Arizona republican., 1912-05-25
THE QUEEN WHO HELPED
 COLUMBUS.

It was only recently, and most for tuitously too. that l learned the truth about Spains great queen Of course lheN mad told me in school show she offered to pawn her jewels for Colum- ous. That is a story likely to titallate the youthful fancy; and the teacher. satisfied accordingly, let pass the op- perfume moment for telling us that Isa- bella was not Oniy the most wonderful woman of her day. but almost without exception Of any day, and that Amcri- can women even more than Spanish should honor her: for the great work she did for Spain was undone bv ner descendants, but what she did for our own favored quarter of the globe has been our undying benefit.
 The shriveled Wiry little peasantess who showed us about the great fortress at Medina. told me all these things.
 The queen, she said reverentIy. had q great affection for this place It is in the heart of old Castle, and she loved Castiie paSsionately She knew every inch of the province. You know she lived in the saddle? Si. sonora. through two wars. Poor lady, Her -D , had gone for q brief rest after long nursing her daughter Joan the Mad And the next day, on learning that Joan had left the castle alone and ato"t to walk to Flanders Isabella mounted her horse again an'i gaIloped back. You know she always kept the fleetest Andalusian horses? Si. sonora. she rode all night. They had brought the princess back. meanwhile. but no i farther than the gate. where she in sisted on remaining to make a fresh start in the morning; and that's where her poor heartbroken mother found her down there fpointing to the main l entrance)-'an and Coaxed ner indoors. 1 Poor Isabella, he led pure ana noble | life only to die of a broken heart" ] The story. told in that same langua ge i that Isabella herself had spoken. l touched me strangely. l looked in awe | around the dim, destitute. dungeon like 1 brick room where the queen breathcl ! her last one dreary November morn some four hundred years ago The tale ! kept repeating itself in my mind-it i was tremendous Here was a woman l who rode through two campaigns (aI-
 ways mounted on the swiftest of An 1 daIusian stceds): who generously and 1 fearlessly enabled Columbus to discov- | CT world for pOsterity; who was SOW 1 crcign of realm greater than imperial l Rome had known: who was a devoted mother, and who died of q broken ! heart, Yes, it was tremendous. Bril- liant gifts. courage that beggarcd de-
 scription. an exalted imagination (for | only such would have given ear to the
 mad aIventurer from Genoa)-thesc qualities have too often been unSuit-
 ably lodged in some ill-living malc | sovereign. If, instead, noble minded woman had possessed them I must l know of her
 As a great general. Isabella is one ot
 the most stirring figures in Spain.
 military annals. She was the first tC
 organize the army, which before hcl day had never known what uniformity 1 of preparation and action could ac
 complish in warfare As an in1efatig i able hOTscWOman she is nothing shor ] of astounding This is particularly
 the case if one has seen the forbiddint unsheltered country over which iron
 childhood to the grave, she was con
 stantIy flashing. Even today there i'
 hardly ten-milc stretch of good roaC 1 in all Spain. Four centuries ago if wa
 worse In many parts. where Isabeliai
 horse carried her is still the only patl
 some narrow mule path skirtinE
 deep gorge or some broaI highWa,
 across the plains exposed to icy Wintc
 wind or burning summer sun and dust
 Yet her resistless energy never halteo
 before season. time, or route. As tn
 custodian of the castle had said, tn
 queen literally lived in the saddle
 Mildred Stapley, in Harper's Magazin for June.