SPANISH BEAUTIES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10592, 22 October 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

SPANISH BEAUTIES.

At all times Spam h.is been Limed lor the beauty of its a omen And so much is the traditional gloij esteemed m the Peninsula itself that there is a keen rivalry among the provinces as to which can show the loveliest. Eveij joar each province holds a beauty contest, .it which prizes are awarded to tho women who win.

The women of the KorJ.li and South of Spam are in temperament, chai ictci, and disposition as diffeient .is hrjht from darkness. Thoso ot the north iotam much ot then Gel tic'origin. Then sister oi the south, the Andalusian, v,ho is assuredly tho "most esquisito z\\il ot Spanish loveliness and giace, retains a gieat deal of liei Moorish ancestn I Tho southern lace of Spam is a i lix- ' ture of Caith.igiman, Roman, GoUiu, and Moorish blood, the latter predominating. In the Jerez district, • w hei e many Englishmen havo estahhshod themselves m tho wino trado and ha>e married Spanish w omen, their chilui c l aie an ideal product, possessing all t l ie finest ehaiactenslics otthe English rrcc and all the chaim and beauty ot the Spanish, especially in the female line Tlie Spanish woman ripens earl}, and is at her best from sixteen to twent-s----fhe At that age she la enchanting but her charms aie less lasting than those of her sisters in Northern Europe. She is intelligent, very affectionate, passionate, faithful -unto death and thiough good and evil report, and an excellent and devotedmother

She is exquisitely sensitive, and when her heart is really engaged sho counts "tho world well lost ior love." She is pi otonndly religious, perhaps in some instances a little bigoted, but this contiasts pleasantly with the utter scepticism and unbelief of" most Spanish men.

In Spam itself opinions aio divided as to which are tho most beautiful of her daughters, and certainly in Catalonia and in tho northern provinces, such as Galicia and Biscaya;' ono sees no mean examples, but the Andalusian maiden beara aw.ij the palm, and it would not ho casj to find anywheio in tho woild moie perfect specimens of female beauty than in Seville and Granada, tho land of Carmen.

Spam has pioduced in the past many womeii notable for brains and intelligence as well as foi beauty Theie were St. Teresa, for instance, and Donna Maria do Molina, mother of King Alfonso XL, famous for her long ltgoncj dui'mg the pioti acted mmonty of her son; Donna Mariana Phida of Granada, and the great and mighty Queen Isabel the Catholic, thiough whoso influence and abnegation Coin nihil" was enabled to discovei the New Woild

Among those of the present day may he mentioned the Conutess de Pardo Basan, whose famo as a. novelist is well known, and whoso works have been translated into most modern languages, and finally ono who should not be forgotten, tlio:lovely Donhn Maria do las Mercedes, wife of the unfortunate monarch Alfonso X11.,-'father 'of tlie present King, whose short wedded life terv minated so tragically, and who sleeps alone in the gloomy monastery of the "Escorial," separated even- in death from him she loved so dearly, because, according to the Spanish Constitution, not having borne an heir to the throne sho could not ho buried in the Royal mausoleum by the side of her husband. Tlia beauty of her character had a great influence on the King—she was his cousin, and it had been a real love match. Her untimely death changed his whole life, rendering him indifferent to most tilings, and indeed occasionally oblivious of the many duties which his exalted position entailed.