SEATS OF REVOLUTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23057, 7 December 1936, Page 12

SEATS OF REVOLUTION

By Lily S. Krug

My Spanish flying experiences are amusing. Spanish pilots seem to take their jobs easy. It was pretty cold when I flew from Barcelona to Madrid. I was the only passenger in the plane. Suddenly the pilot took the seat near me "to warm himself," he explained, and left his mechanic in charge of the plane. We crossed the Ebro and Taja and the plain of Guadalupe. It was a delightful sight, looking down upon the beautiful Spanish country.

I found Madrid one of the finest capitals in Europe with friendly people and elegant homes. When I stood on the white marble balcony of my boarding house my landlady and the guests were frightened. " For Heaven's sake, come in. This balcony may not carry you; it may easily come down." And when I leaned out of the window they warned me not to do so as the window was not secure from danger. But all the same Madrid is lovely and elegant. What does it matter if it is not built too securely? I asked for the house key. House keys, however, do not exist in Madrid. If you come home later than 10 o'clock you have to clap your hands three times. Thereupon a doorkeeper peeps round the corner with a huge bundle of keys fastened at his belt and opens the door for you at a cost of 15 centesimos. This good man is in charge of a whole block and earns a salary of about 350 pesetas a month. Another occupation in Spain at which one earns his money easily is that of a bootblack. He earns about 550 pesetas monthly. Nobody even thinks of cleaning his shoes for himself. Please follow me to the Paseo Castellano, which at noon a band plays and the fashionable people of Madrid meet. The senora who sleeps usually till after 11 o'clock has to hurry if she wants to be in time to meet- her friends and to see her black-eyed children, who will be there with their nurse. The latter wears a coloured kerchief round her head, long ear-rings of silver-fili-gree work, a big white collar round her neck, a white blouse and a richly-coloured, wide skirt. Her long braid reaches her hips. Spanish women are not tall, but rather stout, and look most attractive if they wear the becoming mantilla, fastened over a tall comb in their shiny black hair. Madrid is famous for her beautiful galleries. The most well known is El Prado, with fine pictures by Goya, Ribera, Bergos, Velasquez, etc. The greatest genius amongst Spanish painters is El Greco. How I admire his immortal work, his expressive manner in painting, his use of colour, and his way of seeing things. Have a look at his home in Toledo, one of the most interesting old towns in Spain, famous for its art, ancient history and delicious marzipan. Walk into the underground passages that lead to the River Tajo from which the persecuted Spanish Jews fled abroad in 1500. Let us visit their synagogue, El Transido, a most interesting sight. This synagogue was reorganised into a Catholic c?thedral later on. There exist still the ancient Scriptures in Hebrew at the walls, and the boxes where the Jewish women used to worship apart from their fathers, husbands and sons, as custom and tradition demand. Amazing how one religion is built on top of another in this synagogue-cathedral! The same you find opposite in the

Cathedral Santa Teme, which was once a mosque. The wealth of the Catholic Church in Spain is enormous.

Toledo is most picturesque, with its narrow, ancient lanes, its beautiful architecture and memories. Do not miss seeing Crevantes's home, El Caso de Sangre, if it has survived the bombardment. It was there that he wrote his famous " Don Quixote." Opposite Toledo, high in the mountains, is a small village where water is scarce. People there used to build their homes with clay mixed by wine instead of by water. Wine cost only four centesimos a quart. You get wine served free of charge with every meal you take. Food in Spain is rich and tasty. I was in Spain when King Alfonso had to flee the country on the proclamation of a Republic; when shouting crowds disturbed the elegance of the broad, fine streets of the capital; when the famous Spanish caricaturist Bacarid made cartoons of the King and his Ministers with valises in their hands; when, besides the Marseillaise, such songs were shouted by the Republicans as "Alfonso, Alfonso, Alfonso se fueporque los Espagnoles no de damos a comer" (Alfonso had to leave the country, as the Spanish did not give him something to eat). It was rather a bad omen for the King when on his wedding day an anarchist threw a bomb into his state carriage, killing the driver, whose blood dyed the King's and the Queen's festival garments red, purple-red. At Easter time, only a few days before the Royal Family had to flee, the Queen followed an ancient custom in washing the feet of 12 poor people in her castle, after which ceremony they were fed at the royal table. They were given another meal to take home on royal plates, being the same dishes that were used at the King's table. They usually sell this present, earning good money by it.

The subways and street cars did not run in the first days of the revolution, and the automobiles had a hard time making their way through the crowded streets. " Viva the Republica! " The old red-yellow-red flag of the Spanish kingdom was burnt and replaced by the red-yellow-violet one of the Republic. Women ornamented their frocks and hair with bows in the same colours. The sun smiled its old, kind smile. The peseta devalued more and more each day. The newest European Republic was baptised. One of the oldest kingdoms in Europe was smashed on which, when Columbus discovered America, the sun never set.

I was the first woman who received an interview from the Prime Minister of the Republic, Nicato Alvara Zamora, a former solicitor and an elegant, clever, kind senor who spoke to me in the romantic, flowery style that is typical of Spain. The fiery Spaniards are fond of "juerga," which means revolution. To-day the Republican Government has a hard time fighting the Fascists. Fascism seems to spread in Europe, seems to become fashionable more and more in the Old Country, where things are pretty topsy-turvy, where the monster, war, stares around the corner continuously with gloomy eyes.