irls in
the convents are taught to adore the Virgin in a very abstract and
indefinite way, and are given very little practical advice as to the
essential traits of true womanhood. A remarkable article, written
recently in one of the Madrid papers by one who signed himself "A Priest
of the Spanish Catholic Church," says, apropos of this very question:
"Instead of the Virgin being held up to admiration as the Mother of Our
Lord and as an example of all feminine perfection, the ideal woman and
mother, the people are called upon to worship the idea of the Immaculate
Conception, an abstract dogma of recent invention...." This Madonna
worship is one of the characteristic things in the religious life of
Spain, and everywhere _La Virgen_, who is rarely if ever called _Santa
Maria_, is an object of great love and reverence. There are many of
these _Virgenes_ scattered throughout the country, and each is
reverenced. Many of them are supposed to work miracles or answer
prayers, and their chapels are filled with the votive offerings of those
who have been helped in time of trouble. Not the least pathetic among
these offerings are the long locks of hair tied with ribbons of many
colors, which have been contributed by some mother because her child has
been restored from sickness to health. Women are more devout than the
men in their observance of religious duties, although the whole
population is religious to an unusual degree so far as the outward
forms are concerned, but the real religion which aims at character
building is little known as yet.

With regard to the general position of women in Spain, and their
influence upon public life, which as yet is not of any considerable
moment, Madame L. Higgin, in her recent volume upon Spanish life, writes
as follows: "As a rule, they take no leading part in politics, devoting
themselves chiefly to charitable works. There is a general movement for
higher education and greater liberty of thought and action among women,
and there are a certain limited number who frankly range themselves on
the side of so-called emancipation, who attend socialistic and other
meetings, and who aspire to be the comrades of men rather than their
objects of worship or their play-things. But this movement is scarcely
more than in its infancy. It must be remembered that even within the
present generation the bedrooms allotted to girls were always approached
through those of their parents, that no girl or unmarried w