The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1888-04-28
CASTLES IN SPAIN.

There are few who have not known
the pleasure of building these castles,
who have not revelled i'll the charm of
their varied architecture. l think l can
appreciate all the beauty and the grace
which may be IN them, yet my enjoy
ment has been more in the parks and
gardens which surround them than in
the structures themselves. Dead brick
and stone and mortar have to me less
charm than living trees and plants, than
emerald turf, or ripping stream, or rock
and mountain.
Thus as l have passed through the
world | have constructed parks and
gardens rather than castles, and if the
inevitable floods of circumstance have
swept them away, l have constructed
them again with added enjoyment. At
my own birthplace my work still re-
uldiLS, Uul CdulOl IOlitioi llS CIC-
ments elsewhere.
1t is many years since my first effort.
In the freshness of early manhood l
was wandering through the valley of
Caracas, that gem of the tropics nestled
in among the Cordilleras, with the sea
four thousand feet below, and climate
with clear sunlight of charming days
and the e-giving rest of cooler nights.
On one of these well-remembered days
l had taken my morning meal of bread
and cocoa, and was galloping over the
pleasant roads, when there came waited
against my face perfume like that OF
Araby.
Like hound on his first course /
followed the scent, and came upon a
plantation of cofee-trees; these were
about ten feet high and ten feet apart,
planted IN regular rows, and entirely
protected from the rays of the sun by
the tops OF the bucara trees, which met
each other on stems fifty feet high.
Along the stems of the coffee trees were
green berries and tinted berries and
scarlet berries, mingled with pure white
star-ike flowers whose fragrance had
attracted me.
Through it 1 rode, looking upon the
dark glossy leaves, upon which the pure
white flowers shone like snow upon
emerald, and then lifting my eyes 10 the
perfect shade far above me, where scar
let flowers cleaned from the canopy, l
thought had never seen anything half
so beautiful.
Emerging from this, l halted under
large mango-tree to pluck fresh from
the branches some of the luscious fruit,
and riding half mile, came upon a
scene of wonderful beauty. Before me
lowered the Silla, fourteen thousand
feet above the sea, and at It's feet slept
in quiet beauty a little valley in the
shape of an amphitheatre surrounded
by spurs OF the mountain. Through it
on gentle declivity came ripping and
sparkling mountain stream, which,
dividing around hillock to meet again
neld in its embracing arms a small cot
tage thatched with palm leaves and cov-
cred with tropical vines.
In front of the cottage, swinging in
the loop of large vine, were native
girl and boy of some ten or twelve
years, scantily clad, he with limbs like
a young Apollo, and she with the olive
skin and rare beauty of her race. Dis
mounting from my horse, real for each
made them my friends, and eagerly
chattering, they showed me their favor
ite haunts. They knew where the fin
est oranges and cocoa-nuts grew, where
the most luscious pineapples were
found, where the iguana made his home
and where the noisiest paroquets and
the most mischievous monkeys teased
each other.
All that afternoon and in the cool
ness of the approaching night we wan
dered about, until my senses were SC
charmed that tethered my horse, tas-
tened to some trees the hammock tied
to my saddle, and while my children
and their sturdy parents were quietly
taking their rest, ] dreamed of Cortez
and Pizarro, of native men and maid
ems, of Spanish conquerors, and of al
the wonderful things of forgotten civ.
llization.
The morning voice of my little much,
acha reused me, and l woke to a sense
of new beauty.
Finding that the owner of this charm
ing spot lived mile distant, l mounted
my horse and paid him a visit. He
greeted me with the grandiloquent man
ner of an old hidalgo, and was glad tc
ride with me over his possessions of ;
thousand acres. l found that he wa
not insensible to the charm of the dol
lar, and for few hundred pesos l pur
chased the fifty acres which covered
the beauty l had seen.
Riding to the city. 1 obtained th'
requisite money, took my baggage anc
books on a mule, and returned to my
estate. A few trees and branchers
with palm-leaf thatching, made me ;
comfortable room. The father of m,
little muchacha became my tactotum
and with his aid l soon had twent,
poems in my employ. Awaiting mysel
OF the landscape art learned in my boy
hood, 1 planted groves and bosque
and hooks with oranges and cocoa-nut