The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-01-24

| 40 SOIlQuClGu III SlI1CIeSI commence,
The SWIFT SPECIFIC CO.. ATLANTA, GA
about then; and beyond stretches the
far-famed Huerta. the most fertile dis
trict in Europe, and in the highest state
of cultivation. Here lucerne is mown
fifteen times year, and other crops
gathered in proportion. In these first
January days, peas are in pod and other
green vegetables in perfection.
Neither Nalencia's cathedral, nor any
of its fourteen parish churches, are
worth visit. Much more interesting
is the market place. swarming with
peasants i'll their picturesque costumes
and crowded with tropical fruits and
strange sea-food. There are swarthy
laborers from the Huerta, in sandals,
wide linen drawers, velvet jackets and
gorgeously betiowered mantas of scarlet
and blue, their heads bound tight with
gaudy handkerchiefs, knotted behind,
the ends tiuttering gaily in the breeze.
Women of the lower classes also wear
bright handkerchiefs over their magni-
ficent blue black hair: while aristocra-
| tic senoritas sport the always graceful
and becoming lace mantillas Ladies
OF other natlonalities who have the
/ bad taste to forget the Golden Rule of
doing as the Romans while in Rome
and appear in their commonplace hats
and bonnets, must not enter any church
with such headgear on. for they would
surely be elected AS for the beautiful
women for which Valencia has been
celebrated since time out of mind-they
are apparently all dead, OF We're in Sc
clusiOn at the time of our visit. They
! have tiny feet and hands, voluptuous
/ figures, splendid ''soul-fulI' eyes and
wealth of hair-but alas, the latter also
grows rankly upon the upper lip and
fair Nalencians past thirty years are
moustached much more abundanlly
! than their lords ana masters. Like
! other women of tropical birth and
! temperament, they age very early. At
D tNSlNo 5lll I'D llletl ttp wv Siit
passe; at twenty-five a hopeless old
maid, if not already welded: and at
! thirty-fve fat, lstless and altogether
laid Oh the shelf. This is partly due to
| the lazy habits of the ariscocracy, who
like the lilies of the field, toll not.
neither do they spin. Even moonlight
promenading in the plazas, so much
affected in all Spanish countries, seems
to have gone out of fashion here. The
beautiful Alameda, the dusty gardens
of the Glorietta, and the Rambla are
alike deserted and ill-kept. In only one
respect is Valencia becoming somewhat
modernized and that is in guadual
change of vehicles. While the ludicrous
and uncomfortable tdrtdnds are still
wheeled concerns tourist can hire, the
wealthy classes are beginning to use
regular open carriages for their evening
drives.
Ell Grao, the port of Valencia, mile
or two from the centre of the city, is
reached by branch railway from the
station, and by tramway, starting from
the Plaza del Principe Alfonso. Or you
may 60 in a tartana, at the rate of a
dollar and half the hour-Spanish dol
lars worth one third less than ours. The
drive is the favorite lounging place of
the natives, who flock to the Grao in
summer for the sea-bathing. Then the
season is a gay period. The shore, how
ever, is about as bad as can be used for
bathing, being DOGGY and treacherous,
in wide contrast to the fine sandy
bench of the northern coast. The port
itself, formed between two moles, with
a depth of twenty three feet, is one of
the best in Spain.
After all, the greatest interest of Va
lencia is in the misty past, and it's real
tulelary saint is Ell Cid Campeador.
Having wrested this place from the
Moors after weary siege, he sent
messenger for Ximena, his wife, and
their two daughters. Hardly had the
| women arrived before an army Of fifty
thousand horsemen and an innumera-
BILE host of infantry, under the King of
Tunis, $50 says the chronicler), came
marching up to retake Valencia. Again
the Cid led Ximena and her daughters
Sol and Elverra to the top of Megue-
lete tower-not this time to admire the
prospect, but that they might look down
upon the mighty host encamped beneath
the walls and understand the grim work
that was before him. History records
that they were terrified and chung to
the husband and father, begging him to
surrender at discretion. But he en-
couraged them with assurances of
speedy victory, and though his whole