to death, a shower of
heavy drops, as from a thunder-cloud, pattered on the pavement of the
Weeping Chamber, and was heard distinctly at night through the whole
house. At length the family quitted the country in search of better
fortunes elsewhere, and the house remained for a long time uninhabited.

The lady who narrated the story went to live in the house, and passed some
years without being disturbed; but one night she was lying awake, and
distinctly heard the warning shower dripping heavily in the Weeping
Chamber. Next day the news came of her mother's death, and she hastened to
remove to another dwelling. The house has since been utterly abandoned to
rats, mice, beetles, and an occasional ghost seen sometimes streaming
along the rain-pierced terraces. No one has ever attempted to violate the
solitude of the sanctuary where Selima wept for the seven little ones
taken to the grave, and for the absent one whom she had treated with
unmotherly neglect.

THE BULL FIGHT OF MADRID.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE CASTILIAN."

It was one of those clear, bright days, peculiar to a Spanish summer, when
the deep blue skies seem to reflect their warmth in radiance over the
earth; a slumberous influence hung over the tranquil streets of Madrid,
and although it was still early in the morning, the fervid rays of the sun
gave a certain indication of the meridian power he was about to display in
a few hours.

Such was the day appropriated for the splendid and soul-stirring
celebration of a bull-fight; and accordingly, the inhabitants soon began,
by an unusual bustle, to evince the absorbing interest they are accustomed
to take in this favorite amusement. Before the hour of nine, the beautiful
street of Alcala was thronged with a promiscuous multitude, eager to
witness the first exhibition of the morning; the Spanish bull-fight being
in fact composed of two acts, if I may so term them, the morning and the
evening encounters.

On such days, a general cessation of labor takes place throughout the
city, and the whole population is occupied with speculations on the
approaching festival. On the morning in question, the inhabitants of
Madrid, the lower classes in particular, attired in their holiday finery,
began at an early hour to issue from their narrow and obscure dormitories,
and, with tolerably cleanly appearance and much importance of demeanor, to
take up a position in that famous _Puerta del sol_ which,