Let
Him Not Fail To Go To The Museum, However; He Will Be The Poorer Beyond
Calculation If He Does
Not; but he will be a beggar if he does not go to
the Hospital de la Caridad, where in
The church he will find six
Murillos out-Murilloing any others excepting always the incomparable
"Vision of St. Anthony" in the cathedral. We did not think of those six
Murillos when we went to the hospital; we knew nothing of the peculiar
beauty and dignity of the church; but we came because we wished to see
what the repentance of a man could do for others after a youth spent in
wicked riot. The gentle, pensive little Mother who received us carefully
said at once that the hospital was not for the sick, but only for the
superannuated and the poor and friendless who came to pass a night or an
indefinite time in it, according to the pressure of their need; and
after showing us the rich little church, she led us through long, clean
corridors where old men lay in their white beds or sat beside them
eating their breakfasts, very savory-looking, out of ample white bowls.
Some of them saluted us, but the others we excused because they were so
preoccupied. In a special room set apart for them were what we brutally
call tramps, but who doubtless are known in Spain for indigent brethren
overtaken on their wayfaring without a lodging for the night. Here they
could come for it and cook their supper and breakfast at the large
circular fireplace which filled one end of their room.
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