520
THE CONGRESS OE WOMEN.
the ring, and the spectators are all allowed to try their skill in the various methods of meeting his attacks. Sometimes the younger boys are thrown or are nearly stamped upon, but hundreds rush to their rescue, brush them off, and pat them encouragingly on the shoulder for so early evincing their bravery
Olives and bull-fights are indigenous to Spanish soil, and it is said that a taste can be cultivated for them by eating three of the former and witnessing three of the latter For my own part I prefer to remain uncultivated in the matter of bull-fights, and should a desire to see a ferocious and sanguinary conflict ever overcome me, the sight of a foot-ball match, our national game, would probably amply satisfy any such craving, and make the national amusement of the Spaniards an unnecessary institution in America.
Spanish children are taken to the Plaza de Toros, or bull-ring, before they can walk, and are so accustomed to the scene within that they imitate it from their youth up, playing bull-fights at an age when other children would be flying kites or spinning tops. One day, in a narrow street in Toledo, I remember seeing a small boy, not five years old, come out of an open doorway, and flourishing two dinner-knives, evidently just snatched from the dinner-table, he went through all the springs and evolutions of the practiced toreador , and with eyes intent on the imaginary foe, gracefully plunged the knives, the supposed banderillas , into what should have been the animal’s neck, but what was in reality nothing but the air. Satisfied with the manner of achieving that feat, he threw down the knives, and, springing aside, tore off his little white shirt, which he used in imitation of the red cloaks flaunted in the face of the bulls, and again picking up one of the knives, which this time was to represent the sword, dexterously concealed it behind the capa , and with equal agility dispatched the animal. Such a look of conscious pride was on the little fellow’s face as he turned to bow to the spectral judge—when just then a voice from within calling, “ Manuelito, Manuelito,” caused the “ conquering hero’s” look to vanish, to be replaced with the “ I don’t want to come” expression of reluctant obedience, and the pretty little man, entirely unaware of the interested spectator at the other end of the street, tugged away at his shirt, trying to slip it over his head, and as his bright blue dress disappeared through the doorw ay the future winner of honors in the bull-arena forever vanished from my sight.
I have merely tried to give a brief sketch of impression received during a brief pleasure trip, and would say in conclusion that so long as the cigarette-maker, with her deft fingers, continues to roll fourteen cigarettes a minute, to shatter the nerves and enfeeble the constitution of the male population of Spain, so long as the lottery reigns supreme under the authorization of the government, and this unhallowed, unwholesome gambling takes the place of steady, healthful labor, so long as the child of four years is trained to imitate the acts and poses of the toreador , to incite in him the low ambition of becoming a bull-fighter himself when he is a man, just so long wdll Spain continue to occupy the position she does at present, that of a once glorious nation not living up to her splendid capabilities.