290 THE ETHICAL KINSHIP 



psychologically equipped to go into raptures over 

 the blood-curdling combustions of a literal hell. 



Few pastimes indulged in by civilised peoples 

 are more horrible to an emancipated mind than 

 that of bull-fighting. It is the national amusement 

 of Spain, and is carried on among all peoples who 

 have acquired their natures and institutions from 

 the Spanish. * Every Sunday afternoon, when- 

 ever the weather permits, 14,000 or 15,000 men 

 and women, representing every class of society, 

 mothers and grandmothers, priests and monks, 

 assemble at the Plaza de Toros in Madrid to 

 witness the most brutal spectacle the human 

 taste approves. Six bulls are tortured and 

 worried until they are exhausted. Then they 

 are killed by the thrusts of the sword of a 

 matador, who is the most popular person in the 

 community and makes more money than any 

 other man. Often as many as twelve horses are 

 ripped open by the horns of the infuriated bulls, 

 and are allowed to die in the presence of the 

 audience, with blood gushing from their wounds 

 and their entrails dragging upon the ground. 

 This sort of thing is carried on not only in 

 Madrid, but is a regular weekly festival in all 

 the cities of Spain. The horses are blindfolded, 

 so they cannot even see what attacks them. The 

 men who torture the bulls have wooden screens 

 behind which they can dodge when pursued, and 

 if one of the baited creatures crowds too closely 

 upon any of its toi mentors, the other matadors 

 throw a blanket over its head. It is not sport, 



