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Show SPANIARDS WEDDED TO BULLFIGHT . National Game Is Popular AliKe With Masses . . and Classes. ' CHILDREN PLAT AT . IT IN THE STREETS . Writers Extol It and the Poor Man Goes Hungry to Buy a Ticket BT TBEDEBIO J. HASgJjT. MADRID, Spain. The bull fight has been for so long the national sport of Spain that eouatleaa persons who condemn con-demn it believe it to be a form of brutality bru-tality native to the soil and symptomatic symptoma-tic ef the savagery that lies' beneath the skip deep "manner" for which the Spaniarda of the' upper classes are noted. As a matter of fact bu.ll fights were popular in Greece and Borne when the wild tribes of ths Iberian peninsula knew nothing of sueb entertalnmeata. a It baa survived in Spain because the Spanish still retain the ideas and ideals of the middle agea. - It was because of the Moorish invasion that Spain learned to revel in the bloody spectacle. If Tarik and Musa had not come over from Mauretania to conouer the luxurv-softened Gothe and appropriate to their own uses the fertile fer-tile fields of fair Andaluata, the eities of Madrid and Mriico might never have seen tbe-espada dispatch a bull. Bull baiting. waa once popular in virtuous Knglsnd, and it wss much more brutal, much less picturesque then the bull fight ef the present time in Spain. How Thar Tornont Bulla.' - And the rhglisb did not attain sufficient suffi-cient civilization to abandon-- .bull baiting until the time of Ueorge IV. The more sportsmanlike form of indefensible indefensi-ble brutality, coming from the eaat. has survived the well deserved death of tbe British sTort, and the British,-now much more highly civilised then the 6paniab, look down apoa tbe continuance continu-ance of cruelty to animals as an approved ap-proved natioaal'pastime. The hulls are turned inte the arena, calico tha Plaas del Tores, with pomp and ceremony. Tbey are (rat worried by plead flees -est- horses whoee-weapons - mat Ia i am nr. la i HM Hut real- inlsrest of tha davs of chivalry, "when knights were bold,'' ' When more ar lesa of the blood bf helpless bulls aad horaas, and aomethnes that of a miserable miser-able ruffian engaged in the sport, has been shed, the ehulos, men on foot with crimson banners, take' up the harassment, harass-ment, and a third erowd of beasts upon two legs attack the quadruped wltk barbed darts, nreworks and flags.. These, are the banderijleroa. Crowds Cheer tbe Murder. . In America if one man should commit com-mit the atrocities for which the ban derilleroe are emploved constantly the admirable organisation known as ths 8. P. ('. A. would see him to the nearest jail and provide witnesses against him in court. In Spain the banderillero fa the thick necked lover of women of the Carmen type to 'whose animalism hia animalism appeals. Bnt tbe hero of heroes is the man who given the ''coup de grace" to the harried animal in the last art ef a pitiful tragedy. He ia appropriately clothed in black, lis eosbume making a .striking contrast with the gay trappinga of the former classes of brutes, and symbolising sym-bolising his mission of murder. He Is armed with a long straight sword. 'and a large red flag or muleta, mounted en a short stick. The science of bull murder mur-der ia to sheath the sword te the hilt in the body of the animal at the juncture junc-ture of the neck and spinal column. A roar of appreciation goes up from the throng of ercreeoriej before the fart when the principal in the crime doee his work graeefllv. Teams of mules drag the carcasses from the bloody ring, aad tha American spectator leaves tbe Plata del Tores feeling that if more Spaniards and fewer bulls were killed, the sport might be mere endurable. Football rlnyers B rarer. A Spanish writer who is strsngely lacking ia the saving grace of humor aava that the ball flffht of Bnain ia a unieae and glorious institutioa. . The love of bulls is inherent in man, especially espe-cially tha Spaniards, aavi thia authority, and thia glorious people have bad bull flghte since balls wore discovered, becsuse be-csuse the Bpaniah raea ia infinite) braver thaa any otOer, and deliffhts in meeting oo equal terras tfie Hpanish bull, tbe most savage of all beasts. Tha writer, who believes that the sport originated orig-inated ia Spain, ia ignorant of its his-torv, his-torv, hut he cannot be ignorant of its brutality and of tha untruthfulness of hie statement that it requires great bravery bra-very to attack a bull. The apecacle ia aa exhihitioa of the triumph of mind and cutlery over matter aad herns. Tbe ratio of fatalities to lights fatalities among pic adores, cbulos, matadors and bandcriileros ia small. Aa Am erica a football player ia mora eoarageoua and ' ft ore exnoeed U danger thaa a Spanish bull tghter. . Tha upper classes ta Bpala which meaas the enlightened r lessee ia a conn-try conn-try where tha meases ara aot enlightened enlight-ened have read ao mach criticism of tha national sport that some af them have withdrawn their patronage, but they are ia a minority evsa among tmeir claaa. Brad oft BntaUty. - Tha traveled Spaniard ia mora likely to dieeountenaaee tbe sport thaa tbe stay at home. Hia attitude illustrates the Bhakeepaareaa assertion. --wiser ia the child that goes to Borne." But children play at bull ffgbtiag ia the street. The aatioa is bred apoa it-The it-The smell of blood ia Veaa da vie" to the nrchia. It intoxicates the falling oed man. oairkona tha poises of the lowborn peat aat girl, gad doee aot aae-scata.ta-e lady of high degree. ' The Plata del Toros has not beea ueUaed a aerge . - - SPANIARDS WEDDED TO THE BULL FIGHT - (Contiaaed- from pa I ) popular with 11 elaaaea at ajl tiate. Queen Isabella erusaded" against it 400 years ago, but did not resort to -treme tneaiurea when th populace made it plain that ball fights were eonsid-red eonsid-red as iaallenahla form of amnae-meat. amnae-meat. Tha atnarboa. with th blood of Fraae la their vin. looked down upon tha plash aa a plaee wber the coarse and ill bred found pleasure. Philip V. abolished it. It waa speedily speed-ily revived and hi sureeesor built th coliseum in Madrid where ball murder is atill practiced with good deal of th flourish and fanfaronade ( former for-mer times, but with fewer grand in attendance. Entertain Qnaans With xljhta. Oureo Kna bow distribute pritea to bull flfbters to curry favor with the bpaaiek. Thar waa a time when a night rod into th arena to Bght. holla with gloves or kerchiefs, or lock of hair of their ladiaa in their tunica. Thoa halcvon days ar gon. Hired- men of low cast kilt th aai-mala aai-mala for moeey nowaday. Th sport ia nrafeaaioaalited completely. A gent t '.'mill" between Jack Johnson John-son and eome other black or whit aspirant as-pirant for th championship halt pulled off by th president of th Caitod Stat In honor of th visit of a German princ or. a Chines notable would be unthinkable in America, and would hav bean ao in th tint of George Washington. But Spaia haa mot than one had bull nghta as tid bit of choioe entertainment for distinguished guest of royalty. When Charles I. of England visited Spain Philip IV. gave in hit ndnbr -"th festival of trails"' and th arena must have bees slippsrv with, the blood of hones and bulls when, th curtain waa rung down upon the rive!. , Tha traditions of that gala celebration celebra-tion fired Ferdinand VII. with ambition- to- oelipe its glory. Whan hi death wa near and b called upoa Spain to aw ear allegiance to hi daughter daugh-ter Isabel, then in swaddling clothes, be held a festival of bulla that was satisfactorily sanguinary. Tb king and tha court occupied balconi over hanging the plaza In which Philip and Charles had witnessed the hull killing 200 years before. A foil hundred bulls received the coup d grace on this occasion oc-casion and tona upon tons of earcassee were dragged from the plaza by mules who hoof were crimsoned by their blood. .... v Aa long as th Spaniard has ahy-thiag ahy-thiag to ll or pawa be ia rich enough to secur hia "billet" aad aally gayly forth to fesst hia eyes upoa goro, vn if he doesn't know what he will feast hia stomach upon when h leavea th plaza. Tha motley throng that move toward tha gatea of the plaza ia a animated ani-mated a a multitude of Americnaa bound for a baseball park, and almost aa colorful in costuming aa a crowd of Indians going to th raea in Bombay Bom-bay or Calcutta. go Knot Boles for Boys. Th extremely poor who cannot actually ac-tually witnee tha slaughter must content con-tent thsmselws with hearing the shouting and hearing th "return. There are ao knot hole ia tha walla of th Plaza del Toros, because they ar mad of aton. There ar no tra ia which th gamina may per eh to see th gam. They can only hear th roar ( the bloody miaded barbarians with-ia with-ia tha ineloaur where the rich ar paying as much t ait ia "paleoa" as a tough American sport with a aoli-taire aoli-taire diamond in hia shirt front pay t a a prize fight from a boa ia - VTha "bleachera" ar Slied at 10 centi a aeat and ana cooked hot polloi pack them like aardinea la a can. Fifteen Fif-teen thouaand men and women in the amphitheatre see th bull ia ita aand-d aand-d entr drive mad by trained torturers tor-turers and killed when blind with rage and pain, receiving the coup de grace as a grateful relief from eufferiag. It's so Unfair right Of course. vryon knows that there ia no equality in th eonteet. A few miserable, apiritleaa. blindfolded hone may be brutally killed, but th death of a picadors, a ehuto. a banderillero or a matador is a remot contingency. Th lover of fair play who hope to th bull gore on of its hum tormentors tor-mentors Is disappointed. If there wr great probabilities In that direction the Spaniard could hire no bull baiter bait-er to try their fortune in th plaxa. for your bull fighter ia a practical minded person who ia getting hia living, liv-ing, not aeeking bis death. It m whea you see tb Spaniard at Fila.v that you understand mot clear-v clear-v why he ia poor at th business of government. Brutality is nothing more than bliadnw to the virtu of justice. Th Spaniard at tbo top ha no more consideration for the Spaniard it th bottom than all Spaniards have for the cab bora and the hull. If th country ever becomes a democratic republic' re-public' like it neighbor beyond th Pyrenees there will be more common schools and no buH singa. |