The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-28
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| enforce It, he arranged for him to go
to Sarrio with 1t and settle down
] there. He was to take few compost
tors with him, who were to teach the
trade to some of the lads in the town.
and he was to be furnished with all
necessary materials Tor the establish
| ment Of printing office. Felgueras,
! the ruined printer, was thus to be the
director End master of the concern,
| and his salary was to be drawn from
the Journal and according to our
calculations this proved to be twice
as much as what is given by the best
printing Offices in Madrid. However,
it is not much if we cons ider the merit
Of the machine and the deep love pro-
fcssed for it by the owner.
The title of the newspaper was one
of the points in which the inventive,
superior mind of Don Rosendo par
ticularly distinguished itself. 1t was
called The Light of Sarrio. name
extremely impressive and well-sound-
ing and moreover testifying to its
mission. which its founder wished to
be that Of enlightening and Identifying
tho town of Sdrrio. He secretly or
dered from Madrid an engraving for
the head of the paper, and on its ar
rival a few days later II caus d rap
turoUs delight among the sharehold-
ers and all those who had the good
fortune to see IL. 1t represented sea-
HbIl. IKE odlIlts III NHt n nuns VI
the night-to judge by the black hue of
the sky and sea on the left lowered
the heights of an ideal mountain, upon
which was seen man, bearing dis
tant resemblance to Don ROSendo,
turning the rays of an enormous Ian
tern upon the town: round about him
were the heads of several people, and
the shareholders believed in good faith
that they represented themselves, and
so they felt deeply indebted to the de-
signer."
If anybody can doubt. after reading
this, that there is much human nature in
a Spaniard, he would better interview the
next millionaire who, without experience
in Journalism, buys a newspaper for a
plaything. and see if his experience does
not closely correspond to Don Rosendo's.
And here is another bit of sly humor.
which might be Huckleberry Films own,
but for the fact that it is in a different
dialect and concerns the one little thea
tire of Sarrio instead of show" in some
Mississippi River town:
There it was 1 saw Don Juan
Tenorio,' with its flour whitened
corpses, its commander gliding away
on a door pulled with cords. its infer
nal regions made of lighted spirits of
wine: and its apotheosi5 of paper,
sturfing, and packing cases made such
an impression on me that | never
slept that night. In the auditorium
the same things went on more or less
as in the grandest houses of the capt.
tai. However, more attention was
given to the performance here than
in court theatres, because we had not
arrived at that high state of culture
in which behavior is in direct con-
tradiction to the place-swearing and
chattering in playhouses, laughing and
giggling in church, and silence and Sc
dateness at the promenade, after the
delightful fashion in Madrid. / do
not know If they have attained to this
state of culture in Sarrio by now"
The minor characters of the book,
which are numerous, are not its least de-
lightful feature. The management of
Of a novelists power. He must not drag
them in for the sake of the local color,
if they have no relation to the plot; nor
may he introduce them simply for the
sake of the plot, ana leave them lifeless
and commonplace lay figures. Senior
yaldes does neither All the people in
his book are Enthusiastically alive, and
none of them is quite conventional In
pathos, or genre. There is
the pompous alcalde, who cannot meet
a town official on his daily promenade
without stopping him for harangue
iDVul SbIlt ully VI OlllCt. IHtTe Is lDt
husband, who, as the author
lryly states, would have been a very fast,
bad man if his property had not been all
Il his wife's name and If she would have
ct him have any money; there is the
iery-tempered little seamstress, who,
1nding her gentleman lover busy with
mother girl, avenges herself, not by the
of Spanish melodramatic
heroinesi-but by boxing his ears and
Dinching him; there is the unfortunate
sditor of Don Rosendos yellow journal;
here are the genial and lovable old I'M
lie of the hero and the half-pathetic. half
amusing figure Of the wife of De Belin-
hon. the former cigarette girl, comic in
Ter frightened striving after gentiity,
tut dignified and made pathetic by her
orrow and her maternal affection 1t is
o be hoped that Senior Palacio Valdes
will write many more novels, and that
hey will all be translated and circu-
ated in this country: for if it were not a
in to compare one great man with an
,ther in any such way, he might almost
he considered the Spanish Balzac At any
ate, he is fine enough and knows the
human heart well enough. TO win fame on
Ills own merits, comparison or no COM
'arison. CNew York: Brentano's)