Waterbury Democrat., 1902-06-06
THE TOMB WHICH AWAITS
Alfonso-Escurial Built By Philip

Several years before the Spanish American war q curly haired, dark eyed boy about 10 years old, with wistful, pinched expression on his girls face, was taken from Madrid to the Escurial to see his own tomb. A coun- cilor of state and many grandees and ecclesiasts surrounded the child, but when he had descended the dark, wind ing steps into the chambers lined with the coffins of the dead. he sprang from among the dignified throng and fled up the stairs shrieking for sA1amita'' Qit- tie mother), and the queen of Spain took her little boy in her arms and car ried him back to Madrid. When All fonso XIII of Spain lays down his scepter he will be "buried'' in a gilded metal and marble box and lodged on shelf with his ancestors under the high altar in the church in the EScurial. The kings of Spain and their mothers since the time of Philip II lie in these vaults. Ferdinand and Isabella are exceptions, for they repOse in a magnificent tomb at the place of their triumph over the Moor in Granada
 A dirty old man in greasy clothes. carrying the odor of stale tobacco and bad wine hobbies away to get the keys ] of Spain's Pantheon and requests the visitor to remove his hat, flor senor is ill Gods house and in the presence of the ancient glories of Spain. 1.-The room is octagona1 and on six of the sides are ranged the sarcophagi one above the other and all alike. An untempered 1 light streams in from above and the showy urns glimmer and shine like mirrors Gold and tinsel are every where. Madrid calls it.1The little ball. room." The American is irresistibly reminded of barroom In the fourth space of a tier near a little altar Is All fonsos niche. The medallion set into the urn above shows that 1t contains the body of Ferdinand II. Below is Al fonso XIII. who died in 1885. Alfonso'ss medallion is blank. May it remain so forever" says the dirty cicerone grunt- ing up the stairs and holding out q grimy paw for peseta and half ''propina" fip) Thirty cents to see a collection of Spafn's kingsl
 The Escurial was reckoned by the Spaniards as the eighth wonder of the world. The Pantheon is lost in a church which is no yards long and is in turn
 
 buildings which surround it. The edifice contains in addition to the church Mon- astery. museum of statuary. gallery of paintings. a treasury Of religious relies. containing nearly 5000 pieces, a convent with square c1oisters 21O feet on each side library 200 feet long, a palace almost as large as that in which Alfonso lives in Madrid and innumer- able stables. barracks and out build- l ings. Philip II built the Escurial and stamped his morbid individuality upon it. It is somber. huge and forbidding The immense facade is of awful sim plicity. Philip compelled his architect to build this self-containing little world in the form of gridiron to obtain the favorable intercession of St Lorenso, who is supposed to have suffered mar l tyrdom by being slowly roasted to death The structure contains 16 courts 40 altars, 5000 running feet of fires coes. So fountains and 96 miles of cor riders. Tn the loft of the church are l huge metal clasped hymn books, each page of which is made of an entire sheep skin. The notes are as large as 1 dollars in order to be visible to part ]! of the choir which sat at a distance l from the music leader. A year or two ago, when Alfonso had become fully developed boy, he bet with a comrade that he could lift one of the books, and 1 the friend won the kings money. l The Escurial is 30 miles from Madrid and the kings Of Spain have been in the i habit of retiring behind it's walls when political disturbances threatened their safety in Madrid sTo go to the Els curial'' has become a significant phrase among the bull-fghting .cigaret- -puffing, wine rabble of the Madrid suburbs. During the minority of the king the bit l terness of the populace against the reigning house was turned toward the queen regent "The king to Madrid, the Austrian woman to the Escurial or the devlt' was the cry during the bread riots which preceded the Span. Iish-American war. The king and his mother were driving in the same car riage one day when q man shouted, amid the '.vivas" of the crowd: "If you are going to the Escurial leave the king in Madrid, and when you get to