The Dickinson press., 1883-11-10
Travelling in Spain

The real Spain is the least attractive
country in Europe to the tourist. The
traveller goes there to see certain unique
objects. He sees them, enjoys them, is
entranced by them, leaves them with
regret and tender memory, and is glad
to get out of Spain. There are six
things to see: the ALEXANDRIA, the Seville
cathedral and Alcazar the Mosque of
Cordova, Toledo and its cathedral, the
Gallery of Madrid, and Monserrat. The
rest is mainly monotony and weariness
which has a spell that an idle man finds
hard to break, and where perhaps he
could be content indefinitely, there is
no place like Spain that one can imag. ne
lie would like to live in, for the pleasure
of living Taking out certain historical
features and monuments, the towns re-
peat each other in their attractions
and their ~disagreeables. Every town
and city in Italy has its in
dividual character and special
charm. To go from one to another is
always to change the scene and the de-
light. This is true OF the old German
towns 8 Each has a character. The
%travele- sees many a placei in each coun-
try where he thinks he could stay on
from month to month, with a growing
home-like feeling. l think there is moth
ing of this attraction in Spain. The
want of it may be due to the country it.
self, or to the people. I fancy that with
its vast arid plains. treelcss, and tire
some, its gulled hills and its bare es-
capped mountains, Spain resembles New
Mexico. 1t is an unsoftened, unrelie we'd
landscape, for the most part, some
times grand in it's vastness and sweep
but rugged and unadorned. The want
OF grass and gentle verdure is a serious
not compensated by the magic tricks of
the sunlight, and the variegatcd reds,
browns, and yellows of the exposed soil
and rocks, and the spring-time green of
the nascent crops. l speak, of course,
of the general aspect, for the mountain
regions are rich in w%ild-fowers, and the
cultivation in the towns is everywhere a
redeeming feature.
n traveller, of course, gets his inl-
pressions Of people from the outside.
These are correct so far as they 90, and
1T ID in sense safe to generalize on them,
though not to p%articularize. He catches
very soon the moral atmosphere of a
strange land, and knows whether it is
agreeable or otherwise, whether the
people seem pleasant or the reverse.
He learns to discriminate for example,
between the calculated gemuthllchkeit
of Switzerland and the more spontan-
eous, friendliness of Bavaria. He can
pronounce once up n the cordial good
humor of the Vienness, the obligingness
ofthe people of Edinburgh, the agree
aebleness of the Swedes, simple on street.
knowledge. without aver entering a pri-
,vate house or receiving any personal
hospitality. He knows the willy, poet
ical ways by which he is beguiled in
Italy, but grows fond of the sunny
race.
In Spain he is pretty certain to be
rubbed the wrong way most cf the time.
He is conscious Of an atmosphere of
suspicion, of distrust, of contempt often.
He cannot understand. for instance, why
attendants in churches and cathedrals
are so curt and disobliging, keeping hin
away on n pretense or another, from
the sights he has come far to see, and
for Which he is willing to pay. Incidents
occurred both at Granada and Toledo
for only s9D on the hey sup pe as'O that
the custodians like to discommode
strangers. If we had been Frenchmen,
whom the Spaniards hate as the .dispoil-
ers of chufches and galleries, we could
have understood it. By reputation
the Spaniard is at home hospitable,
and on acquaintance gracious, and
generally willing to oblige. But
the national atmosphere is certainly not
what the Germans call gemuthlich. In
no other European country is the trav-
eler likely to encounter so much incivll-
ity and rudeness, 80 little attempt at
pleasing him and making him like the
country. At least the attitude is that OF
Indifference whether the country
pleases him or not. Perhaps this
springs from a noble pride and superior.
ity. Perhaps it is from a provincial con-
seriousness of being about 200 years be-
hind the age But, elsewhere the
p~leasantest people to travel among are
those whose clocks stopped two centu-
ries ago. Individually II have no doubt,
the Spaniards are charming. Collective
ly, they do not appear to welcome a
stranger, or put themselves out to make
his Observation-Disclosures Dudley
Warner in November Atlantic.
ExSecretary Belknsp is doing we'll with