Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-11-11
B1WAYS OF SEVILLE.
THUMB NAIL SKETCHES OF A WITTY
AND GRACIOUS PEOPLE.

The Lazy and Picturesque Life of the An
Misunderstanding Love Through Barred
Windows-A Taberna Where the Dark
er Side Of Life Is Displayed.
Wandering home through the dark,
winding byways, You pass cloaked fig
ures, whispering at the iron bound win
dows. They are the lovers OF Seville,
pelando la pava (plucking the turkey,
as they call it. With the lattice slightly
open, the fair Sevillana sits in her dark
ened chamber talking in whispered
tones to the gallant without. The old
folks, weary of the task of ohaperonage,
after locking the daughter in a room
barred like a prison cell, have gone to
bed, and for hours, sometimes the en-
through the grating into each others
eyes and whisper the nothings of love.
1t would seem cold comfort to a north
ern swain, but the Spaniards say the
iron bars are a necessary evil there in
Spain. In Spain there are life and color
and picturesqueness everywhere, and
you think the Spaniard was born to be
an artists model.
In the maze of t~ortuous streets about
the market n sees something OF the
life of the people. There the white
washed houses are outlined against the
brilliant sky in rambling perspective,
and the graceful tower of some parish
church, its brown walls moss grown, its
bright tiles shining, rise sharp and clear
into the blue above. Dark maidens with
glossy hair and warm color III their
cheeks gaze idly from the miradores
above upon the countless people In the
streets below.
The cobbler hammers AID stitches in
his smoky little shop without window
or door, glasses click in the bodega,
sleek COWS with mocrnful eyes and
tinkling bells stand silently chewing
their cuGs in the milkman's stalls, and
the dainty feet OF shaggy donkeys patter
on the cobble stones as the patient lit
tie beasts, beneath their panniers Of
straw or charcoal, thread their way
through the crowd. You wander along,
picking your way through the good ma
tured assemblage, until you reach some
little plaza with it's church, where beg
CARS u themselves upon the fagstones,
and the puestos, or booths of the street
peddlers, with graceful, colored avn
ings, are scattered picturesquely about
the pavement. There the dazzling sun
light casts fantastic shadows on the yell
low and blue walls of the houses, null
ticolored pots or festoons OF cotton
prints hang in the dingy shops, gallar-
dos-dandies of the street-gossip IN
groups or ogle the passing maldens,
dogs snooze in sunny spots and crowds
of idlers cluster about some barrel or
gan or blind guitarist. There is a booth
near by where a bronze skinned gypsy
ia cooking molletes calentitos, a sort of
greasy flour cake fried in oil, and a wine
puesto with its earthen jars, and huge
bottles of red and yellow wine, and
there wages loiter to eat and drink.
One can linger for hours in the streets
Of Seville, watching the people and
talking with them, too, for the Anda-
lusian of the lower classes is The best OF
fellows. There is a democratic freedom
in his manner, at once respectful and
cordial, which is unlike the o~bsequious-
ness or boorishness of the common peo-
nile of other countries. He is slow and
even lazy, but be commands respect, and
nowhere can one meet such civillty and
b~eartiness as is shown by the Andalu-
sian peasant. But you must unbend and
meet him half way. He does not like
ssyon stiffness, ard a ccrdia! word OF
The offer OF a cigarette viii accomplish
moro than a handful Of silver.
When you 80 into a bodega OF the
neople where aauardiente is sold at o
cent a glass, the habitucs all greet you
with a word Of welcome, and n a
keeper serves his liquor with q courtli-
ness which is Chesterfeldian. They arc
rough places. those common taverns,
There is one in particular, across the
river in Triana, where the toughs ct So