i8 ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



end of the Prado, we found a decided contrast to the quiet of 

 the country. The long line of hotel omnibuses and cabs solicit- 

 ing travellers showed that Madrid was as active in that regard 

 as any American city. Indeed, in one respect, it was even 

 more advanced than New York. The Spanish mail wagons 

 (correos) were not, as here, drawn by horses, but were smart, 

 light-running automobiles, which traversed the city with mar- 

 velous celerity and delivered the mail with expedition. 



Madrid, in some respects, is a disappointing city. It is old 

 enough not to be new, and yet it is not old enough to be an- 

 cient. Its cathedral, Nuestra Senora de la Almudena, has 

 not been built above the basement story, and in that it resem- 

 bles the beginnings of many American churches. This cir- 

 cumstance made us feel quite at home when we went down 

 to admire it. The basement is very beautifully constructed and 

 has a fine organ. Some time, when money is more plentiful 

 in Spain, the splendid main structure will be built. Another 

 instance of newness is the Church of San Francisco — the Pan- 

 theon or Westminster Abbey of Spain — for it looks almost as 

 if it left the builders' hands only the day before yesterday. It 

 is a circular church with a very lofty dome like the Capitol 

 at Washington or St. Paul's in London. The stained glass 

 is very modern, but it contains examples of the very finest 

 German and French artists in modern glass-design and color- 

 ing. The whole effect is one of beauty and harmony. But 

 the church hardly fulfills its purpose of being the resting- 

 place of the great men of Spain, as the inscription on its front 

 "Spain to her distinguished sons" {Espana a sus preclaros 

 Hijos) proudly proclaims. The commissions entrusted with 

 the search were unable to find the bodies of Guzman, Cer- 

 vantes, Lope de Vega, Herrera, Velasquez, or Murillo, whose 

 resting-places are unknown. Even many of those who were 

 disinterred and buried here were afterwards removed and re- 

 stored to their original tombs owing to the vigorous protests 

 and threatened lawsuits of their descendants and their fellow- 

 provincials. 



New buildings are going up everywhere; a fine new post- 

 office intended to be very modern and up-to-date, and a still 

 finer hotel — one of the Ritz-Carlton series — intended to eclipse 

 anything of its kind, while a host of apartment houses and 

 minor structures are projected. The first hotel to which we 



