The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1904-02-25
A SLEEPl-ESS CITY.
I'm Madrid the People Seem Never to
Go to Bed.

I'm Madrid the. People Seem Never ia
Go to Bed.
The MadrilenOs are the greatest folks
you ever saw for sitting up nights.
or three hours in the middle Of the day
for siesta, which is the practice
4 throughout all the Latin countries. In
the old fashioned cities and towns all
the shops are closed at noon, tram cars
stop running, and the streets are en-
tirely deserted between II and
o'clock, and you would as soon think
of calling upon a man at 2 o'clock in
the morning as between those hours
Madrid, however, is an up to date
city. It has all the modern improve
ments, the latest fashions from Paris
and all of the fads, and the people in
a great measure have departed from
the customs of their Castilian ances-
tors. You can usually catch a car and
find a cab at MONDAY and the big
shops keep open, but the streets are
more lively and noisy between II 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 pavements, the chatter
and laughter Of people passing, the
cries Of the peddlers and the newsboys
and the men, women and children who
Ill Lot ~
were playing upon the street at 8
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 as numerous here as in Con
stantinople You can see such pitiable
creatures in any city of Spain or Italy,
and the strange part of it is that they
appear to be at their posts all the
time When they sleep or eat is a
mystery. They were there yesterday
at o'clock when l awoke and went
over to close the blinds, and three or
four hours later l 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
loafers Of Madrid, at any hour of the
night without seeing 500 or 600 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 peddlers, as a 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 in other directions.
Coming home from the theater at
or o'clock in the morning, the side
walks are overcrowded. You can meet
women carrying children in their arms
or leading them by the hand, as if 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 as
1870 in the morning
The social life Of Madrid is found at
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 great deal
of dressing. The theater is the only
place that many women have an on
portunity to wear their good clothing.
and the young men and young women
have greater freedom there for con
versation and Irritation than they can
have anywhere else.-Chicago Record
Herald.