Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-11-24
SCENES IN SPAIN.
GlOries Of the Pyrenees.-Seenes In
the ZOdara Yalley-The Bssques-
Manners and Customs OF an Ancient
Pnnnlp.


Manners and Customs OF an Ancient
People.
a correspondent Of the New York
Herald has been travelling among the
Pyrenees and visiting Spanish Water
ing Places. From a long letter we
make the following extracts:
PASTORAL sCENEs.-ZODAR VALLEY.
A shrill whistle and the train draws
up at Vittoria station at exactly five
A. NJ. of a September morning. Five
minutes afterwards, having shaken
ourselves little from the lethargy OF
sleep on the platform of the depot and
inhaled the morning air, We were
bowled along ut the rate Of twenty
two miles to the hour over the pastO-
rial vega Ot the Zadora, heading di-
rect for the bold, the seemingly i'm
passible Pyrenees, the vast alpine
heights of which are seen in front,
like mighty bulwark, with clouds
and mists enveloping their crests.
But before arriving at these, mo-
ments of pleasure and instruction are
gained by observation of the scenes
in the ZadOra valley. The delights OF
agricultural and pastoral life have
been well sung by Virgil and his poet
/ ical disciples, and while looking at
| the external features of il from the
express carriage one is inclined to be
envious. 1t is in the cool freshness OF
| dawn, when the new morning is just
| born: when the air seems newly ere
ated; when the birds pop out Of their
nests and wing their way hOppingly
| from field to field and make
l the welkin melodious with their
warblings; when the cows rise from
/ their beds of grass and clover from
under a spreading bough and begin
anew their task of grazing, while
their tails swinging like hugh pendu-
lums, testify the pleasure they feel !
when the. calves and young heifers
are more than usually animated and
scamper over the fair fields, as fright
ened by the rolling thunder of the
train, or impatiently suck the swollen
udders of their patient morhers; when
the fieecy coated bleaters may be seen
at work on the grass, as if intent on
doing a good days labor, and the lit
tie lambs disport themselves by the
side of the grave old eve with an
astonishing exuberance of spirit /;
when the colts, just freed from the
stables and put at liberty in the new
mown fields, after looking sliyly
right and left to assure themselves Of
their freedom, race like wild fire over
the soft globes, to the astonishment OF
themselves and every living creature
near them, and to the intense delight
of the youthful passengers who watch
their capers when the happy propri-
etors of these fields and pastures, these
COWS and heifers, these sheep, lamb
kins and colts, after scrutiniZing their
live stock, turn to the fallow grounds
of their farms with mattock on shoul-
ders, the stout noble looking husband,
the buxom ruddy-faced dame and
their half dozen virtuous progeny OF
their virtuous selves, look seriously
bent on toll. Perhaps if the noise Of
the train did mol prevent it, we might
have heard the hardy swain, like the
the birds on his farm, carol his se0ui-
ditLd, or cdntinetd-for the Basque
songs, you must know are as simple
and as sweet as the Roman tibi0, or
the lay of the Cretan shepherds-and
perhaps we might have heard the
clear refrain of the family. The peas
ant of these regions are early risers.
The faintest streaks Of day are the sig
mails for work, and after a slice Of
bread and bowl of soup, the father,
the mother, the boys, the girls, and
even the infant and the watch dog,
troop to the fields. About eight O'Clock,
after about three hours exercise, they
seek the shade Of tree to eat their
simple breakfast, for which they have
ravenOus appetites. Externally, of
course, these domestic scenes repre-
sent happiness, illustrate love and
peace kissing each other, but the phil
osopher, world-taught, will think that
all this, so fair to the eye, is bought
by hard toll, hOrney hands, aching
backs, wearied bodies, at the sacrifics
of mental pleasures, of all deemed
agreeable by good society.
PYRENEEs SCENERY.
An unearthly prolonged shrek Of
the locomotive and we are bounding
through a tunnel-the first
rock-rind Of the Pyrenees is being
after few minutes
straining of the eyes in the darkness,
and a patient listening to the tre-
mendous uproar of the passage, we
emerge out into the sunlight and
and among the grand wilderness of
the Pyrenees hills, among the granite |
deserts, among the huge asl iring rocks !
whose SUBMITS are bald and hoary |
with age. For we are now in q region |
Of wonders, of glorious mountains, of
rocky labyrinths and countless peaks,
q thousand prospects, of far reaching |
vistas, wonder inspiring, in country |
famous for its alpine grandeur and |
the sterling worth of its noble and |
loyal Basques. The rock-rind Just
pierced through permits ingress
among the Pyrenean giants. Reader
take a good breath, inhale deep and
strong, and see them as they stand
forever and ever there among clouds
and mist and rain and furious tenn
pests, but also familiar with sunshine
md summer weather. Leaving the /
granite portals, we follow a winding
canon, stately twisting ourselves out
from among the grizzly knot of bald
spurs, which stand like so many sen-
.inels guarding the hallowed strong
holds of the ancient Iberians. Along
he iron rails the long, heavy train
joughs its way onward, curving and
past an infinitude of project
ng mountain crags, putting sOlemnly,
md ever and anon uttering long
iraWn whistles which awake shrill
while 200 first class heads
ire out on each side looking eagerly
)ut of their 400 pairs of eyes to catch
,ach of the thousand views the pyren-
,es present; to look Mt long, narrow,
ieep valleys, stretching away to i'm
distances: to gaze upon
anges of columnar basalt and granite,
md sandstone; upon smooth bould-
,ry masses, rising skyward at series
If rising hills, truncated, fissured, ter
Iced; at a mountain shooting abruptly
ky-high, out of sight among the
,cean Of clouds, at canOns bewilder-
ngly crooked, and so on, until we ar
i've at the top of long grade, many
feet above the sea level.
We are now in the sunshine; the
morning mist is clear dissOvled, the
atmosphere is purer, and the sacred
cps OF all heights are revealed. We
owl along merrily, cheerily through
score of tunnels, awaking the thun-
Ier echoes, making sonOrOus music
mid crashing uprOar; views pass in
apid succession; q panorama OF un-
lsual grandeur is untold; every curve
,etrays q new scene; each furlong {
pens admiration; full employment
) given to our eyes. Then q range Of
I'll, ord ,rooIad nonsa Of ofroopno I