Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-06-08
A sLEEPLEss CITY.
In Madrid the PEOPLE Seem Never

Vne feOnle seem Never TO
Go To He'd.
The Madsilenos. are the greatest folks
you ever saw for sitting up nights.
Business is usually suspended for two
or three hours in the middle of the day
for siesta, which is the practice
throughout all the Latin countries. In
the old fashioned cities and towns all
the shops are closed Mt noon, tram cars
stop running, and the streets are en-
tirely deserted between 10 and 2
o'clock, and you would as soon think
of calling upon n man ut 2 O'Clock In
the morning as between those hours.
Madrid, however, is an up to date
city. 1t has all the modern improve
ments, the latest fashions from Paris
and all of the fads, and the people in
great measure have departed from
the customs of their Cnstilian ances-
tors. You can usually catch car and
find cab at MONDAY, and the big
shops keep open, but the streets are
more lively and noisy between IL and
o'clock in the night than they are
during those hours in the day.
All night long, almost until day
break, we who live in the downtown
hotels can hear the rattle of wheels
over the stone paveracnts, the chatter
and laughter of people passing, the
cries of the peddlers and the newsboys
and the men, women and children who
sell lottery tickets. The hand organs
were playing upon the street Mt 3
o'clock in the morning, an old blind
man who blows a flute at the corner
below the hotel keeps it up until 4
o'clock, and two orchestras of blind
men who stray about from place to
place and perform melancholy music
under the windows of the residences
and before the entrances Of the shops
do not give up their game until almost
daylight.
The beggars stay till the last, and
they are us numerous here as in Con-
stantinoplc. You can see such pitiable
creatures in any city Of Spain or Italy,
and the strange part Of 1t is that they
appear tc be at their posts all the
time. When they sleep or eat is a
mystery. They were there yesterday
Mt 4 o'clock when awoke and went
over to close the blinds, and three or
four hours later saw them again.
But it is a popularity Of this city
that people never seem to go to bed.
You cannot look out upon the great
square called Puerto del Sol, the rem
devious of the busybodies and the
loafcrs Of Madrid. at any hour of the
night without seeing 500 or GOO people
standing idly around, smoking ciga-
rettes, talking politics and gossiping
with one another, evidently without
the slightest intention of going to bed,
while the peddlcrs, as II matter of
course. also remain and are moving
around among them. Human streams
continue to pour into the square from
| the side streets until daylight and dis
| appear i'll other directions.
Coming home from the theater ut ]
or . O'clock i'll the morning, the side
! walks are overcrowded. You can meet
women carrying children in their arms
or leading them by the hand, us il they
were returning home from some pleas
ure trip or from paying visit. The
cafes are open all night, and the thea
tiers have plays beginning as late MS
| 1890 in the morning.
The social life of Madrid is found Mt
the theaters. Instead of exchanging
calls at their homes people visit from
box to box during the plays and be-
tween the acts. There is Il great deal
4 of dressing. The theater is the only
place that many women have an op.
portunity to wear their good clothing
and the young men and young women
have greater freedom there for con-
vcrsation and Irritation than they can
have anywhere else.-Chicago Record
| Herald.