Year: 1872

1t is the smallness of incomes and the ne.
cessty of looking sharply to the means Of life
that make the young people of Madrid so pru.
dent in their love affairs | know of no place
where ugly heiresses are such bellies, and where
young men with handsome incomes are so uni.
versally esteemed by all who know them
The stars on the sleeves of young officers are
more regarded than their dancing, and the red
belt of a field officer is as winning in the eyes
of beauty as cestus Of Venus A subaltern
offered his heart and hand to black-eyed
girl of CASTLE. She said kindly but firmly
that the night was too cloudy.


"What?" said the stupid lover, "the sky
is full of stars"


II see but one" said the pensive beauty
her eyes resting pensively upon his cuff, where
one lone lumnary indicated his rank.


The spirit is really one of forethought, not
avarice. People who have enough for two al
most always marry from inclination, and fire,
quently take partners for life without penny


If men were henpecked only by learned
wives, Spain would be the place of all others
for timid men to marry in. The girls are
bright, vivacious, and naturally very clever,
but they have scarcely any education what
ever. They never know the difference be
tween b and q. They throw themselves in Or
biography entirely upon your bpnevolence.
They know little music and a little French
but they have never crossed, even in a school
day excursion, the border line of the Ologies
They do not even read novels; they are re.
garded as injurious, and cannot be trusted to
the daughters until mamma has read them
through. Mamma never has time to read
them, and so they are condemned by default
Fernan Cabaero, in one of her sleepy little
r0mances, refers to this illiterate character OF
the Spanish ladies, and says it is their chief
charm-that a Christian woman in good soci
ETY. ought not to know anything beyond her
| cookery book and missal. There is an old
proverb which coarsely conveys this idea:
:" A mule that whinnles and man that talks
Latin never come TO any good" There is a
contented acquescence in this moral servltude
among the fair Spaniards that would madden
our agitatresses.


1t must be the innocence that springs from
| ignorance that induces an occasional coarseness
of expression which surprises You in TIE con-
versation of those lovely young girls. They
will speak with perfect freedom of the etat.
civil Of young married mother. A maiden
of fifteen said to me:


Il must go to party this evening docollette
and | hate it. Benigno is getting old enough
to marry, and he wants to see all the girls il
low neck before he makes up his mind"


They all swear like troopers without the
idea of profanity Their mildest expression o
surprise is Jesu Maria!" They change their
oaths with the season At the feast of the
immaculate Conception the favorite oath is
Maria Pursima" This is time of especial
interest to young girls. 1t is period of com.
puIsory confession - conscience-cleanng, as
they call it, They are all very. pious in their
way They attend to their religious duties
with the same interest which they displayed a
| few years before in dressing and undressing
their doll and will display a few years later in
putting the lessons they learned with their
dolls to more practical use.