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LCHOLS no/l
fiy P. L. Stanton
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HOUGH travel in Spain is becoming
much more common and comfortable
than it was two decades ago, it is not
yet anything like so extensive as it is in
France, Italy, Switzerland, and other
countries in Europe. This is net be
cause of a lack of attractions in the
Iberian peninsula. In history, legend,
traditional sites, and in natural scenery
but few countries are more richly endowed. As
Dr. E. P. Thwin? has said: “Spain is a land of
sunshine and shadow. Bright romance and stern
reality, fruitfulness and sterility, entrancing beauty
and repulsiveness, meet in contrast continually. In
its history, scenery, physical features and moral
life, Spain is full of surprises and contradictions.’*
1 am happy to record that a certain party of six,
traveling in Spain this summer, did not meet with
much of the repulsive; nor did they find that it was
a land where “two and two make five,’’ where
“yes, may mean no,” and “tomorrow, any time in
tho future,” any more than they found it so in
other lands in which they traveled. Nor did its
“people plunder them, and commend them to the
grace of Gud.” No more courteous and gentle man
nered people did they find in the many lands vis
ited.
While it is probably true that at the beginning of
the nineteenth century, not one-third of the people
could read and write, it is not so now. Spain, even
poor, old sleepy Spain, is waking up. Vast im
provement has been made, even since the “late un
pleasantness” between that country and ours: and
it may be (who knows?) that much of the new life is
due to that “unpleasantness.” (Pass this sugges
tion by as a little bit of American conceit.)
It may be that many of its population are “tak
ing things easy,” or, as they put it, “avoid the
fatigue of discomposing themselves,” simply because
things do not move at the break-neck speed that
some would have them. One thing may be said of
the Spaniard, whether he be country reared or city
bred, he never seems to be in Loo great a hurry to
be polite, and that is more than can be said of some
others who might shrug their shoulders in scorn at
being compared to the people of Spain.
The rural districts of Spain are charming in many
ways. In the hill country, the little valleys be
tween the precipitous hillsides, often every nook
and corner of them, and the terraces of the slopes,
present beautiful and picturesque scenes as the rail
way train rushes by them. Much of the farming
is done after a very primitive manner. This is so
in the planting and cultivation of lhe crops, and
especially true in the harvesting and threshing, and
yet some parts of the land are as fine sections for
wheat growing as can be found, and that crop is
usually harvested with the old style reap-hook,
threshed by having cattle driven around and around
over it, and winnowed by being thrown up against
the wind. The greatest quantities of wheat which
I have seen brought together at any one threshing
place were in Spain. Tbose great threshing places
present lively and interesting scenes; the curious
carts with their tall loads, drawn by meek looking
oxen, the immense piles of grain in the sheaf, the
great heaps still in the chaff, and the smaller neaps
of the winnowed golden grain, while men. women,
children, with the beasts of burden, move around
in a sort of systematic confusion, with that quick,
joyful step which has always been associated with
harvest scenes. Well may all sing, “Bringing in the
golden sheaves. ’ ’
In many places where the soil seems too sterile
to bring the common field crops, it is used for grow
ing cork trees. Thousands, tens of thousands, and
hundreds of thousands of these could be seen, some
of them fresh stripped of their bark, looking some
thing like newly sheared sheep. Thus deprived of
their bark it would seem, to the uninitiated, that they
would surely die, but they do not die—do not seem
to even take a bad cold. This peeling is done every
seven years. It looks as if Spain is producing a
sufficient number of corks to meet the cork de
mand of the balance of the world, even after she
has met the very large home consumption.
The Golden Age for November 14, 1907.
Reaching all the way from the broad, level plains,
charming valleys, woeded hills ; up to the grand
ranges of the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevadas, whose
loftiest peaks are snow crowned the year round.
Spain is richly erdewed in natural scenery. In her
wealth of historic and legendary lore she ranks well
up toward the front, and must surely take first
rank in the number of her miracle-working (?)
images of saints. These latter perform many “ly
ing wonders.” In the superstition which makes
such things possible and which cherishes these and
many kindred ideas may be sought one of the great
reasons why the most efficient worker in the cruel
Inquisition is so backward in the march of Chris
tian civilization. The hold of superstition and
lhe power of priestcraft are being broken, but, alas!
the tendency is from this extreme to that of out
right infidelity.
In many places in the country and in most of
lhe cities are important remains other civiliza
tions, reaching back through the Moorish to that
of Rome. About the country are remains of Rom
an aqueducts, bridges, fortifications, etc. Among
the cities, excepting Gianada with its Alhambra,
the one which seems to exhibit the most signs of
Moorish occupation is the quaint and Interesting
old city of Seville, which “was Moorish, and is
so Moorish still.” Many of its houses were built
by the Moors, and many of its best residences are
constructed after the Moorish model, which is best
suited to the warm climate. Its best known speci
mens of Moorish architecture are the tall minaiet,
now used as a belfry for the great cathedral by
which it stands, anddhe restored Alcazar, the Moor
ish royal palace. The firmer was the minaret for
the great mosque which stood where the cathedral
now stands. This was saved when the city was
being captured by the Spaniards from the Moors
by the threat of the Spanish general that, if it
were destroyed, he would let his soldiers sack the
city. But for this the Moors who were Moslems
would have destoryed it, regarding it as too holy
to allow it to fall into the hands of “unbelievers.”
On top of this lofty, square tower is an immense
moving figure, one and a quarter tons in weight.
It is called “The Giralda,” from “girar,” mov
ing. The tower is the oldest structure in Seville,
having been built by Abu Yakub Yusef, in 1196.
The real “lion” of Seville must be in the Al
cazar, the Moorish royal palace, which, since its
restoration in the original style, has become a rival
of the Alhambra. Its beauties are beyond descrip
tion, causing the charmed beholder who has not
seen the Alhambra to wonder how they can be ex
celled even in that famous palace. The work on
the walls and ceilings has a richness in detail that
is astonishing.
The Seville Cathedral, covering about 124,000
square feet, is the second largest church building
in the world, occupying more than cne-fourth more
ground than is covered by St. Paul, in London. It
is exceedingly elaborate in its architecture and rich
in its furnishings, especially its gold and silver dec
orations and its wood carvings. One of its chapels
has the remains of Ferdinand ILL, in a massive
casket of pure silver, the original wooden coffin,
with the inclosing cedar wood box, being preserved
in the same chapel. In another part of the cathe
dral is a huge mausoleum which contains the re
mains of Columbus, which were brought from Ha
vana, Cuba, near the close of the Spanish-American
war. In a crypt :’s a life-size image of pure sil
ver, representing the Virgin Mary. Besides these
there are treasures of costly plate, crosses, silver
altars, gorgeous vestments, etc., etc. The magnifi
cent case of the great cigan is a piece of elaborate
wood carving.
Madrid, founded by Philip IL, is comparatively
modem, and must be reached from .he fruitful parts
of the country whose capital it is by crossing an
arid plain. Its situation and climate have been the
subject of much unfavorable criticism. Its climate
has been pronounced burningly hot in summer and
icy cold in winter, with “a deadly air winch stealth
ily snuffs out life with a breath that disturbs not a
candle.” Madrid’s claim to a river has been the
subject of many a “dry joke.” Ferdinand 11. once
ordered its dusty bed sprinkled before he rode
across it. Even a fainting gladiator is said to have
declined a drink of water, saying, “Pour it into the
river, it needs it more than I do.” When the vic
torious French army came there they exclaimed,
“Has the river, too, run away?” It is really a
splendid city, having some magnificent public build
ings, including the present royal palace, and some
fine monuments, the most noted being a splendid
equestrain statue of Philip IV. Then its picture
galleries are of the finest.
n
Among the Workers.
Getting Hold of the Men —Dr. Ainsworth of
Wesley Monumental Church, Savannah, is after the
“unused” asset of the Church, many of the men
who are on the roll of membership. On Friday
night, November 25, there is to be a reception in
the parlors of the ehureh to which every man in the
church is invited. —Wesleyan Advocate.
The Baptist Commonwealth makes the following
announcement:
“The forces of the State of Pennsylvania are now
united in one organization. It is called the Penn
sylvania Baptist Convention. The State Mission
Society and the Education Society will be under
one set of officers, a vice-president being chosen
from each Association. We believe it will increase
the support given to each branch of the work. We
hope this will be true. But as in the organization of
the Northern Baptist Convention, it will not run
itself any more than the former separate organi
zations. ’’
One of the significant conditions among the work
ers is the encouraging and gratifying progress ex
hibited in the building up of the Wesley Memorial
Institutional Church. The Methodist congregations
of the Atlanta District have contributed two hun
dred and ten thousand dollars to this object. The
Methodist women of Georgia propose to build a
girls’ dormitory for the institution. The wisdom of
Dr. Len G. Broughton’s institutional plan has been
most signally endorsed bj the fact that so many of
its features have been adopted by those who have
undertaken work of this sort. The building of hos
pitals is becoming epidemic. The Presbyterian
and Methodist workers in Atlanta entered upon
that work with commendable promptness and reli
gious bodies elsewhere have followed their exam
ple. The great Baptist hosts of Texas are just now
completing a magnificent sanatorium at a cost of
something like a quarter of a million, making it one
of the best equipped institutions of the kind in the
world. All these things are taking place among the
workers.
The Wesleyan Advocate well says: “We do not
think it well to say that the former days were bet
ter than these. History with its impartial record
will readily furnish data to disprove the state
ment. The world is better today than it ever was.
And the Church is better. There are more people
today with the mind of Christ than ever walked
this earth before, since it came into existence. The
spirit of Jesus Christ is more universally diffused
in our world than it ever was. The gospel has gone
into more departments of our life, regulates more
purposes, shapes more lives and sweetens more
homes than ever before, since man walked guileless
in Eden or walked with a smiting conscience from
out of its gates. Jesus Christ is being lifted up
as never before, and being lifted He is drawing all
men unto Himself. The risen Lord is no powerless
being. He is the pre-eminent Lord. It is the im
perial Christ who marches with the tread of His
hosts, and whose presence gives nerve to their fight,
courage to their neart and the assurance of con
quest to their faith. All with us is not good. But
there is more good than ever before. All are not
loyal to Him whose they claim to be, but more
would this day die for Him if necessary than at
any time since the first Sabbath that witnessed His
resurrection from the dead. This is the note to
sound forth to men, that they may come to know
and follow Him.”