The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-09

oH off his finger ends on
- a nailed down coin or
LOST his self-respect in a ior
naner stuffed pocket-book: Cen
"a,.IE' his friends as we'll as his enc
tI"nS - willing to concede him the
a. rrtion. but as a matter Of fact, ne
" ,n+ entitled to it. More than or
nj,ary gumption and talent are qual.
ifrations Of those who would excei
~ fools. and the fellow who kicks the
mix and falls victim to these n
a~1lnantarv tricks Of prank players
must indeed be Of a mediocre type OF
the fool.
me high cockalorum Of fools in all
,ba annals of fact and fiction was 0
Ouixote de la Mancha, he Knight OF
the Sorrowful Figure, and later the
knight of h Lions, who In private
life was plain AlonZa Quixaha, whose
GOOD works had earned for him the
title of The Just
If there was ever a close competitor
o. our sir knight in his fool business
it must have been his squire, Sancho
p3nZa. The difference between them
was that Don Quixote was g. self-made
fool, while Sancho was born that
ANY doubt as to the right Of Don
Oujy0te to the distinction of being the
premier fool was dissipated, and all
1tsDutants and rival claimants to the
title we're put to flight when q TWEEN
tieth century civilized people officially
recognized his right thereto with al
the privileges and p~erQuiSites depend
ent t~hereupon. This recognition was
by the government of Spain, which in
1905, issued a set OF ten handsome
and large postage stamps p1cturlnS
scenes from the book, Don
The issue was in commemoratlon OF
the 300th anniversary Of the birth or
Ceryantes, Spain's most famous writer
and the creator of the queer cltlzen
OF La Mancha.
The pictures borne by these stamps
show the knight and his faithful. if
mPTCenary, squire in various adVen-
lures. Each stamp bears ais a pic
tUre Of Cervantes and is further M
beIIished with the royal arms and the
winged god ~bestowing honors upon
the ilIustriOua man Of letters.
So very attractive is the set Of pos
tai carriers that they have beer widely
sought by persons who have taken no
other interest in philately. They pre-
sent q good example Of the great store
of entertainment hat is furnished by
the stamp world. The Quixote stamps
are not among the raritieS yet, ana an
entire set is obtainable at a reason
able price.
4 modern ~alienist would doubtless
say that Don Quixote was a victim
of "a systematiZed d~elusion,' and had
he fallen into the hands of a lunacy
commission he would AVE been
promptly clapped into an asylum, 1t
IS without question that such a haven
would have been the proper place for
him at any time between the day he
began to scour up the armour Of his
and the "a
ne stretchd out seized with a FEVER.
Cppermost in his disturbed thoughts
during this whole period was ms
pledge to knight-errantry and to his
unseen lady-love,~ 1.-The fair Dulcinea
del Toboso.' All he did was pre-
cheated upon this one central thought.
His delusion was unquestionably sys-
tematized.
The first stamp of Spain's Quixotic
of 5 centimos-very properly
shows the knight mounted on ROZl-
Misunderstanding out from his back gate
on that hot July morning upon which
ne ln~augurated his adventures.
The famous encounter with wind
mills, which he declared We're giants,
decorates the stamp Of 10 centimos.
With lance set at rest Don Quixote
Is Speeding as fast as Rozinante an
speed toward his imagined enemies,
while the wretched Sancho sits at one
SIDE on his ass Dapple awaiting with
and trembling the outcome Of the
affair. This is doubtless the most
notorious OF all the exploits of the
On Bonded knee Den Quixote sings
his sons Of love to the three humble
'ountry girls in the next stamp picture.
Nancho is there too asserting that the
plain damsels are none other than the
lalr Dulcinea n her maids, who nave
been transformed into these crude and
rural forms by some %yillianous
This on the stamp Of Is
Sancho is the central figure on the
stamp Of rs centimos and is exhibited
IN the midst Of the blanket tossing
at the inn, which his master.
insisted was an enchanted castle. The
Knight himself is beyond the wall of
the inn n would fain go to the as