The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-07-08
TOMORROW AND SUNDAY.
THE ONLY TWO DAYS IN THE
WEEK KNOWN IN SPAIN.
A Diplomats Observations of the Fall
len Nations Vanity, Procrastina-
ton and Suspicious Courtesy-Pic-
turesque Customs.

Only short time in Spain is required t,
learn that. though the printed calendars
as elsewhere, give seven days TO the week
there are, as matter OF ract. only two
known 10 the Spaniard. Those are mana
ha-tomorrow, and Domingo, Sunday Ma
mana is the great day of business. com.
menclng work, fulfilling all obligations
paying debts; for everything. in short
| that mas TO be done; the day when if one
mas troubles, all will be righted. Poor
nopinS, procrastinating SpainI What has
NOT TINS disastrous optimism embodied in
| her? N'S'
Domingo is the day awaited with low
| one neeo not think of work thani Moth.
ing is TO be done then but seek ones
| pleasures. Then for the bull fight, first
OF all for such as can manage to muster
it 'CS'. enough pesetas for places. And
now many thousand articles go to the
| pawn shop each year in order that money
De round TO pay this pleasurei Then To
me promenades in carriages for the
Weaithler or vainer; always over the
| same promenade, such as convention has
permanently agreed upon. For you go
there TO see the best peopler' but more
especially to be seen by them. And no
| danger of not being seen, for in Retro
park there Is only one drive, which YOU
mount ut trot and descend at a walk
IheSe drives strike me as being one of
the most striking commentaries on Span
lSn vanity. For # you are a Spaniard and
claim any social standing not to be seen
there and salute your acquaintances once
week at least is remarked upon; and if
you are not known to be wealthy you are
rather suspected of being impecunious.
Here little observation will show You
VINO is VINO, and If Senior or Sonora So and
so is on familiar terms with such an
other. This will be indicated by the pc
cunar manner of salutation. If it be by a
Iorma- DOW You may be sure that their
acquaintance is but formal. But should
you notice a sSiutation of a peculiar
spanish Kind rapid motioning of all
the four fingers of The right or of a fan
in the direction of the person saluted, Won
may be sure that 1t Will be accompanied
Dy a smile of warm friendship.
rms IS the Spaniard when one knows
MN Wen: Hopeful cheerful, lazy unpro-
gressive, non-committal as a Jesuit to a
foreigner pedantically courteous and re-
senttul of foreign innovations. For CEN
turtles they have had the same customs
the same institutions. and, with ALL their
sun and their tobacco. 1t suits them they
mink; then why change? They still tread
out their wheat, but why not? Machinery
gets cut OF order, and treading has suf-
nced Tor them many centuries. They still
put their wine in skins as in the time
when history began to be written: but
why not? They know how to make them
More labor may be required than to make
a cask, but they last well, and such has
been the custom for time out of mind
Their agricultural implements may be as
cruue as during the stone age, but the
oxen that pull the pillow would go no
faster with modern steel plows. and such
as tney now use have always been used
have been made have been more or less
forced upon them by French and English
capital and commerce. and have almost
invariably met with resistance
This suspicion of foreigners is born of
senSltlVeness, and nourished on that kind
OF pride which can only be defined as the
spanish klnd-an odd mixture of pride for
what Spain has been. unadmitted jealousy
ana readiness to resent, any allusion to
her present state of decay But when
you Know him best he may in an IN
guarded pathetic moment refer to Incl
dents in Spanish history in the days of
her glory and add: An, those were great
Gays. Finally, he may turn upon his own
government, II discreetly piled with ques-
tons. and, as l have had it occur with
me- ask: Have you ever read Gill
BIAS! linen you know, my dear friend,
Mhat the government of Spain is today
mere Is no material change. But give us
a good government and we will show to
the world what Spain is" Yet the Span
lard VINO told me that, himself belonged
TO a clique who had exploited the Dublic
treasury, under the guise of concessions
and sales of land to it, of no inconsider-
able sum- and finished by admitting that
the people mad for so long been accus-
toned to such treatment they suffered
this as quietly submissiveIy and much
more indifferently than that faithful ma
tlonal animal, the donkey. submits to his |
wrongs.
Travel in this country is not courted: |
for although they well know that travel |
erS would bring money, they would be |,
in considerable numbers. and |
-nelr advent would raise the price of pro- !
visions TO the inhabitants No more is !
asked by the Spaniard than what he has
he may vaguely hope for better things |
without realizing or caring what form
hese things may take, but if it 10 come |
BY harder work, please excuse him.
one OF the most interesting things in !
spain IS visit to pure Castilian fam
~ FROM the time of entering the house
Up to your leave you hear hollow,
meaningless echo of those greater days
u Spanish opulence and hospitality.
every gesture and every word is a theat-
'ical play in imitation of those ideas on
'ntering the Drofuse welcome accorded
'ou is more than embarrassing. Finally
I you wish to turn this battery of COM
ailments from you and should have the |
to light upon some object no |
natter what. be il a family portrait by |
ne most noted artist, or what not you
re told that il IS yours. Then, on leav-
nS, your departure is lamented. and YOU
re given as a farewell bomb the assur-
nee that you are to consider that house
our home for all time 10 come. But
With all your discomfort you are Obliged
o rejoice over the pleasure all this so
Violently affords your host. who has done
nd said all with Stateliness that is |
idering the fact that he is drawing inspi-
alton from so small an audience.
great curiosity in Spanish town is
he Indispensable serene, or night guar
ian of a row of block of houses; who
lone is instructed with the night key;
mo alone can admit inhabitants of the
ouses after II O'Clock. He is a heritage
rom the days of outlawry and brigand-
&c, which, unfortunately for Spain, are
OF very distant in the past He patrols
is beat regularly except when he snatch
S his 40 or sometimes 100 winks in some
conway. And should you arrive while he
stealing this sleep or he is without the
ange OF your voice you simply have to
AIT his return.
More than one cold night I had the mis-
ortune TO wait for the serene who stood
uard in my beat. But when he did come ,
nth his old fashioned square lantern |
1rust well into my face by one hand and
gliding in the other his long spear and
Ook Tor carrying his lantern alOft. iOaded
own under the weight of innumerable
eys, ne would give such cheerful
sady 10 forgive him. | think my for
lveness was prompted by the sight OF the
ey or my own outside door. Such a ! ]
eapon of offense-it was quite ten inches
5 helaying pin. And my poor man Is
1an had so many of them to carry If
should happen to ne the desire of an |
lhabitant of the house TO supply him
III with an outside door key its size and '
eight would be an effective barrier to
IS using it. Neither serene nor that form {
key belong to this epoch but such is !
nd has a long time been Spanish. So ;
nv change?
One would expect in all Christian coun-
les to find a uniformity of playing
lrds. But even here the Spianards must
low their medieval oddly. The hearts
spades and clubs. known in \
'ery other country are unintelligible TO
lids resembling a gold coin). Guns,
words, clubs (Which look as much like