Identifier: meccasofworldpla01cran (find matches)
Title: The meccas of the world; the play of modern life in New York, Paris, Vienna, Madrid and London
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: Cranston, Ruth
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, John Lane company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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ting onthe slightest provocation, but going literally mad overeach incident of the matadors daring; and finally,if he makes a neat kill, throwing their hats andcoats—anything—into the arena while the air rever-berates with Bravos! Meantime, however, the matador plays with deathevery second. He darts towards the bull, tauntingthe now maddened beast with the fiery muleta, mock-ing him, talking to him, even turning his back to him—only to leap round and beside him in the wink ofan eye when the bull would have gored him to death.Young Gallito strokes his second bull from head tomouth several times; Gaona lays his hat on the ani-mals horns, and carelessly removes it again; whileBombita, who is veritable quicksilver, has his magnifi-cent clothes torn to pieces but remains himself un-scratched in his breath-taking manoeuvres with thebeast. Finally, with a swift gesture, he raises hisarm, casts aside the muleta, drives his sword straightand true between the shoulders of his adversary. A
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THE BROKEN-DOWN ACTOR 193 shout goes up—wild as that of the Coliseum of old:Bombita! Bombita! El matador—Bombita! Andwe know that the bull is dead, but that Bombita, whohas been teasing death, scoffing at it, for the lasttwenty minutes, lives—triumphant. And what is it all about? Atrocious cruelty, abit of bravado, and ecco! A hero! Exactly. Justas in the prize ring, the football field, or an exhibitionof jiu-jitsu. We pay to be shocked, terrified, andfinally thrilled; by that which we have neither theskill nor the courage to attempt ourselves. But, yousay, these other things are fair sport—man to man;we Anglo-Saxons do not torture defenceless animals.What about fox hunting? There is not even the dig-nity of danger in the English sport; if the hunterrisks his life, it is only as a bad rider that he does so.And certainly the wretched foxes, fostered and caredfor solely for the purpose of being harried to death,are treated to far more exquisite cruelty than theworn-out cab horse

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