RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN 19 



went was being modernized to such an extent that openings 

 were being made in the walls and the floors to admit a won- 

 derful steam-heating plant ! The proprietor begged us, with 

 many courtly bows, to stay, that the installation of the calefac- 

 cion should not disturb us, for it would be transferred to an- 

 other part of the house. Notwithstanding his entreaties, and 

 the fine rooms with special balconies overlooking the Carrera 

 de San Jeronimo, we took up our quarters elsewhere, giving 

 a weak-kneed promise of coming back when the calefaccion 

 was completed. 



Madrid cabmen are very independent, self-possessed, chary 

 of speech, and will seldom abate much of their price for a 

 drive. They may be said to be the opposite of the Italian cab- 

 man in these respects. Once I asked a cabman how much he 

 would charge to drive me across Madrid to the Museo de Arte 

 Modema, and he answered: "Dos pesetas y medio" (Two 

 and a half pesetas). I said that I would give him two pesetas, 

 and all he did was to look at me reproachfully, take out a 

 cigarette, slowly light it, and begin to smoke. He had named 

 his price and that ended it. Nor did any of the other cabmen 

 in the line make a move to secure me as a fare. 



The focus of life in Madrid is at the Puerta del Sol (the 

 Gate of the Sun). Once upon a time, when Madrid had its 

 beginning and there were walls, there was a Gate of the Sun. 

 It disappeared long ago, and now one looks directly upon the 

 rising sun, if one strolls out early enough, without the inter- 

 vention of walls. The place is now a large oblong plaza, the 

 starting-point for all the electric street cars in Madrid and 

 the location of some of the most fashionable hotels. The 

 population of Madrid surges through it at all times of the day, 

 and in that respect it may be compared to Fifth Avenue in 

 New York or to Trafalgar Square in London. From it radi- 

 ate a number of important streets, of which the Calle de 

 Alcala is the largest and the best known. It is far wider than 

 the widest street we have in New York, and it leads directly 

 to the Buen Retiro, or Central Park of Madrid, passing by the 

 Prado, a great avenue of trees known all the world over. The 

 very word Prada brings to memory the magnificent Museo 

 Nacional de Pintura y Escultura, with its wonderfully fine 

 collections of the great masters. It contains two rooms respec- 

 tively devoted to Murillo and Velasquez, the Mecca of the 



