SPAIN OF THE SPANIARDS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume LXIII, Issue 3251, 20 February 1933, Page 7

SPAIN OF THE SPANIARDS.

ANCIENT SPAIN. Spain is a walled country, cut off from its' neighbors by the Pyrenees. The houses themselves (many of them) present blank facades to the street, but within the walls is the patio or courtyard, which is the centre of communal life. A people who live thus are necessarily a race of individualists and their besetting sin is indifference. Spain is more unspoilt by modern ideas of progress than any other European country. Landed at Corunna, the tourist sees a city of soldiers, priests and donkeys. There are donkeys everywhere. A horse and donkey are hitched to the same cart, pulling in opposite directions. Women seem to do all the heavy work, carrying heavy burdens on their heads, while men sat idly by. No one hurries in Spain. The evening meal is not eaten till late at night. In every street the lottery ticket seller pursues you, and on the occasion when the Grand Lottery being drawn, the solemn Spaniards pray fervently to the “Lady of Miracles,” each one a potential millionaire. At Madrid the signs of wealth and power are deceptive. The life of Madrid centres in a square called “The Gate of the Sun,” the most animated spot in the world, but to the modern eye it seems like toyland. A watering cart, drawn by a man, sprinkles a thin stream of water across the huge square, and three mules pull an antiquated engine. That Spain is a country full of music is a popular- illusion. Human song is as absent as the song of birds. Only at the annual fiesta is there open-air singing and dancing, complete with?the guitars, castenets and swirling shawls of popular imagination. The fair, held in every large city,, is one of the most picturesque sights Spain has to offer, and is to be seen at its best in Seville. Ronda is the picture town/Of Spain, . set high up in the mountains, hard to get at, and famous for its bridge spanning a deep chasm. One sees a bull fight at Toleda, and concludes that it is the native indifference of the Spanish character which permits such a spectable of cruelty. The animals must serve their purpose —to amuse the people. Spain still lies under the shadow of the Middle Ages.