Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1896-07-25
AT A SPANISH HOTEL
rhe Natives = Tribe Too FOlite fos
Comfort.

rha NaLlVes . Tribe IDo
Comfort.
The breakfast hour, however, varieu
according to each ones fancy 1t was
,nlv at dinner that all the boarders Sd.
down together. Generally we were no,
more than six or eight to gather rouhu
the lamp-lit table. and j. and l were
the only foreigners. The others "eie
natives of Granada who had lel' us
heated streets for the cool grove, VI
else Andalusians from near towns TAX
ing n short holiday. They were, II any-
thing. too friendly; for, though our
,onyersation with many was limited 10
"Ruenas dias' and 'Buenas tardes'
this and a bow were expected every tlms
NE met. To us. of a less polite race, IL
became something of a nuisance. wilma
few friendliness went further, especial
ty with an amiable and pious family
from Cadiz, who were Il neighbors az
able for a fortnight. The mother am
two daughters were always velled I'D
their mantillas, if by chance we sa"
them in the morning on their way I o OF
from mass. But they were never WIN
out smiles for us, and the father spohe
some English. He was so extremely
civil at all times that we were the mor
surprised one evening when he los'
his temper outright.
81 like everything in your country
except your wine," j. told him, IN an
swer to a leading question; for we
never could get used TO the vile flavor oil
pigskin. -.
He turned upon us in a fury, What!
not like my wine? But it is good
the best. | send it almost all to Eng
land"
The trouble was, he was a wine mer-
chant. and he could not be convinced
that j. meant nothing personal until
we had kept awake the long evening
with him over a bottle of his sherry.
Then we had Il bride and groom from
Malaga, and the groom also spoke Eng
lish. He told us they had come that
they might. during their honeymoon,
hear little birds sing, and wander I'M
der green trees, which we thought a
pretty sentiment until it had been re-
peated to every man, woman and chlsd
in the hotel. From the beginning OF
dinner to the end one of the little girls
from Cadiz would keep up a ceaseless
cultural prattle. Those occasional
mandolins would rouse the bride into
a futter of excitement; # it was a song
of Malaga they were playing, she would
then lean over to explain. But their
tranquil gayety never Jared; 1t seemed
as much a part of the summer silence as
the chanting of the crickets in the
grove.
The arrival of the marchioness was
the first rhock that shook us out of our
| slumber. She lived in Granada; two
of her children had whooping-coughi
and she had chosen the hotel as a pleas
ant hospital for them. / never knew
anyone to peryade a place as she did
II we went to sit in the rocking-chair,
in front, there she was with her whoop'
ing babies; if we hurried back into tho
hall, she was at our heels; and we
could not retreat into the dull
gloomy, uninviting sitting-room tina
she and her nursery, whoopina
and yelling, did not follow. This was
bad enough, but what mattered more
was that she turned u peaceful gar
den into a sick-room, and our dinner
into a public reception. BY the secont
course one child or the other Away
began to whoop, and had to be carried
away, purple and choking; by the thirt
there was a great Gathering of horse
hoofs in the road below the terrace, ant
the marquis would pull up his horse
and the marchioness would rush to lear
over the balustrade and give him he
harsh, yoluble report; he was afraid
it seemed, of the contagion which hi
had passed on to us 50 cheerfully. BY
the fourth a party of friends would
troop into the garden and young ladie.
and priests and expansive dowager.
would make a circle round the table
and watch us ms we ate. ! suppose j
would have been a dreadful breach o
Spanish etiquette had they been aske,
to dine, or, if asked, had they accepted
1t was detestable. The whole atmos
phere, the whole feeling, of the hote
and its garden was changed. But tn
other Spaniards did net like it a bi
better. Everybody grumblcd, every
body complained, and with heroic et
fort the manager got up enough enel
gy to tell the marchioness she must e
and we all dCHed back into our accu.
TONED ha bits. Century.