Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-10-12

A very readable book is Henry Days
From the Pyrenees to the Pillars of
Hercules" 1t is, to be sure, only the
record of a tourists run through a do
zen Spanish towns. dealing rather hur-
riedly with politics. social usage, art,
history, celebrities, industries, and see
aery, but it gives about AS much infOr-
matiO concerning An interesting and
unique people as the common scholar
can assimilate. Spain ia not an agree
able country to visit for one to whom
| the decencies of civilization have be-
come necessity. Hence we cherish
feeling of perennial gratitude to those
who endure its filth and noisomeness
long enough to gather up the observa-
tions which make a tolerable picture for
Us who stay at home and enjoy the
carefully matured product of anotaer's
research, sitting beneath our own free
rOof-tree in all the luxury of oleanli-
ness. How any people can enjoy fOun-
tains and flowers, nightingales and
moonlight, as the Spaniards do,
| sitting In an atmosphere vitiated
by the vilest orders and untroubled by
such prosiac needs as baths and fire.
quent changes Of linen, must be mat
ter of continual amazement and disgust
to the Anglo Saxon traveller. From MIR.
Days account one finds that vegetation
in Spain is less luxurilnt than one
might argue from its climate. The rich
grasses In which we delight do not
flourish except in the vegas, or broad
valleys, and great regions stand arid,
| treeless. and herbless in summer. The
Spanish winter is just trifie too severe
for living without fires, and yet none
L kvxx Aho - az k.-
are built in open vessels named braziers,
set out in rooms; but the poor huddle
| into the sunshine or wrap their rags
people are miserably poor, and there Is
no industry in the country to create
wealth. Barcelona is pronounced the
Yankee city of the kingdom. Manufac-
lures and exports go on here,
| and wealth accommodates. But the
highest degree Of enterprise is
among the Jews and Moors. The typi-
cal Spaniard holds on to the traditional
contempt for trade and labor. He is
still naughty, suspicious, lazy and su-
perstitious. It was probably q bad
| thing for Spanish development that
England drove her from the seas. Con-
| quest, adventure and military plumber
seem TO suit the national temper better
than industrial competition. She lived
long time ON the gold aud silver
brought from the New World. Now
she is plunged into debt, fails even TO
pay the interest ON her billion and q
half of liabilities, and hawks lottery
| tickets among the Impoverished people
al way of feeding her current expen
so9. IL may be news TO some that the
| doctrine of State rights prevails inSpain
and gives no little trouble TO the Mad
rid government. Il 10 about four hun
dred years since the fusion of prov
inces BY Ferdinand and Isabella.
but the old local spirit h still
fierce, and one of the points
fought for its exemption from taxation
save for local expenses. Castelar's en-
thusiasrn for years has boon the extinc-
ton Of the old State rights doctrine,
and the completer Capitalization OF
Spanish politics. The CASTELAR, or Fed
sral Republican party, whose speeches
| In the Cortea made such lively item in
| foreign newspapers, Ia nevertheless a
ridicuIously small body, rarely counting
more than two or three dsputies and
Castelar, himself. A sorry lookout for
liberalism in Spain Yet CASTELAR, Was
allowed 10 try his hand at governing
L uuQ6R t0o tcP0uAsC- k1i9 H0vouC< " ts1c-
oriea would not work, however; the
Cortes was to heavily freighted with
bishops and mobiles. Mr.. Day thinks
the youug King Alfonso. who 10 now
twenty five, and who began 10 reign
eight years ago, quite promising SOW
ert IGN, studi0us and conscientious.
and the author lays out q fine little
plan Of ethics and sducAtion whereby
the Young monarch may hope TO make
Spain presperous- A pleasant digres-
sion il the story Of the Duke of Wei
iington and his Enoliah elms. Il seems
that the nation In an outburst of graft
tude after the Napolsonic wars, wished
to present the Alhambra to the Iron
Duks. He declined the expensive pres
emit. bus acku vledged iss spirit by
Gift Of thousands Of elmA These we're
planted outsids tho old palace castle.
and nov make magnificent park Of
hundreds Of acrss. Mr. Day describes
Gibraltar u great detail. and under
takes TO criticise iss occupation by the
EnRiish-a criticism which viii hardly
| fnd . response n the hearts OF those
| Amsricins Who like 10 think with graft
| tude that the English cannon planted At
Gibraltar hAve made navigation on the
| Mediterranean ~ safe aaOn Lake Cham
plain.
Who can deny the attTantivs0eas os
: A~.~~snan ha1lna whnn vouuQ m1U come