Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-11-24

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tribute into its lap from the nei9hbor.
ing heights. The country is all 8
mass Of verdure, and vegetation per.
fected to the best of Basque ability.
which is not despicable. Nature
seems to suffocate the earth with the
exuberant verdure and plants with
which she clothed slopes and downs
here the olive, the arbutus immensely
high, the tulip and the plane, there
the gigantic stone pine, large cork
trees, bending over in fantastic shapes
with fern growing on their vasl
trunks and mistletoe pendant from
their branches, clumps of enormous
wild aloes; jasmines sparkling with
their snowy blossoms perfumed the
air, various species of the hedera over
ran the trees, and oppressed them
with their rank luxuriance, often en-
tirely eoncealing their foliage. Be
tween the numerous well-ordered
comfortable villages, are rolling hills,
where grow in abundance the pine,
ash, elm, mulberry, fir, birch, saxi-
frage, oak, chestnut, beech, hemlock
and willow trees. Bits Of meadow
land as green as emeralds were dot
ted with fine rich crimson flowers, va
ried occasionally by white and yellow,
and nearly always were enclosed by
planted orchards Of pear, peach, plum
apple and apricot trees, while between
them, to economic the ground, vines
grew with their branches borne to the
ground by the weight Of the luscious
clusters. Besides these evidences OF
Basque prosperity and toll, besides the
many green groves where poets might
love TO retire and die, beside the wood
ed mountains which had the gods seen
had been far more preferred to Olym-
pus, Greece, Lydia, Bithynia or Sici-
iy, the traveller may see such pastoral
life as will recall to his mind, if he be
a classical reader, the EeelOgues and
Georges of Virgil. The Basque shep-
herds lead a life more assimilating the
ideal happy one that poets love to
rhyme verses upon than any I have
seen, the only detractipn being
their mode of dress, which. though
Of the thirteenth century, is still not
classical and is inasthetic and unpoeti-
cal. With bundle Of cigarettes, a
and his modest store Of bread and
grapes by his side, while his lambs
nnd kids, his sheep and goats brOuse
the herbage of the grassy slopes, the
Basque shepherd seeks the shade Of
an umbrageous tree, and lingering his
guitar makes the surrounding woods
resound with his music and vocal
songs. Gothic roundelays, recording
battles of their Gothic fathers, are the
vogue among Basque peasants. His
wife Is at his side darning, perhaps,
industriously, working certainly, for
q Basque woman's hands are never
idle, except while asleep. The heal
thy, agile children practice archery,
or weave garlands, or alas! that /
should say it, play cards, and as this
last takes all the romance out of them,
here must leave for the present.
We reach San Sebastian at half-past
nine o'clock n m, having crossed the
Pyrennees in about four hours. This
city is the capital of the province Of
Guipazcoa, one of the three called Las
proUincies VdscoHqddds. Il is the
Biarrtiz, the Brighton, the Long
Branch of Spain, except that il beats
them all in lovely scenery in its yieini-
ty. and tho4e who have seen il will
bear me out in this assertion. At the
station, awaiting the arrival of the
train, were representatives Of every
condition of people in Spain, not on
the platform outside, for this is not
permissible in Spain, but Within
There were senors, lords Of land, and
bank and railway stocks and eupho-
nious titles, such as duke, marquis,
count, ehevalier, baron, excellentis-
simos in any quantity, senOritas, or
little lords, thicker than swarm of
bees; for often the duke and excel
were mistakenly confound-
ed with their servants and lacqueys,
in this general title of senOrita. Even
old men, with boards as long as that
Of the Jew, and young boys, not far
out Of their teens, were thusinclined.
There were senoras and senoriias
young ladies); and between this and
the male nomenclature there is a vast
No one would mistake q
sonora for o senOrita, while senOrita
in Spain is as different from sonora as
D slender stick from barrel. A sonora
Is always pOrtly, eOrpulent, of enor-
nous girth and heavy stateliness; but
\ senorita is q slender young lady,
under twenty-five; whether married
Or not matters nothing; so long as she
IS not eOrpulent she will be called Sc
lOrita, The latter name is also more
but sonora, heavens ! The
iignity and rotundity of Spanish
ady over twenty-five, is proyerbal,
md it would be an idiot who would
amiliarly call her senOrita.
Crossing the mouth of the Urimea
,ver a wooden bridge. and dashing
long the Alameda and the Plaza Con- |
titution, we stop at several hotels;
,ut they are full Of guests, for the sea-
on is at its highest. If you have a |
amily you may secure a room at |
lotel; if you are bachelor, no, and l |
,eing one and nowise reckless in
peech, my answer in the negative to |
he question brought me q refusal, and |
ther bournes had TO be sought. This
Ian was mine, which was more |
greeable, to choose two rooms at q |
ASA de Huespedes, or guest house, /
nd board at the hotel. Two rooms /
we're secured for fifty cents per diem,
'oard at a first class hotel $l.20. Mark /
hat, mark that, acknowledging |
eader! Living at the watering place /
( Spain, 81. 20 day, when every house
s nearly full of strangers A differ
nee very noticeable this is between
he American and Spanish Long
Branch. .-... -.
Among the well dressed Madrilenos
rho throng the streets and piazas
nust be noticed the Basques, in their
uaint costumes of six centuries ago; /
kha,r k,lI .-A
, not yet spoiled by flimsy French
Innovations of dress and Manners
'hese people, descendants OF the an
lent Vaseonese, or Iberians, are, next
D the Moors, the most interesting
eople of Spain, and were more so did
ome able writers take up the pen in
heir behalf. Their sterling attach
nent to their mountains, to their ira
itiOnal flteros, or privileges, their en-
uring patriotism and their love Of
.berty, their origin, now veiled in
Id, old antiquity, causes people to re-
ard them with special interest. Be
1re the Romans came to the Peninsula
he Iberians maintained 8 patriarchal
nle over the entire Pyrenees, Gallicia,
.usitania and the Asturias, while a
ranch Of the Iberic race occupied the
ther parts Of the Peninsula. Early
panish history is particularly inter
sting, because it records the deeds OF
'asque ancestry, which are not much
to what their descendants
re capable Of to-day. The answer Of
1e Iberian chief to the Roman EN-
assy for the treachery and pusilla-
unity of Rome when the hosts Of /
arthage were before the Saguntine
.nIIr ,rn,,Id find haarfu Aahn anlnnu !