The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-05-19

Alexander Cumming Of New Haven
 MT. Cumming the Guest of Honor of
 the Occasion.
 The Castilian Club of Boston gave reception and luncheon Tuesday, May F, at the Hotel Vendome in celebra- tion of the anniversary of the birthday of Alfonso XIII, Key de Espana. MT. Alexander Cumming. A. M, IL. B., Presidente de la Sociedad Espanola de la Universidad de Yale, as a guest of honor upon the occasion, gave an ad- dress upon "The Cities of Spain of To- day" contrasting the picturesque, stately, old conditions still existing, with the new, progressive life that some of the commercial cities have developed.
 Mir Cumming said in part: In saying a word to you on the suspicious occa- sion of the anniversary of the birthday of His Majesty, the King of Spain, in regard to the ancient and modern cities of the kingdom, desire to say frankly, in beginning, that I know of no organi- zation that has labored so hard and so 
 Spanish history as the Castilian Club.
 If you have any misgivings as to the accuracy of this statement, let me tell you how to dispel them. Enter the Boston Public Library. and look up Castilian Club in the card catalogue. believe you will be non-plussed at the number of cards to the credit of this club, and also of the value of the con- tributions. For such is their intrinsic worth that they are not to be had in the general delivery room. They are what are technically called starred works, and not starred with one star, nota bene but with two stars.
 In other words, to consult these works you must go up stairs to the Ticknor collection. Passing Sargent's painting of the Redemption at the head of the stairs, you enter the Ticknor room, and ask for the Castilian Club publications. The old gentleman, who is librarian. will look puzzled and ask you which of the twenty-seven volumes you would like You may be as puzzled as the liz brarian. And the most hardened lec- turer may well be puzzled to find sub- ject connected with Spanish life that at some time has not been dealt with, and ably handled, by some member of the Castilian Club.
 If now I am to talk to you about the Spanish cities, I must needs tell you what you all know: that Madrid and Barcelona. like London, Paris and New York, are world cities supplied with all that makes modern life what it is.-the most active thing in the world.
 For that reason, all large world cities have much in common, and resemble each other But just on that account they are less interesting than are the small cities off the beaten track like Zaragoza, Salamanca, Tarragona and Toledo. Because, too, Spain has so many cities that are off the beaten track, this country is surprisingly inter- estine. Edward Everett Hale says in his Seven Spanish Cities that the Span iards have ever aimed, in laying out their cities, to locate them at the great est possible distance from the railway stations in order to avoid contact with modern activity, The fact remains lit orally true and particularly of all four of the cities I have just named Tole- do, of the four. is undoubtedly the most : visited, because it is only about an hours ride from Madrid by rail- It is then, however, when landing on the platform of the railroad station, that the travellers troubles begin. No one who has visited Toledo is likely ever to forget the long winding road up the hill to the city itself. Its beautiful situa- ton remains. As you know, here in turn, Romans, Visigoths, Saracens and Christians held sway, and of the two hundred thousand inhabitants that made it the second greatest city under NIoorsh domination. there now remain but IT ,600 And yet it is one of the most interesting cities in the world. And what is so true of Toledo. may be said with equal truth of the other four cities named in connection with it. What is there in each that attracts the wonder and admiration of succeeding ages? In the first place, the local coloring, their very provincialism that distinguishes them so clearly and charmingly from the great world centers. In the next place, those wonderful creations of art those everlasting cathedrals which in no country express their meaning with quite the impressiveness that is found in Spain. You are all familiar with the fact that the voice of the middle ages in it's attempt to express the feelings of the soul constructed those marvellous monuments to the service of God which remain the wonder of succeeding ages. In no country is that expression of the inner life quite so remarkable and emphatic as in Spain. Literature which is the modern expression of the inner consciousness, has in these days taken the place of these extraordinary monuments, Yet the beginnings of lit erature were in the aspirations of the soul. The poem of Fl Cid Campeadoi is no less an enduring monument thar are those mighty ones of stone That struggle Of the Christians against the Saracens, as related in the Cid, is z struggle for the right. Those terrible blows in hand to hand struggles were each and all blows for Christianity ant the right-and the right must prevail for was not God on the Christian side In this age of doubt and sketpicsm, il is difficult to realize the abiding faith O. the middle ages We are still fighting however, for the right We have es tablshed a tribunal at the Hague whose decisions we hope to see as eff fective as the blows of the sword of tht good Cid Campeador.
 And I may say that, in my position O