Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1911-08-03
GREAT STRUCTURE IN WHICH
THE CORY COMBAT TAKES
PLACE
A Few Of tho Upper Class Have
Withdrawn Patronage, but for
Most Fart stu Endorse the Flights
There.
Frederick HawkIn in Evening Cap
itai News.)

MAhAlD, SPAN. the bull night
has been for so long the national
sport of Spain that countless persons
who condemn It believe 1t to be a form
Of brutality OF the savagery and lies
beneath the skin-deep manner" for
which the spaniardH OF the upper
classes are noted. AS a matter Of fact
bull fights were popular ia Greece
and Rome whom the Wild tribes OF
the Iberian peninsula knew nothing
or such entertainments. 1t was sur
vived In Spain because the Spanish
still retain the ideas and ideals Of
the middle ages
II was because Of the Moorish in
vasion that Spain learned to revel In
the bloody spectacle. II Tarik and
Musa had not come over from Maure-
tanla to conquer the luxury softened
Goths and appropriate to their own
uses the fertile fields OF fair Anda-
lusia, the cities OF Madrid and Mex-
leo might never have seen the es-
pnda dispatch a bull Bull-baitlng
was once popular in virtuous Eng
land, and il was much more brutal.
much less picturesque that the bull
fight Of the present time in Spain.
And the English did not attain suf-
ficient civilization 20 abandon bulI-
baItlng until the time OF George
vi. The more sportsmanlike form
OF lndefensible brutality coming from
the east, has survived the well de-
served death OF the British sport.
and the British. now much more
highly civilized than the Spanish.
look down upon the continuance OF
cruelty to animals as an approved
national pastime
The bulls are turned into the arena
called the PLACE de torros. with pomp
and ceremony. They are FIRST wor-
ried by picadores on horses whose
weapons are lances put to ignoble
uses but reminiscent OF the days Of
chivalry, when knights were bold"
When more OF less OF the blood Of
helpless bulls and haplees horses.
and sometimes that of miserable
sultan engaged in the sport. has been
shed, the chulos. men on foot with
crimson banners. take up the har-
rassment, and a third crowd OF beasts
upon two legs attack the quadruped
with barbed darts. fireworks and
flags. These are the banderillercs.
In America if one man should COM
NIT the atrocities for which the ban
derilleros are employed constantly
the admirable organization known as
the S. p c. A. would see him TO the
nearest jail and provide witnesses
against bim in court. In Spain the
banderilIero IS the thicknecked low
er Of women OF the Carmen type to
whose animalism his animalism ap-
peals.
But the hero OF heros is the man
who gives the coup de grace to the
harried animal In the last act OF
a pitiful tragedy He is appropriate
ly clothed in black, his costume max
ing a striking contrast with the gay
trappings OF the former classes OF
brutes. and symbolizing his mission
OF murder He Is armed with long
straight sword. and a large red nag
or muleta. mounted on a short stick
The science OF bull murder Is to
sheath the sword to the hilt in the
body of the animal az the iuncture
OF the neck and spinal column. A
roar OF appreciation goes up from
the throDg Of accessories before the
fact when the principal In the crime
does his work gracefully. Teams
OF mules drag the carcasses from the
bloody ring. and the American spec
tator leaves the Plaza de Toros feel
ing that II more spaniards and fewer
bulls were killed the sport might
be more endurable.
A Spanish writer who Is strange
" lacking in the saving grace OF
humor says that the bull fight Of
Spain Is a unique and glorious insti-
tuition. The love Of bulls Is inher-
ent IN man. especially the spaniard.
says thi sauthority. and this slor-
ious people have had bull fights since
bulls we're discovered, because the
Spanish race is infinitely brayer than
any other. and delights IN meeting
on equal terms the Spanish bah.