224 



WILD SPAIN. 



sideraljle variation in the quality of the hired. The old, 

 the halt and lame, if friends of the capataz, receive the 

 same pay as the young and strong. Although all may go 

 forth into the vineyard at the seventh hour, there is _yet 

 ground for doubting the substantial justice of the nine- 

 teenth-century capataz as there was in olden days of Bible 

 history. 



These and other minor abuses will not be remedied till 

 landowner and farmer live on their properties — a thing un- 

 known in Spain. The farmer, or lahrador — as with grotesque 

 incongruity he styles himself — lives in his cool and 

 luxurious mansion in the town, receiving visits every few 



WOODEN PLOUGHSHARE. 



days from his steward ; but months go by, even years, be- 

 tween his rare visits to the farm. The land is, as a rule, 

 his own, and being a man of means, so long as things go 

 on fairly, and his sacks of corn or casks of wine arrive in 

 town in due season, and without excessive pillage, he is 

 content. 



Most of the farms being held by capitalists, the farmer 

 can withstand the loss of a few bad years : and when a 

 good one comes — they calculate one fat year to four lean — 

 all losses are recouped and a large balance to the good re- 

 wards his patience. 



