cking the turkey), which consisted of
serenades of love-songs, amorous dialogues, or the passage of notes
through the _reja_--the iron gratings which protect the lower windows of
Spanish houses from the prowling human wolf--or from the balconies. Many
a time have I seen these interesting little missives being let down past
my balcony--how trustful the innocents were!--to the waiting gallant
below, and his drawn up. Only once I saw a neighbour, in the balcony
below, intercept the post, and I believe substitute some other letter.
Cruel sport!

Perhaps born of this necessity of making acquaintance by fair means or
foul comes the custom, which appears to savour of such grossly bad
manners to us, of a man making audible remarks on the appearance of a
girl he has never seen before as she passes him in the street. _Ay! que
buenos ojos! Que bonita eres! Que gracia tienes!_ and the like. Far
from giving offence, the fair one goes on her way, perhaps vouchsafing
one glance from those lovely eyes of hers, with only a sense that her
charms have received their due tribute--not much elated, perhaps, but
certainly by no means offended; nor, indeed, was offence intended. The
fixed stare, which to us would mean mere ill-bred ignorance, is only
another ordinary tribute to the passing fair one from the other sex.

Marriage customs have changed much in the last few decades, and even
civil marriages are now not wholly unknown. In old days, if the ceremony
was performed in church, the bride and all the ladies must be attired in
black, for which reason the fashionable world established marriages in
the house, where more brilliant costumes might be displayed. These
generally take place in the evening, and the newly married couple do not
leave the house, unless the new home happens to be close by. In any
case, honeymoon tours are, or were, unusual. The _velada_ is the
ceremony in church, which must take place before the first child is
born, to legalise the marriage, but it does not necessarily immediately
follow the other ceremony. At it the ring is given. When the two
ceremonies take place at the same time it must be in the morning,
because the bride and bridegroom partake of the Holy Sacrament fasting.
From the description of a _boda_ in Galicia, in one of Pardo Bazan's
novels, it would seem that the bride there wears white, even at the
church. The wedding is a portentous affair, lasting all day from early
morning, and the bride and bridegro