I SPAIN'S BRUTAL BULLFIGHTSI
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THE CHARACTERISTICS FOSTERED BY THE TOREADORS ARE LARGE
LY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEGENERACY
OF THE NATION. 7?t
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LD SPAIN, despite
Br « the disgusting im
■ ■ morality of the
M thing, knows of
no sight more
stirring and im
posing than the
* first part of an ex
i pensive bull fight,
with the cere
monious entrance
to the blare of
trumpets; the pro
cession of historic
costumes of crim
son, pale blue,
■white aud canary;
of pea green, silvery white and pink ;
of scarlet, black, dark blue and white—
and over all of it the brilliaut sun
light, the perfumes of spring in the
sweet air, and the enthusiasm of a
mighty audience that moves and
shouts and blazes with excitement.
The ring at Tarragona, for example
—little, old, lost-to-the-world Tarra
gona—gives seats for 17,000 people—
more than the entire population of
that backward town along the Medi
terranean; and yet, the seats are often
full, for the country people for miles
around flock in, on foot, on donkeys,
asses, horses and in bullock carts. So
that when the big band strikes up the
old barbaric march, aud the thousands
•11 the benches move themselves uu
easily, and shout down greetiugs to
their favorite fighters, you have a
scene before you not to be forgotten.
. The central idea of a bull-fight, the
Spanish will tell the visitor, is to dis
play the courage and dexterity of men.
It is acknowledged that the bull is
more than a man's match—the bull
with his streugth, ferocity and sharp
horns, and the man- alone, armed with
a sleder sword. Again, it is essential
that the bull should be killed with but
one single stroke, given while the |
swordsman, the espada, faces him.
This stroke must also be delivered in
one special spot, behind the shoulders,
to penetrate the heart. Should it
glance and strike the lungs instead,
so that the bull will drop blood from
his mouth, the audience is disgusted,
and expresses its disgust. All this is
delicate and dangerous work, and it
requires preparation to make con
ditions equal for both parties, man
INSULTING A LAZY BULL,.
and bull. Besides there must be cere
mony and a show. Out of these ne
cessities the numerous aud well-de
fined acts aud scenes of a bull-fight
take their due progression.
The bull must first be exercised be
fore the audience, that they may take
pleasure iu his strength. The ani
mal is noble, with a pedigree as long
as that of many a Don. He is slender,
with small hind-quarters and tremen
dous neck and shoulders. Neverthe
less, he is rather small thau large.
His horns are straight aud sharp; and
he is quick, tricky and vicious. The
ordinary bull-fighters, toreadores,
flaunt their cloaks before his face aud
escape with difficulty, often being
obliged to jump the fence around the
ring. But for the poor horses there is
no escape, and here is where the ill
ness of the stranger takes its sudden
rise.
The object of bringing in the horses,
early in the game (poor broken-down
old creatures), is really four-fold. It
is first to exhibit the vigor of the bull,
when he lifts aud tosses them with the
most abomiuable strength. Next, it
is to tire the bull a little, so that it
will not be impossible for a single man
to face him, later on. Thirdly, it is
" LAST GREAT ACT OF THE E3PADA.
to give the bull a smell of blood, that
being naturally what he himself is
fighting for. Lastly—it must be said,
unhappily—it is to give the people
themselves a sight of blood.
I believe this latter to be absolutely
true, in spite of all denials of Span
iards. The audience seems to like the
blood of mangled horses!
And now, while the bull is being
taunted in the ring, almost at the be
ginning, the horses, blindfolded, are
therefore being slowly ridden aronnd
to him, Upon them are mounted t'ie
most degraded of all bull-fighters, the
picadores, so little-thought-of by the
people themselves that the lowest,
cheapest brand of Spanish cigarettes
are called, with one consent, the pica
dores. It is the trade of these gentle
men —who ride iuialways, it is said,
half drunk—to see that the bind-folded
horses which they ride are properly
ruined by the bull; it is their trade to
spear the bull with a long lance, to
irritate him, and to save themselves.
They, themselves, are protected on the
legs by iron slieathings. After two or
four or even eight horses have been
gored and tossed and tumbled, and
are dragged away dead and bleeding,
the trumpet souuds aud a very difi'er
eut set of men dash into the wide bull
ring.
"THE ENTRANCE TO THE BLAKE OF TRUMPETS."
These are the banderilleros. Each
one of them has two be-ribboned darts,
like little harpoons, in his hand,which
he must fix in the bull's neck to pain
him, to infuriate him, aud to make
him exhibit the agility of men.
It is a matter of no little skill and
danger; if successful, it almost crazes
the animal, giving him the maximum
of ferocity with the minimum of
strength. It is also one of the "pret
tiest" parts of the corrido de toros; for
the bull comes on with a rush to these
most nimble aud courageous banderil
leros, who often must evade him by a
single inch. Each evasion aud each
trick of daring has its name, and is
applarded or hissed by the excited
thousands oil the benches, according
to the audacity, coolness aud dexterity
of the men, or the reverse.
These lively fellows, who take ter
rible risks, will seat themselves on
chairs and let the bull come thuuder
iug down on them. Then at the very
instant that he would strike them,
toss them, mangle them, they rise,
plant their harpoons into his neck,
and leap aside. The bull must be
content to toss the chair. Or they
will take a long pole, aud leap over
the bull's back as lie comes at them.
Or they will kneel down on one knee,
with grace, and tickle the puzzled
beast upon his nose with a lace hand
kerchief and slip aside from him.
Their harpoons, which they jab into
his injured and insulted neck, should
make him wild.
But if he does not show sufficieut
wildness, the people cry for "Fire!"
And here it iB too sickening and cow
ardly to proceed in detail. Sufficieut
it will be to say that there been
invented bauderillas with firework at
tachments, that they may burn after
they have been thrust iuto the bull's
neck!
Enough. The time has now arrived
for the great act of the matador, or
the espada, the most important man,
the high professional who has to kill
a crazy bull, made monstrously wicked
by ill-treatment and a thousand goad
iugs. The bull is weakene /it is
true, but he is still so dange /us that
half the matadors of history have
found their death in the ring.
It is in vain that the Spanish de
fend their bull-fights as "the heroic
games" of their ancestors, "conse
crated by antiquity." The truth is
the ancestors of their ancestors long
ago abandoned the corrida to paid
professionals of low birth. Spanish
bull-fights ceased to possess anything
of the old chivalry when chivalry it
self expired, more than two centuries
ago. Apologists of the ring, indeed,
claim for the end of"the aristocratic
period" a date as late as the accession
of the Bourbons, in 1770; but as their
chronicles are silent concerning the
exploits of the Spanish nobility in
EASY TO DEAL WITH A GIDDY BULL.
this regard all through the eight
eenth century, there is reason to give
the date of"the accession of the
Bourbons" its mere sentimental
value. The chronicles of the ring
begin again in 1770, with tho name
of the plebeian Pedro Romero; with
| the Corrida de Toros in full swing as
a mercenary show, and with the
Spanish dons content to patronize it
in the simple act of paying for then
seats.
Romero found the national sport
"degenerated" to a simple conflict be
tween a bull aud professional-with
ont-a-professiou. Apart from the lack
of noble Spanish blood in the bull
fighter, the degeneracy appears to
have consisted in an exchange of the
heavy armor in which chivalry was
wont to prudently envelop itself for
the cheaper suit of padded leather and
shirt of mail of the time aud trade.
Pedro Romero, first, threw aside
every kind of protection, appearing as
a gymnast, light, graceful aud exact;
aud secondly, to counterbalance the
obvious disadvantage, hit upon the
device of "tiring out" the bull by a
whole series of "preliminary exer
cises,". to be performed by under
studies. He invented, also, a new aud
very dangerous method of killing the
animal, a single sword-blow, which
must penetrate a certain spot behind
the shoulder of che bull, while the
bull-fighter perilously faced him. How
much this was "degenerating" from
the prudence of the old aristocrats
who, iu their knightly armor, speared
the bull from the backs of their war
horses, aud hacked ut him, when un
seated, with their battle-axes, is a
question rather delicate than difficult
to answer.
During the past twenty years two
FRASCCELO AND LAGARTIJO.
names have been all-poweriul in the
peninsula. Rafael Molina y Sanchez
(called Lagartijo) aud Salvador San
chez (Frascttelo) have done for their
trade what John L. Sullivan did
for the fighting business in America.
They refused to fight for the com
paratively small pay of their predeces
sors, aud by reason of their popularity
were able to make extraordinary terms
with the Spanish public and impres
arios. The profession is grateful to
them to-day, now that they are in
their old age, and they are still called
by courtesy the two stars of Spain.
Lagartijo, in particular, was always a
ferocious fellow, insistiug that the
public should have its full of blood
and excitement.
Nowadays the success of the fight
ers does not depend so much on the
applause of svealth and beauty in the
boxes as it does on the fidelity of the
respectable middle-class public in the
reserved seats of the grada, to say
nothing of tjhe yelliug populace on the
stone benches immediately around the
arena. As for the modern Spanish
lover, he feels that he is doing a great
deal when he pays the admission price
to the grada for his sweetheart 'aud
her mother. The Spanish lover is,
ordinarily, spoony, and the Spanish
girl is seemingly—ordinarily, timid to
a degree; the Spanish mother is very
often pretentious, and the whole mid
dle class and lower class population
astonishingly democratic and out
spoken.
This, then, is the bull-fight, and the
spirit of the bull-fight audience. The
audience is composed of every type of
citizen—the respectable and good, as
well as the depraved. Little children
suck their oranges contentedly while
the miserable horses are squealing
with pain, their entrails protruding
from their ruined bellies. It seems
to be only a question of getting used
to it. They say you can get used to
anything.
YOUNC HERO OF SANTIAGO.
Charles Escudero, of Ohio, Age Fourteen,
Carried Water to the Wounded
on San Juan Hill.
Although Charles Escudero, four
teen years old, doesn't realize it yet,
time will show that as the water boy
of the Ninth Infantry in Cuba he was
as much a hero as any man who car
ried a gun in the wild fight and
fearless charge np San Juan hill.
Charlie arrived at New York City, a
few days ago, on the transport Lou
isiana and was shipped to his home,
Columbus, Ohio, by the Children's
Aid Society.
Charlie looked like a picturesque re
conceutrado, wearing a regulation
brown cavalry hat, an old brown jacket
and a pair of trousers much the worse
for the Santiago campaign. The rem
nants of the shoes that carried him up
the rocky hill of San Juan held his
feet, and a blue flannel shirt, much too
large, was lapped about him.
His father was a bugler in the Ninth
Infantry, which Charlie managed to
join at Tampa. There he was smug -
gled on a transport, and when he got
to Cuba he was told he might act as
water boy for the Ninth Infantry.
He was in all the fighting at Santi
ago and wherever there was a man of
the Ninth with his gun there the
water boy went at the call of the sol
dier.
Charlie is modest in his stories of
what he did at San Juan hill.
"I carried water to the soldiers.
My father is a bugler and I was with
him nights. When there was fight
ing I had to work. When I saw our
men getting killed I wished I had a
gun, but I iiad to carry water. I had
four canteens. One held about two
quarts. The n\gu firing would see
me and yell to ask if I'd got any
water. If they were all empty I went
to the creek audi tilled them. At the
last it got a long way to go. 'Wasn't
I afraid?' I ju3t thought I'd get
CHARLES ESCUDERO.
(He inarched beside bis soldier father
and gave water to the men as they
fought before Santiago.)
killed, and we'd all get killed that
day, the bullets came so thick. I saw
men I knew get hit.
"I kept run of my father by the
bugle, mostly. Did I see many
wounded? Yes, I carried water ta 'em
when I could. Sometimes I had to
pour it into their mouths, but most of
the men I saw wounded were able to
get on their elbows to drink.
"I've got plenty of relics for my
mother—Spanish cartridges and otber
Spanish relics. I'm going back to
school. I'm in the fifth grade."
The boy seems to have suddenly be
come a,jed by his experiences. , He is
only a little chap, with big brown
eyes and long lashes, and ho says he
does so want to see his mother and
sisters.
Consumption of COHI.
The consumption of coal per head of
population is lowest in Austria, where
it is only one-sixtli ton per annum,and
highest iu Great Britain, where each
person averages three and three-tenths
tons each year. In the United States
the average is two and one-fourth tons
a year.
The Time It Failed.
Mrs. Callahan—"Don't yez re
mimber Oi told yez th' marnin' not to
go in swimmiu' to-day?"
Patsy Callahan—"Oh, come off
mudder. Youse want me ter say yes,
an' den you're goin' ter say, 'Fergit it
an' remember de Maine."—Judge.
Russia is said to own 3,000,000
horses—nearly one-half of the whole
i number in existence.
ffOR FARM AND GARDEN. £
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Topdressing Meadow*.
In topdressing meadows with fresh
yard manure, directly after mowing,
thpre is naturally some loss by evap
oration, but this is not nearly as great
as is generally supposed, and this is
also wore than counterbalanced by
the protection it provides against sun
and drouth. In winter aud early
spring the loss from evaporation is
but infinitesimal. If the manure is
properly composted it may be applied
as a topdressing at any time without
danger of loss.
Care of House Well*.
There should be au enclosed build
ing over every well from which water
is to be taken for family use. Multi
tudes of insects and even small ani
mals fall into the well if it is exposed
to the air and has no curb around it.
So, too, there is always much dust
blown into it, and the rays of the sun
shining down make the water too warm
to use during hot weather. Every
time a bucket is lowered into the
water it carries aoine of the warmth it
has absorbed from contact with the
summer air.
Season for Deep Plowing.
If there is ever a time when deep
plowing is advisable it is in summer,
especially if some green manure can
be turned under the furrow. This
will heat rapidly in hot .weather, aud
the gases from its fermentation rising
through the soil will mellow it more
than can be done by the most thor
ough cultivation when such land is
deep plowed in spring. In fact most
spring plowing ought to be very
shallow,as the air is not warm enough
to warm through a deep furrow, and
therefore, if vegetation is then deeply
plowed in it rots very slowly.
Trelli.H for Tomatoes.
While the tomato can be and often
fc grown with its vines lying on the
ground, the fruit ripens more evenly
and perfectly, besides producing a
larger crop, if the vines are supported
by a trellis of some kind. It may be
nothing more than a stick forked
like a "y" and with a long enough
stein to set firmly in the ground. But
if the soil is rich aud the tomato vines
are heavy, a row of strong stakes with
a wire wound around each at the
height of eighteen inches will give
better satisfaction. When the vines
turn to grow downwards the part be
low will blossom aud fruit more abund
antly than before.
Jnnprtlcldp for Plant*.
Cosmos, a French scientific review
says that a South American farmer has
recently made an accidental discovery
of great value to gardeners and flor
ists.
It was to the effect that leaves of
the tomato plant will drive insects
away from other plants. He covered
tomato leaves over some young shrubs
he wished to protect from the sun and
from small iusocts, and was delighted
to find that the latter cleared out as
soon as they got the odor of the to
mato leaves.
He then extended the same treat
ment to au entire row of young peach
trees, and his success was complete.
To render the process more simple he
tried a decoction of the fresh tomato
leaves as a spray on otliei 1 trees and
shrubs aud found that he had a per
fectly effective weapon which cost
practically nothing. He nlso found
that a spray of tho same kind would
keep flies ofl' hfc horses.
liaising Seedlings.
The process of raising plants of
various kinds from seeds extends over
the greater portion of the year, and
no time is more important * than the
present in this respect. There are
many plants of which seeds can be
sown now with better prospects of
success than at any other, aud amongst
them may be noted calcoolarias, prim
ulas, cyclamens and cinerarias, all of
them being great favorites with ama
teur growers. Of course, where pos
sible, the boxes, pots or pans of seeds
must be placed in the greenhouse, but
a fair proportion will germinate in a
warm window if they are care
fully looked after. Use light soH.and
water it well prior to sowing the seeds,
which need not be covered with soil.
Place on the receptacle a piece of glass
and over that brown paper or damp
moss, and, until the seeds vejetate, no
further attention will be required be
yond wiping the glass quite dry each
morning. As soon as the tiny plants
can be seen the paper must be re
moved, and the glass slightly tilted.
As they attain size, pricking oft' and
eventually potting will be necessary,
and every effort should bo made to
keep the plants constantly growing.—
Household Words.
Skim Milk for Chicken*.
With the purpose of studying the
effect of skim milk diet on young
growing chickens an experiment was
conducted at the Indiaua agricultural
experiment station in which two lots
of chickens were under observation.
There were ten chickens of two breeds
in each lot, ranging from four to six
weeks of age at the beginning of the
•xperiment. Each lot received the
same food, care and treatment, ex
cepting one was fed all the skiin milk
wanted, while the other was given
none. The grain fed consisted of two
parts crushed corn, one part brai. and
one part ground oats. They were
also fed cracked bone, cabbage and
lettuce. When the experiment began
the total weight of one lot of chickens
was only one-halt' au ouuee more than
the other. The experiment lasted
from July 11 to September 5.
The results of the feeding show
that the chickens fed milk anil grata
ate some considerable more grain than
did those receiving no milk. The re
sults also show that the chickens of
lot one, receiving no milk, made an
average weekly gain of 2.62 ounces,
while those fed milk made a gain per
week of 4.46 ounces, or over one
fourth pound. The chickens fed milk
made a more rapid and uniform gain
than those fed grain only. The gen
eral results of the feeding in every
way seemed to show the superior in
fluence of the skim milk on the growth
of the birds.—American Agricultur
ist.
Injurious \T«p(U,
From time to time this country is
startled by publications issued from
high schools and colleges as to the
appearance of this or that weed iu
some localities and warning cultiva
tors against them.
Learned and long descriptions nro
given of these particular weeds mul
general alarm is excited by a supposed
new trouble. Very few of these new
weeds are worthy, however, of a
thought, so far as particular cultiva
tion of the soil is concerned. The
cultivator expects to hoe and cultivate
among his crop, and one weed is no
more to him than another. This is
especially true of annual weeds, which
do not flower until after the cultivator
has been through. The prickly let
tuce is an illustration of this; its bo
tanical name is lactuca scariola. Con
tinuous warning against its appear
ance is heard everywhere, but it does
not come into flower until July, and
long before that the cultivator has
destroyed it. No cultivator need tear
any annual weed. Serious trouble
comes from those which have running
root stocks. In that case every little
piece of root will make a new plant.
In this list we might name the Cana
dian thistle, the English bindweed
(Convolvulus arvensis), the so-called
sachaline (Polygonum sachaliueuse,
Solanum Cavoliuaum) and the couch
grass (Triticum lepens). And even
these can be destroyed by two or
three successive hoeiugs or cultivat
ings. It is an exceptional case when
a plant lives without leaves duriug
one season. The old question of
dealing with destructive weeds is a
very simple one—we have either to
lioe them out before they have a
chance of making seeds or prevent
them from having perfect leaves dur
ing one season's growth. The intelli
gent cultivator knows this so well that
he is not alarmed by the appearance
of ft new weed, but rather enjoys it
as it adds somewhntto his botanical
knowledge.—Meehan's Monthly.
Diili} 1 Precautions.
Shade in pastures, either from trees
and sheds, is essential in midsummer
to keep the cows from becoming fev
erishly overheated to the detriment of
the quality of the milk. During
my dairy experience I have encount
ered a great deal of tninted milk di
rectly attributable to the overheating
of cows. Keep them as cool as pos
sible and remove all exciting factors,
such as driving them to and from the
pasture' with dogs, etc.
When it comes to the Ciire of milk,
hot weather has no terrors for a dairy
man fully prepared and willing to in
telligently combat its deleterious ef
fects. The hotter the weather the
more prolonged should be your appli
cation of hot water in sterilizing milk
utensils. Placing the tin milk pans,
pails and cans iu the sun after wash
ing was formerly thought to have no
more influence than simply to dry
them. Now it is known that follow
ing rigorous scalding a thorough sun
bath of all dairy utensils destroys any
lurking bacteria that might quickly
propagate and ruin milk quality. 11l
smells about a cow stable multiply
with amazing rapidity during the
heated term. With cows milked there
twice a day it means a dangerous
menace to milk. If you cannot keep
the atmosphere of your stable as sweet
smelling as that of your pasture, milk
the cows in the pasture every time.
Attend to the care of milk as soon
as it has been drawn from the cow.
To let it stand about in pail» to wait
convenience is dangerous; to damp a
hundred pounds or more of it freshly
milked into a narrow cau is perni
cious. ' Milk should always be aerated
and cooled sufficiently to keep it fresh
twelve hours before it is ever stored
in bulk. No better way can be de
vised for tainting fresh milk quickly
and effectually tha - i by plunging a
vessel of it into cold water. The re
sulting taint is commonly spoken of
as smothered milk. If you do not
possess ice you should wet down th«
floor and wa.ls of your dairy room
several times a da'y with cold water.
This will materially aid in keeping th»
atmosphere of the apartment cool and
sweet even during the hottest days.
Good, firm butter can be produced
in July as well as in less heated
months if you keep the thermometer
in your dairy room as close to sixty
degrees as possible. In this apart
ment secure free ventilation with a
low temperature, especially at night.
If there is cold running water 011 yoixi
premises ntilize it for the dairy's good
in hot weather. Pipe it to your milk
house. Churning should always be
done early iu the day before th«
warmth of the sun has made its in
fluence felt. Isy following this plan
you ought not to be troubled with
butter coming soft, even if you possess
no ice.—Ueorge E. Newell in Oranga
Judd Farmer.
Wlfc'n Hath Money In Turkey.
Among the Turks bath money forma
an item in every marriage contract,
the husband engaging tc allow his
wife • certain sum for bathing pur
poses. If it be withheld, she has
only togo before the cadi and turn
her slipper upside down. If the com
plaint be not theu redressed it is a
sufficient grouu.l for divorce.