Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-11-09

Country Where You are Pretty Ger
tain 10 be Rubbed the Wrong Way.


The real Spain is the least attractive conn.,
try in Europe to the tourist, says Charles
Dudley Warner in the atlantic. The travel
Ter 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 Alhambra,
| the Seville Cathedral and Alcazar, Mosque Of
Cordova, Toledo and its cathedral, the Gallery
| at Madrid and Monsserrat. The rest is mainly
monotonous and WEAKNESS. With the excep-
| ton OF the Ahambra, which has spell that
an idle man finds hard to break, and where
perhaps he could be content indefinitely, there
is no place in Spain that one can imagine he
would like to live in, for the.pleasure of liv-
ing. Taking out certain historical features
aud monuments, the towns repeat each other
in their attractions and their disagreeables
Every town and city in Italy has its in
divdual character and special charm.
To 60 from one to another is always to
change the scene and the delight This Is
true of the old German towns also. Each
has a character. The traveller sees many
place in each country where he thinks he
could stay on from month to month, with a
growing home-like feeling. think there is
nothing of this attraction in Spain. The
want of ii may be due to the county itself,
or to the people. fancy that with its vast
Grid plains, trecless and tiresome, its quilted
hills and its bare cscarped mountains, Spain
resembles New Mexico. 1t is an unsoftened,
unreicved landscape, for the most part,
sometimes grand in its vastncss and sweep,
but rugged and unadorncd. The want of
grass and gentle verdure is serious draw
back to the pleasure OF the eye, not compcns-
ated by the magic tricks of the sunlight and
Az - tod Mo n nj nf
exposed soil and rocks and the spring-time
green of the nascent crops. l speak, OF
course, of the general aspect, for the noun
tain regions are rich in wild flowers, and the
cultivation ia the towns Is everywhere re-
deeming feature.
The traveller, Of course, gets his impress
sous OF a people from the outside. These
arc correct so far as they go, and 1t is in a
sense safe to geueralize on them, though not
to par,icularizc. lie catches very soon the
moral atmosphere of strange land, and
knows whether it is agreeable or otherwise,
whether the people seem pleasant or the
reverse. He learns to discriminate, Tor ex-
ample, between the calculated gemuthlich-
kcit of Switzerland and the more spontan-
cons frepdliuess of Bavaria. He can pro-
nounce at once upon the cordial good humor
of the Viennesc, the Obligingness of the peo-
pie of Edinburgh, the agreeableness OF the
Swedes, simply on street knowledge, with
ont ever entering private house or receiving
anv personal hospitality. He knows. the
wijv noetical WAYS by which he is beguiled
in I,aly but grows fond of the sunny race.
In Spain he is pretty certain to be rubbed |
the wrong way, most of the time. lie is |
conscious of an atmosphere OF suspicion, OF
distrust, of contempt often. He can not un- |
derstand, for Instance, WY attendants 10
churches and cathedrals are so curt ana dls-
obliging, keeping him away, on one pretence
and another, from the Sights nc nau come lar
To ace. and for which he Is willing TO pay.
Incidents occurred both at Granada and
Toledo that could be accounted for only on
the suppostjon that the custodians liked to
strangers. If we had been
Frenchmen. whom the Spaniards hate
as the despoiers OF churches ana gal
leries, we could have understood II. By
rcnntation the Spanard is at home hos
niiable and on acquaintance gracious, and
generally willing to oblige. But the
national atmosphere is certainly not what
Inc Germans call gemuthlich. In no other
country is the traveller llkeiy 70
encounter SO much incivility and rudeness,
SO little attempt at pleasing him ana making
him like the country. At least the ATTITUDE
is that of indifference whether the county
nleases him or not. Perhaps this springs
from a noble pride and superiority. fer.
L,ps il is from provincial consciousness OF
being about 200 years behind the age But
,lsewhere the plcasantcst people to travel
among are those whose clocks stopped Two
centuries ago. Individually, l have no
doubt, the Spaniards are charming COL
ectively, they do not appear TO welcome me
or put themselves out to MAKE his
Iojourn agreeable,