The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1896-07-07
E Letter From Europe.
Written for the MESSENGER -
CORDOBA, Spain, June go, 1896.

people in Gibraltar shook their
heads. Cooks agent, from whom
we bought tickets SO as to avoid
being cheated by the courteous
employees of the railroad, strong
ly advised us to take a courier.
He would be always useful, some
times indispensable, and he
would cost US only SO a day, be-
sides his travelling expenses. But
travelling in Spain is costly at
the best, because one has to go
first class. There are not the
fairly comfortable second class
compartments of France or Italy
or the clean third class ones of
Germany, where one can have
cheerful converse with the knit
ting peasant women. Besides
we had a guide in Gibraltar and
the experience had not filed US
with enthusiasm. When we were
dumped with our luggage on the
landing wharf, in the midst of a
drenching rain, we stumbled from
the Charybdis of boatmen, cab
drivers and porters into the Scy-
LA of guide. He took us to the
Hotel Royal. where the bill for
one nights stay made our purses
quake, and we decided that we
would hardly fall among thieves
in Spain worse than we had in
this little strip of English terri
tory So we took our lives in
our hands and started. And l
want to say to the girls who are
preparing to come over here,
don't take a guide. If you have
the least independence land what
American girl has not) you will
find him more of bore than a
benefit. Not the least trouble
did we have, and we did not know
a word of the language. We
learned to gesture eloquently
and effectively and to say ''Cua-
nto," which means chow much
does it cost ?" and though the
answer was wholly unintelligible
we would hold up our fingers
and our interlocutor would do
the sam. When he held up ten
we always shook our heads Wig
orously and offered five. 1t was
much more fun than to talk COM
monplace English and have it
translated. And if the extra ex-
pense isn't a consideration (as it
was with us) the money can be
much more profitably invested
in mantillas and bull fights. So
for sentimental and econmical
reasons, go alone.
When we took the little train
at Algicieras we were lucky
enough to get compartment to
ourselves, and with the instinct
of the railway hog we piled our
luggage on the seats and looked
forbidding when anyone glanced
in. But after the train had start
ed the conductors head appear
ed at the window and he smiling
ly explained, in perfectly plain
Spanish, that he could have put
other people in there, but-well
he had not. For which con-
sideration we presented him with
nine cents which he received
humbly, smiled all around, wink
ed and disappeared.
The railway service in Spain
is not as perfect as it might be.
In the provincial cities only one
train leaves a day. If you miss
it you have to wait twenty four
hours for the next. For the fur
ther convenience of the public
this train usually leaves at 6 a.
M, and it is one of the customs
of the country to reach it an
hour before it starts. So when
ever we wanted to make a journ-
ey we had to submit to being
called at 4 o'clock in the morn
ing, to dressing by candlelight,
to driving an interminable dis
tance through ghostlike rows of
houses (for stations are always
in an inaccessible part of town.
and to waiting on cold, dim plat
forms until some time after the
appointed hour, when the train
would sleepily start and we would
try to finish our maps in corners
of the compartment. But even
these uncomfortable incidents
are overlooked when we remem-
Der that it is this very absence
of modern conveniences that
makes Spain SO novel and inter
esting. When the country learns
to adapt itself to the ways of
travellers, much of its originality
and charm will vanish.
The first thing we did when
we reached Cordova was to visit
the mosque. Outside it is rather
disappointing, but the interior