The Cabmen Of Madrid Are Great Readers, Much Greater, I Am Sorry To Say, Than I Was, For Whenever I Bought A Spanish Paper I Found It Extremely Well Written.

Now and then I expressed my political preferences in buying _El Liberal_ which I thought very able; even _El Imparcial_ I thought able, though it is less radical than _El Liberal,_ a paper which is published simultaneously in Madrid, with local editions in several provincial cities.

For all the street silence there seemed to be a great deal of noise, which I suppose came from the click of boots on the sidewalks and of hoofs in roadways and the grind and squeal of the trams, with the harsh smiting of the unrubbered tires of the closed cabs on the rough granite blocks of the streets. But there are asphalted streets in Madrid where the sound of the hoofs and wheels is subdued, and the streets rough and smooth are kept of a cleanliness which would put the streets of New York to shame if anything could. Ordinarily you could get cabs anywhere, but if you wanted one very badly, when remote from a stand, there was more than one chance that a cab marked _Libre_ would pass you with lordly indifference. As for motor taxi-cabs there are none in the city, and at Cook's they would not take the responsibility of recommending any automobiles for country excursions.

VII

I linger over these sordid details because I must needs shrink before the mention of that incomparable gallery, the Museo del Prado.

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