Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-08
AFOOT IN SPAIN.
rno Face of Nature and the Faces Of
humanity Stamped With Sadness.
I'D. Met Of the Pponle-No Stoves in the
r.pnrry-soup Twice Day With Little
ysratlon-Tbe Peasant

FOR the Gazette.
TT p.ncrroxA. SPAIN, Feb. SIT may
Ia true the world over that the
-s,-sfcal aspect of a country redectively
,a-rs facial peculiarities upon those
ell their lives are subject to such IN
--..foYs influence, but during my few
-, wandering in Spain l have been
o+sIIv impressed with a similarity
,..,raan an universal look Of sadness in
-. rs.ss Of men women and children and
,rr.ost universal sadness and desola-
- or the face Of nature. This is, of
.,o-ze an observation in a general
INA STANDARDS of cities, and all Span
.or5s IN social and business activity, pos
COS. unusal light and luminousness of
e,a 50. too. here aud there In fruit
s.l rarIevs and mountain glens, are the
-,s+ colorful bits Of scenery
one can anywhere find to enjoy.
prt I never yet came upon any coun-
.,- whose general aspect prompted 50
,rgYhrtous emotions, or the faces or
--b,se npople, unless stimulated into ex-
--g.sfv-rD=s bv unusual prompting, wore
voer+gone and dOleful a seeming. I
t.-a rovy. and in something of a Zig-Zag
nav giving opportunity for extended
nit observation, traveTsed the Span
;.b peninsula from the Atlantic to the
Mediterranean, and in all this distance
have no. SET eyes upon q square mile OF
territory where forest, stream, vale and
fahftatian of man or beast blended in
che rerfcctiOn of harmony and re-
nose sprh as can be found in ten
tbousgui spots in New England, ten
fines ten thousand in old England,
end ten times that number throughout
,ba whole Of our own loved land. Rivers
are torrents tearing through grimy and
rlnshanplv CraEs. or streams of chocolate
colored putridity pushing through YER
dureIess valleys TO the seas. Valleys,
save in rare instances, are Lonesome
reaches Of leaGen land, with no marks OF
she hushandman's hOme-lOve, care and
thrift, that tempt, despite steTility, the
sheltpriug thCket, COpse or orchard.
Mountains are either fearful and forbid
ding peaks. shattered by volcanic, ac-
lion. or iutprminable barren pillows of
treeless clay against steel
blue sky. Dcsolate moors, OBJ
iectlpss steppes, immeasurable mo-
Tass and waste, complete the desolatiOn
uU0n which the travellers eye vainly
searches for restfuI beauty and winsome
lowliuess IN nature. They are not in
Spain. Even the FORESTS which may be
found, excepting only the chestnut groves
of Galicia. seem to have been pounded
back into the earth by tempests of wind
or unchpd and shTiveled by simeon and
sun; while the much sung olive groves OF
Spain. aside from their tritiing
foliage Of prayish blue and green,
seem hacked, gnaTled and twisted
into INTO shapeless defOrmities. In
deed this characteristic of gnarled-
ness shows not only in the trees and
shrubs but also in the very herbs Of
Spain. [ cannot understand how the
most suuny-hearted traveller can see in
such 6esolation, insuficiency and de-
fOrmity aught but dreariness and sad
ness, and, whether or not all this has
had through the century the effect pro-
duced by assimilation Of kind in taking
brightness and sunniness from the coun-
teDances of the people of Spain, I do
know that the average Spanish face, in
repOss, has q look both of vaCuity and
dOlOTOusness IN IL that suggests at first
glance
ALL MANNER OF HEART TRAGEDIES.
have found peasant women sitting at
their Choza doors, mOuntaineers resting
beside winding goat-paths, sentinelas
pausing 10 their beats, officers seated in
their saddles, business men for moment
alone, friaTs halting as if in meditation,
and the fairest of Spain 3 fair women
unconscious Of observation at their bal
comics, each enjoying good for tune ac-
cording TO their place in the world, and
each with a face SO full of that which or
dinarily bespeaks all but extreme an
Euish, that one could not but feel a sense
OF the keenest pity for the pathos
there beheld. Yet make any one of these
conscious TO your presence; arouse them
Win music or song; touch them with the
NaSlc OF self Interest, or social friction,
OF love, and the whole body is a. once IN
action, the entire mental power is in
S'anly marshalling its various forces,
ana whatever is that marvellous and mys-
'erlous thing shining through human
eyes aud giving play 10 every Iineament
u lie human face, kindles and flames
llo matChless radiance and light.
nave never seen the subject dis
.uSSea, and only yesterday l asked an in
teAgent Barcelonese about this sadness
IL Spain 5 face, and the faces III Spain.
ne VAS Catalonian, Spaniard and an
4u'ocate; three kingdoms of egotism in
one empire of assurance. He shrugged
aus shoulders and gravely answered:
SPAIN Is older than Palestine. Her fair
oO'of Is faded a trifis. Her people are
grave and mOunful in repose because of
.le weight OF their dignities. Spaniards
arg the FIRST end greatest OF men, The
answer will hardly satisfy every body, but
l0 SUBJECT may be one of Interest to
'g'e who come after me in Spain.
mere Is one important advantage, in
.Hs Inc Of Information which my tramp
-, 4s IN foreign countries gives me over
e precise and formal traveller. He
'OCeeus with due statoliness from the
auing hotel Of one city TO the leading
, ,o1e' OF another, where, barring tritiing
us he is served with the same viands,
t.SIared IN the same manner, even if he
OaIl make q circuit of the globe. In
A. number associations / perforce
81, ,,'O' eF what the people of any country
80 now they eat It, and, pretty
nrII NJ how it is prepared. The peo-
n VI spain are never gourmands. Save