have been softer than it is |
now. or his armor wonderfully hard to |
have been thrown down with such tremen- |
dous violence as to make so plain a mark |
Skeptics may incline to the belief that the
stone has been worn away in the course |
Of centuries by the constant procession
Of animals led up to drink But ii would |
never do to hint such heresy here. All |
Spaniards regard Cervantes' romance as
Holy Writ, to swear by" and the more
ignorant classes believe its every detail |
10 be strictly true.
We find La Mancha almost as wild and
lncultivated today as in Quixote's time. The
-ailway TO Merida lies along a plateau, two
thousand feet above the sea, where towns
ire few and people fewer. The native Man
lhegan wears the same sheepskin suit
which has faithfully served his ancestors
or two or three generations. His home is
mud hovel which a respectable American
mule would refuse 10 enter, and from the
radle to the Campo Santo. his vision is
greeted by the same dull. monotonous
void Of verdure and glazing with
and and nitro. Yet despite his poverty |
md unattractive surroundings, he is one
f the merTiest Of mortals Finding eX-
rene difficulty in keeping his thin body |
nd crsmped soul together, one would
hardly suppose that such a miserable be-
ng would have much opportunity or ca
acity for enjoyment; but happily the
God Lord has gagged to their conditions
be ideas Of races that have always been
cor. a Manchegan family feasts like
ings on a crusty loaf and a handful of
mons; and the head thereof can imagine
% greater additional luxury than to bask,
.alf asleep, all day in the sun. smoking
Cigarettes that cost half cent the pack
ge. The women do the little work that
S done. and the children, enveloped in a
hick coating Of dirt that enables them TO
ispense with clothing, fraternize on chum-
niest terms with the long necked pigs
hat form an important part of each do
nestle establishment. All the inhabitants
# La Mancha, old and young. seem to
,herish a hydrophobic aversion to water
which is indeed a fluid too precious TO be
lsed for lavatory purposes, having to be
brought on donkey back to the villages
rom springs and wells often miles away.
FANNIE b. WARD.