The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-05-31

long, Il man is educated to be a rogue,
and steals. Aud woman takes on invirtue,
because that pays the bill of extravaganza
quicker than anything else.
Journeyings in spain.
"Spain, said 1aleyrand, " is Il coun.
try in which two and two make five"
Seeming so to Frenchman, AN American
might be pardoned if he believed it land
iii which two and two make six, OF any
other number. Ancient iberia is certain
ly region Of the unexpected. 1t is full
Of surprises and disappointments. Moth
ing ever happens there as one Supposcs it
will, and the knowledge of to day is ever
contradicted by the experience of to-mor-
row. For more than three centuries
the country has been an enigma, POLITICAL
ly, religiously, and socially that no other
European nation could solve; and its
present condition augments its anomaly
Where else could we hope to find queen
without dominion, and u kingdom with
out king They who have never visit
ed Spain may wonder but those who
have been there will be incapable of new
surprises. The land where eyes" means
"no, and Immediately" "next week =
where inn-kcepers assure you that they
have every dclicacy,wheu they know they
are besieged by starvation-where there
are rivers without bridges, and bridges
without rvers-wherc highwaymcn rob
you of your last escudo, and then piously
commend your soul to God-where
"prucely hospitality" signifies fcas for
bed-fellows and garlic for kfast-the
land where all these and many other con-
tradictlons soon prepare you for what
ever may happen.
Land Of romance aud superstition, of
chivalry and bigotry, of Lope de Vega
and Ceivantes, of Cortez and the Cid, of
Moorish refinement and Gothic rudeness
Of the Alhambra and the Inquisition, of
hcroism and persecution Of art and assas-
sination, of poetry and intrigue, of splen-
dor and squalor, we have all, at some
time, built gorgeous castles upon your
mountain-sdes, and viewed with rapture
our broad estates watered by the Xenil
and Guadalquivir We shall never sec
you as you appeared to us in our youth
tul dreams, for the outward eye dispels
the vision of Imagination ruthlessly and
forever Your moonlight will never fall
50 soft even in Andalusia, nor your guitars
drop such sweetness, though under the
towers Of Seville, as came to us when re-
verie blossomed in the rich soil of the
heart. The splendors of Cordovas cathe.
dra will lessen when we stand in its mar.
bic aisles; and the ghtlngales will never
fill the evening with such music as they
did before our wandering feet had borne
us to the ancient palace of the Moorish
kings.
When first when whirling over the
soil lin America we should cali it creep.
ing) in the midst of cigarettes that
made the compartment look like minia-
ture edition OF the Blue Grotto Of Capri,
and when, trying to smile sercnely at the
three sallow caballeroS oposte, who sat
dignifedly smoking me to death, | heard
at the station, Iauauuiiu, '.uauIiu,
Seville" "Granada,' roared out in gut.
turals fragrant with garlic, my noble cas-
ties crumblcd, and the raw wind of the
Sicrras swept down and chilled my buds
Of sentiment to death.
If quite different from what fancy and
romance had painted it, was very glad
to see Spain, and nay memory Of it is still
most welcome. Three things [ have
found neediul to a satisfactory visit-pa-
ticnce, politcness, and peasetaS,
Armed with these, | could he mildly
scraphic on trains that seemed as if they
would never start, and could inquire un-
moved for accommodations at the home
liest posada.
As all travellers know, the impression ii
strange coutry makes depends largely on
what they see iirst-on the way they en-
ter it. To visit Spain advantageously 1t
i, best to 20 as | did, from France across
the Pyrenees, instead Of going, as many
do, from Cadz through picturesque An
dalusia to the less favored provinces, end
ing with the drearincss and sterility OF
the CASTLES. No two cities on the Cont
I
Madrid and such quaint aud curiou,
towns as Nittoria, Burgos, and Nnlladolid
prepared me for the strange kingdom
had entered
No person need be told when he has
crossed the confines ofthe French Empire
Having done so, saw at once was among
another peoplc--anost in another world
No more the vivacious and mercurial
manner of the Gaul greeted me; but il
It's stead the grave and measured deport-
ment of the representative Of half IL dozen
} races. The train on which | travelled
though the creation of French capital
seemed affected by the soil and atmos.
, phere ofSpain. lis speed was retarded
it was hampered with delays at every
station it became the victim of endes,
iormalities that threatened never to un
: tangle themselves. discovered must
undergo certain acclimating process o.
mind as we'll as Of body The mood anC
: bearing that had served me elsewhere oil
, the Continent would not support me there
: had found that pretended loss of TEN
per and assumed violence Of manner ar,
beneficial in France, Germany, and Italy
but in Spain they only defeat the tourist !
} ends.
/ Peninsular travel is favorable to one o
t the highest Christian virtues. resignation
, This is less difficult to practice the mo
D mert one discovers it is absolutely neccs
: sary. Job would nave found his spher,
= in Spain at least, the need of exercising
D his characteristic quality If the patien
. are the strong, they who have done
l Spain should have few weaknesses
| am confident that have an outwar'
: calmne>s and degrce of sell.discipline
t never owned before crossed the Py
i rcnees. | have had my patience trie'
; all the way from Pamplona to Cadiz, from
: Badajoz to Barcelona, aud though ma,
e have lost my temper, | never advertise,