Morning journal and courier., 1890-03-08
P. FERRY.
MIR. wAKEMAN,s JOURNEYINGs.

Sad Faces of Spaln-LuminOus Eyes
 The Face or tho COuntry-The Look
 of vacuity Explained-The Food of
 the Spaniards-How and What They
 Eat-A stroll Through tho Cafes of
 Rarcelona-A Daring Hull Fighter
 Sketch of Ills Life.
 BARCELONA, Spain. Feb, 8.
 To the Editor Of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 It may not be true the world over that the physical aspect of a country effectively stamps facial peculisrities upon those who all their lives are subject to such uncon- scious influence; but during my few weeks wandering in Spain have been repeatedly impressed with a similarity between an uni versal look of sadness in the faces of men, women and children and an almost univer- sal sadness and dssolation on the face of na- ture. This is of course an observation in general sense. Spaniards of cities, and all Spaniards in social and business activity, possess unusual light and luminousness of face. So, too, here and there in fruitful valleys and mountain glens are the most colo1ful bits of scenery ono can anywhere find to enjoy. But never yet came upon any country whose general aspect prompted SO lugubrious emotions, or the faces of whose people, unless stimulated into expressiveness by unusual prompting, wore so woebegone and doleful seeming. have now, and in something of zig gag way, giving opportu- nifty for extended scenic observation, tra- versed the Spanish peninsula from the Att lantic to the Mediterranean, snd in all that distance have not set eyes upon a square mile of territory where forest, stream, vale and habitation of man or beast, blended in the perfection of harmony and repose, such as can be found in ten thousand spots in New England, ten times ten thousand in old England, and ten times that number through out the whole of our own loved land. Riv- ers arc torrents tearing through grimy and unshapely crags, or streams of chocolate colored putridity pushing through vsrdure- less valleys to the sea. Valleys, save in rare instances, are lonesome reaches of leaden land, with no marks of the husbandman's 's home love, care and thrift that tempt, de- spite sterility. the sheltsring thicket, copss or orchard. Mountains are either fearful and forbidding peaks, shattered by volcanic action, or interminable barron pillows of treeless clay against steel blue sky. Dsso- late moors, O5jectless ateppes, immeasurable morass and waste, complete the desolation upon which the travsler's eye vainly searches for restful beauty and winsome loveliness in nature. They are not in Spain. Even the forests which may bs found, excepting only the chestnut groves of Galicia, seem to have been pounded back into the earth by tem- x,acto rf xuind rinohAd and ohr{va1ed hv simeon and sun; while the much sung olive groves of Spain, aside from their trihlng fo- liage of grayish blue and green, seem hacked, gnarlsd and twisted into shapeless dsformities. Indeed this characteristic of gnarledness shows not only in the trees and shrubs, but also in the very herbs of Spain. I cannot understand how the most sunny hearted traveller can see in stch dssolation, insufficiency and deformlty, aught but dreariness and sadness; and, whether or not all this has had through the centuries, the effect produced by assimilation of kind in taking brightness and sunniness from the countenances of tho people of Spain. do know that the average Spanish face, in re. pose, has . look both of vaouity and dolor- ousnsss in 1t that suggests at first glance all manner of heart tragedies. have found peasant women sitting at their chezs doors, mountaineers resting beside winding goat paths. ssntfnelas pausing in their beats, ofd- cers seated in their saddles, business men for a moment alone, friars halting as if in medi-
 tation, and the fairest of Spain's fair women unconscious of observation at their balco- ] nies. each enjoying good fortune according l to their place in the world, and each with . face 70 full of that which ordinarily be, speaks all but extreme anguish, that one ] could not but feel . aense of the keenest pity | for the pathos there beheld.. Yet make any one of these conscious of your presence; arouse them with music or song; touch them with tho magic of self interest, or so-
 cial friction, or love, and the whole body ii at once In action, the entire mental power ia
 instantly marshalling it's various forces, and
 whatever is that marvellous and mysterious
 thing shining through humun eyes and giv- l ing play to every lineament of the human face, kindles and flames into matchless radi
 ance and light.
 | have nsysr seen the subject discussed