The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-10

mule Is not content with his sleek coat.
he. too. must have rosettes and cocades.
with bells on his neck to attune his proud
PAGES! SO, you see. that what Spain loses
In the solid and material by the lack of
native enterprise Is compensated by the
retention of the fine old forms that We
read about.
H D ll
You can. go into any of the provinces Of
Spain and reconstitute. in every vestige OF
attire and lineament and physique. the
characters Of Gil Bias II not Of Don Quix-
ote. The foliage and variation Of herbage
denied the SpaniardS seem to have been
compensated In an instructive selection OF
the variegated in form and color. which Is
not equalled In the most picturesque peo-
pies of Italy or Asia. That one express
for more deception than the preachings OF
Peter the Hermit. The general notion or
Spain is that the land Is like the valley
OF Raselas, diversification of natures
choicest handiwork: that the mountains
are mounts OF beauty. the valleys vaies OF
enchantment to the eye and languor 70
the soul. Spain is anything but that
From the north. where the solid wan OF
the Pyrenees shuts out France. to tne
Straits OF Gibraltar In the south. SPAN
Is a series OF vast mountain taoie-iahuS,
bare as the staked plain OF Ctah There
Is rich soil: even the mountain sides are
made to yield certain treasures In the
cultivation OF the olive. the date and the
orange. But any such beauty as comes
from masses Of foliage forests, green val
leys.. running crystal streams, there Is
absolutely none. Even the rivers par
take of the prevailing hue. The waters
Of the famous GuadalQuivir are clear
red. not the dirty, mudded red OF the up,
per Missouri or Mississippi, but q Charmed
sort of amber not unpleasant to the eye.
Even the fish of these streams have
rich tawny color. revealing natural law
and arrangement such as nature alone
seems capable of carrying on. l nave
never seen n rational explanation OF the
baroness OF these great stretches of moun-
tain tablelands and sunny valleys. They
are not stripped of trees because OF the
sterility of the soil. for you have but 20
touch the earth with the absurd wooden
tool picks which serve in lieu OF plows.
and crops in the most unstinted abundance
respond. Orange trees grow wherever
planted. Indeed any sort of trees grow
readily and luXuriantly. On the bleak
hillsides, under the perpetual breath or
winter which blows down from the Sierra
Morena, at Granada, a small forest of
ems, set out by the Duke Of Wellington.
were planted in 1878. and today they are
towering giants. covering the hill ana val
ley of the Alham with delicious shade,
The truth probably IL that Spain was.
In its day, as well wooded as America, bur
its forty centuries of teeming populations
have denuded 1t. and the bare handful
who inhabit II today are suffering for the
prodiGality OF the races OF Goths. Moors
and Romans, who. In succession, dwelt
In its fertile valleys and rich tablelands,
who used and abused It's treasures, and
left no nucleus for after generations. Nor
ally. physically, industrially. Spain Is suf-
fering today from the blight Of improvl-
forty centuries. so far as Its physical
shortcomings go, and no farther back
than '76 so far as Its political and indus
trial ones come into question.