| Show MH M M I th BOYS and GIRLS by IN OLD SPAIN PIATT t t 4 t 11 life of children and young THE people in spain Is very different from that of the youth in the united states while they arc small both spanish boya and carla are petted and spoiled in a way that would make american parents halt crazy in the very highest social rank the spanish father and mother are devoted to their children particularly Is abla true of the spanish mother she cear exerts herself physically for them otiis never eberta bersek y tor anything but she loves th BO fondly that she Is ove ahm and lets them have their own way an that perhaps la the boy and girl idea of paradise but there la ona feature of spanish child alto that cannot be too much commended even while they are little the spanish boy manifests toward his slaters 9 fine politeness and kindness that would amaza young america all the cheval rou aneas that the young gentleman of the spanish nobility shows to his lay taught ia childhood to anant eeor own little sister in respect to politeness toward all birle U Is really pity the american boy could not take a lesson from the boy but many other things spanish youth could ably eam from american young people the tiby of the higher bajik Is that working for ats living Is honorable and manly asfor As for the girl 0 spain bhe does not even always learn to spell and write properly it la not considered that needs these ac which are for that must earn their own living you will see from this that the poor spanish ahll en have little chance to amount to much tor nothing fait work will ever bring out the power in anybody in spain the women and girls superior to all the others are those of the farms the ones who learn useful occupations pat ions these useful ones are also the handsomest of the spanish women and girls in the i arming or peasant families the girls the cooking and other labor in old spain girl la considered a young lady at fifteen she can sing and py the guitar a little and she can cm broade beautifully she has a smooth pretty skin dark large shining eyes ard heavy black hair that la thought quite enough for any well born gialto embroider and to be pretty she must also know how to move gracefully through the spanish national dancea but anything more no sometimes she goes awhile to oneff the very interior schools tor girls in old spain it not that she has a governess at home and the governess la a french british or german woman I 1 do not know whether spanish women are not sufficiently educated to be teachers but the governess s always a foreigner the lady teacher la best liked in a spanish family maybe because she ls lively and witty and so different from 1 the grave spaniards spanish girls miss nearly all that makes ma worth living to the american girl the fun of going to school with the boya and spelling them down and beating them at arithmetic or being beaten by them as the case may be and trying all the harder in consequence playing at outdoor games with brothers and boy arlenda and getting strength and self reliance all this education that helps both the american boy and girl BO much the youth ot spain altogether girls are not even encouraged to read books much before the time of queen elizabeth many people even in england thought it was rather a bold bad thing for a girl to know how to write and wish to read books in culture and learning in those days spain was in advance of england but since that day the nations of northern europe and their descendants in other lands have moved forward and upward they have learned that civilization itself cependa on the all round education of the people both men and women spain to have stood still to this day just where she was three centuries ago |
