SUNNY SPAIN.

Evening Star, Issue 11893, 22 May 1903, Page 8

SUNNY SPAIN.

Anglican Innocents m Spain' is the title of a recent book by Mr F. E. Sidney. It is described as chatty and pleasant. The following extracts are worth noting:—"There are about 20,000,000 people in Spain; 12,000 000 1 cannot read or write, 8,000,000 put themselves down in the census as of no occupation, 56 000 are beggars, 72,000 are priests or nuns-and all as ignorant as the proverbial owl " Of Madrid he says it reminds him of a secondrate Brussels:—"The view of Madrid when fust approached by the railway, is very disappointing. There are no commanding buildings, the Royal Palace excepted. The city being dominated by neither tower nor spire' presents consequently a flat and poor appearance. One's first impression-is not improved on acquaintance with the streets, which are about the worst of any capital in Europe—never mended, seldom cleaned, and often several inches deep in filth, which said filth is occasionally scratched up into enormous mud heaps and left to overturn the first unwary cab which comes across this luckless path. The beauties of a London mud-cart were never appreciated at their true worth before I saw these streets. How the very rackety cabs hang together remains a mystery which I have never been able to solve. The city is laid out on no plan whatever, and forms a heterogeneous mass of ill-considered, mean streets, with one or two main arteries running in eccentric directions; the heart and of the whole plan being the Puerta del Sol, ' the gate of the sun,' whose rays have been invisible for the last three days." Respect for truth, however, compels Mr Sidney to utter one word of praise in behalf of the capital of Spain and its people:—"l have now been staying in Madrid some time, and have not wen a single drunken perso intenlperance is certainly not one of their vices; neither have I . seen an animal illtreated. I have met thousands of oxen drawing heavy carts through the city, but not one abused. I can see more cruelty to dumb animals in London in one day than during a whole month in Madrid; and yet in no country is more done to prevent cruelty to animals than in England." The author falls foul both of the climate of Madrid and of its cooking: "The climate of Madrid and of the whole central elevated plateau of Spain is simply horrible. Although Spain is one of the most southerly countries of Europe, the climate is probably the worst; unbearably hot in summer and cold in winter; and the temperature frequently virios JOdeg Fahrenheit during hot. weather within the twenty-four hc.vre. Those who do not die in winter leave Madrid in summer. Fatal to lung trouble the climate is excellent for digestion. This is exemplified by the wholesale manner in which an underfed people swallow the most indigestible matter, such as vinegar, pickles, and sweets, with most of their meals—the said meals generally consisting of the most ungodly mixtures. Spanish cookery is a heterogeneous mass of materials.seasoned with garlic and oil, washed down with wine possessing a fine aroma of j.-ig-skin and tar, and a cigarette between each course." The Spanish priest also comes under the harrow cf criticism: —"Now, as I was going into a real Catholic country—for all Spain is Catholic with the exception.of a few belated Pro testants and certain stray sons of AbrahamI naturally wanted to know what a Spanish clergyman was like. Well, I saw him at one of the first stations on entering Spain. Dressed after the usual manner of clergymen abroad, but in rags, as far as his trousers •were concerned, poor man!—at least what small portion of them I was privileged to see. He didn't wash, looked decidefy 'high' church, and was blessed with an awful squint. Between ourselves, 1 wouldn't trust him with a sliillin;r. Now, I don't say that all clergymen in Spain aro like this, but I am simply desrrihins: the Prst ono I saw, and a lair sample of a Spanish rural clergyman; in fact, I came, I saw, I smelt him. But. he was, I am sure, quite suited to his position; ma'nv of his parishioners squinted, few washed, and all smelt." Spain is the land of contrasts, says our author: —" Spain is a country that might be rich in corn, wine, oil, fruit, manufactures, marble, granite, silver, iron, tin, copper, and hidden mineral wealth of all sorts, but the people prefer to be idle and to beg. Again, fcpam is a country of contrasts. Up in the heights or down in the depths. Fertile beauty and barren ugliness, perpetual snows and burning deserts. A language more purely Latin than Italian itself, teeming with Moorish and Frankish words. The' Archbishop's palace is all glorious within, and yet he sleeps on the meanest of beds. The Royal palace at Madrid is, perhaps, cne of the finest in Europe, yet the road that leads, to it is the worst. Magnificent churches and half-starved churchmen. In years gone by forest trees spread their branches over a grateful earth, now Spain is a shadeless wilderness. The ghosts of Moorish cornfields bend ever Spanish swamps. The land of learning has become the land of coarse ignorance. Seated beneath the shadow of Seville University a man may be seen daily plying the out-of-date trade of a public letterwriter. God sends the Spaniard the best of meat, but the Devil himself cooks it."