Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1913-01-18

the most interesting features
life in Madrid feature peculia
to Madrid among all the cities
the world as far as am inform
ed 1t is a long way In life albei
shor4 in distance from Prado to tn
Rostrado. The extension of the Pradt
into the Paseo de Castellana leads ont
to the part of the city where flats givt
place to detached dwellings and where
mansions are seen that match IL
grandeur almost anything seen alonr
Riverside Drive in New York, writes
George w. Burton in the Los Angeles
Times.
Not only the houses in this part o.
Madrid are grand, but the equipage
are as fine as may be seen anywhere
and the horses exceed anything eve
beheld In horse flesh. The team
are we'll matched. and the animal
stand IA to 16 hands high. each hanc
representing nearly 100 pounds
finely-put-up horse flesh and gone
They are. taking them all in all. tn
finest, rangiest animals in the world
The heads and ears are small the
neck long and arched, holding the
head high without painful hitching
The fore shoulders are high and SC
are the launches, the back straight
The fore legs are straight as whir
stalk, the chest Is deep, the haunch
es and thighs are powerfully muscled
and the bodies are round as bar
rel.
Seen on Sunday.
The Rastro is not along the Prado
and no splendid turnouts are seer
there The street is in the center
the city, short walk from the Puerta
del Sol 1t is a narrow street SIS
rounded with old houses, begins In
an alley and ends In two which fork
into still narrower alleys farther on
The English name for the peculiar
institution that has its home there Is
the Rag Market. Sunday is the dav
to see it. The people who carry on
their trade in the Rastro are there
every day in the week in small mum
bers, but Sunday the whole place,
1000 feet long, by SO feet WIDE Is
, packed so densely that one makes his
way through the throng slowly and
with much difficulty, To present a
general view of this motley gather
ing in words or in picture is impos-
any analyzed carefully. AS one en-
ters the long. narrow street a mass
of humanity, men. women boys, girls,
decrepit age and tenderest youth
moves about in an interminable maze
beginning nowhere or everywhere as
you may please to see 1t. The ground
space is encumbered with big bas,
kets filed with all kinds of what we
call in America garden truck and
fruits. In and out ply women. each
with half a dozen to dozen fat
chickens hung around their necks
tucked under their arms, and held
in any way convenient for the mo-
ment. Eggs, game anything the poor
may have to sell is here. and here the
poor come to buy II one gets there
about noon there may be seen peas
ant woman who has sold out her bas-
ket of cabbage. cauliflower and let.
tuce and has turned the debris out
on the ground. At once this is pounced
upon by some poor wretch of wom-
an who has not a certimo to get a lit
tie something to eat. She bends down
and rakes about the leaves of tho
vegetables and picks out every bit
that is in any way possible Of cook
ing. Each scrap Is put in q bit O. a
basket In her apron or in a leaf of
an old paper. or in an old box One is
irresistibly reminded of hen in tie
yard scratching for tidbit from
the kitchen.
Just beyond the vegetable market
the booths are reached where other
wares are on sale The first may be
shoe store, IL you please. But II is
something that no one who reads this
letter ever saw or heard Of All DAYS
In the week men. women and chill
dren range the streets and pick up
anything that promises cent of gain.
No old shoe is too poor TO be passed
by. These are taken to the Ras'~o, in
strings, In Baskets In ones twos. and
tens, according TO the wealth of the
shoe merchant OF the Rastro. Here
the lot is sold for few cents to q
eobbler- rather TO family OF cob
blerS. This family sits on the ground
In the RAstro from early till late daily
working as busily as ants. There may
be an old man and mn old woman OF
two. couple Of young people. and
two to six children on the cobble
stones OF the street, on bit of mat
ting OF a board, II the circumstances
,0f ths fyna viii permit nics extraya'