The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-01-19

linen drawers, Vedlet jackets and gor-
geously beflowered mantas Of scarlet
ana blue, their heads bound tight with
gaudy handkerchiefs, knotted behind
the ends luttering gaily in the breeze.
Women of the lower classes also wear
bright handkerchiefs over their mag
niticent blue-black hair; while aristo-
cratic senOritaS sport the always
graceful and becoming lace mantillas.
Ladies' of other nationalities who have
the bad taste to forget the golden rule
of doing as the Romans while in Rome
and appear In their common place hats
and bonnets, must not enter any
church with such headgear on, for they
would surely be elected. AS for the
beautiful women for which Valencia
has been celebrated since time out OF
mind-they are apparently all dead, or
We're in seclusion at the time of our
visit They have tiny feet and hands,
voiuptuous figures, splendid "sQul-full'
eyes and a wealth of hair--but, alas!
the latter also grown rankly upon the
upper lip, and fair Valenclans past thlr-
ty years are moustached much more
abundantly than their lords and mas
ters. Like other women of tropical
birth and temperament, they age very
early. At twelve a girl is marriagea-
bile; at twenty past; at twenty-five a
hopeless old maid, If not already we'd
ded; and at thirty-fye fat, listless and
altogether laid on the shelf. This is
partly due to the lazy habits of the ar
istocracy, who, like the lilies of the
field, toll not, neither do they spin.
Even moonlight promenading in the
pazas, so much affected in all Spanish
countries, seems to have gone out Oh
fashion here. The beautiful Alameda,
the dusty gardens of the Glorietta and
the Rambla, are alike deserted and i'll
kept. In only one respect Is Valencia
becoming somewhat modernized, ana
that is in a gradual change of vehicles.
While the ludicrous and uncomforta-
BILE tartanas are still kept for general
use and are the only wheeled concerns
a tourist can hire, the wealthy classes
are beginning to use regular open car
riages for their evening drives.
Ell Grao, the port of Valencia, mile
or two from the center Of the city, is
reached by a branch railway from the
station, and by tramway, starting from
the Plaza del Principe Alfonso. Or you
may go in a tartana, at the rate Of
dollar and a half the hour-Spanish
dollars worth one third less than ours.
The drive is the favorite lounging
place Of the natives, who flock to the
Grao in summer for the seabathing.
Then the season is gay period. The
shore, however, is about as bad as can
be used for bathing, being Doggy and
treacherous, in wide contrast to the
fine, sandy beaches of the northern
coast The port itself, formed between
two moles, with depth of twenty
three feet, is one of the best in Spain.
After all, the greatest interest of Va
lencia is in the misty past and it's real
tutelary saint is Ell Cid Campeador.
Having wrested this place from the
Moors, after a weary siege, he sent
messenger for Ximena, his wife, and
their two daughters. Hardly had the
women arrived before an armX of fifty
thousand horsemen and an innumerable
host of infantry, under the King of
Tunis, ESQ says the chronology. came
marching up to retake Valencia. Again
the Cid led Ximena and her daughters,
Sol and Elverra, to the top of Megue-
lete tower-not this time to admire the
prospect, but that they might look down
upon the mighty host encamped be-
meath the walls and understand the
grim work that was before him. His
tory records that they were terrified
and chung to the husband and father,
begging him to surrender at discre-
ton. But he encouraged them with
IT,
though his whole force was less than
four thousand men, he charged the en-
envy with such determination that they
were routed and put to flight.
Even more interesting than Megue-
lete was the historical remnant which
idiotic local authorities lately pulled
down, and whose site is now marked
only by an inscription on nearby
wall-nothing less than Albufat, the
famous tower upon which the cross was
first hoisted in the year 1894, after the
twenty-years' siege, when the Cid took
the city from the Moors. Through the
adjoining gate, now known as Puerto
del Cid, he first entered the town; and
from it, in the moment of triumph, he
issued the command that the enemy be
given time to bury their dead. This
unexpected act of clemency so touched
the Moorish chieftain that he dis
patched two beautiful female slaves for
the conqueror's acceptance; but that
here returned the gift, with the message
that to him, for whom his own Ximena
was waiting, no other charms could Of
fer any attraction, 1t was here in Va
lencia only five years later, that the
Cid died, surrounded by his beloved
ones and his weeping warriors. We
read that even his famous war-steed,
Bavieca, was brought into the chamber
and "stood there like a lamb, to gaze
upon his dying master" Then once
again the Cid rode forth upon Bavie-
ca, upright in death, his corpse arrayed
in full armor, with the face uncovered
and his white beard sweeping his
breastplate. The body was supported
by Gil Diaz and Bishop Geronimo and
closely followed by the faithful Ximena
and his warriors; and so awful was the
sight that the Moors, who had re-
gained courage at the news of his
death and again encamped against the
town, fled in dismay, leaving the
strange procession unmolested to carry
out the chieftain's last wish-that he
should be laid in San Pedro de Cardena
to sleep till the resurrection morning.
FANNIE 3. WARD.
ELM CITY LODGE OF FIREMEN.
Elm City lodge of Firemen will hold
an important meeting Sunday in their