SPAIN: 1st Birthday

Just at dusk last week, long snakelike strings of firecrackers pip-popped from the trees in the Retiro, Madrid's sprawling city park. Gaping crowds spread over the lawns to watch pinwheels swoosh round, rockets sizzle high into the sky. It was the eve of the first birthday of Spain's Republic, the anniversary of the day Alfonso XIII fled from his country. Airplanes dropped 50,000 little red, yellow and purple parachutes; there were gala football matches and bullfights. Pink with pleasure, tousle-haired President Niceto Alcala Zamora reviewed 10,000 troops in the Castellana avenue, presided over...

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