Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-01-18
LIFE IN OLD SEVILLE.
Residents Live Out Of Doors and the
Shop Wares are Displayed in
the Streets.

(By William Z. Curtis, in The Chica-
go Record-Herald)
SEVILLE, Nov. 21.--Old Seville has
all the requisites for great and pros
porous city except enterprise on the
part of the inhabitants, who are too
poetical to be practical and too indo-
lent to make great progress. AS some
one has said, They make love to their
neighbours pockets and see heaven
through the golden juice of an orange
as they lie on their backs In the cool
shade, a picture of contentment and
sweet idleness. They breakfast on a
glass of water, dine on an air on the
guitar and sleep lg a hammock sus-
pended by cobwebs." Nevertheless.
there are several important manuiac-
tories in Seville, and the working peo-
their gay and happy air, They are in
dustrious, ingenious and economical; !;
they are temperate. obedient and ami
able. and the frequent homicdes are
due to Jealousy in love affairs and
quarrels among gamblers.
The biggest mandatory in town is
the "Fabrica de Tabacos." an enor-
nous building, which looks like pal
ace. erected in 1867 at a cost of 81 ,S00.-
600 1t would undoubtedly cost one
half as much more to duplicate ii these
days. 1t is 662 feet long, 524 feet
high. with 2S patios, or courts. all dec
GRATED with fountains, foliage, plants,
orange and lemon trees and other trop-
lcal growth The whole is very orna-
mental. 1t is more like a palace than
a factory, the stairways being of mar
BILE, with handsomely carved balus-
trades and inches filled with costly
statuary and the ceilings frescoed by
high-class artists of the eighteenth
century. Five thousand persons.
mostly women, are employed here in
the manufacture of cigars. cigarettes
and SNUFF, and in society they have
caste of their own. A Seville cigar
ette girl ranks socially above the op-
eratives in other manufacturing estab-
lishments, and the employees of the
mercantile shops, and, although they
are so numerous, it Is matter of
pride to have been employed there.
They wear distinctive costumes,
which. however, are difficult for
stranger to identify, but a resident of
Seville can pick out the cigarreras at a
bull fight or theater or on the prom
enades at any time.
Another important establ Al ient is
the Pickman tile factory at g, tuja, a
suburban village. which l. 'obably
the Oldest and most noted = reclaim
mandatory in Spain. 1t wa estab-
lished as long ago as 400 h l. e arch
bishop of Seville, and its = lcts are
superior to those OF any oshr estlb-
llsliment. 1t now belongs to an En-
glish company and occupies the old
Cartuja convent, at which Columbus
spent the last four years OF his life
The chapel. an exquisite gem of archi-
architecture, is still preserved and
kept in perfect condition by the tile
company. Under its marble floor the
remains of Columbus were laid before
his devoted brother Barthelomae
brought them from Valladolid, where
he died, and from where they were ta-
ken to San Domingo by his daughter
in-law. This convent is associated
with the sorrows of Columbus, and
the pavements of the cloisters have
been moistened by his tears.
There are several other important
factories about Seville On the oppo-
site side of the river, in the suburb
known as Triana. thousands OF busy
workmen live and produce almost ev-,
erything, from steam engines to per-
fumery. That is also the home of the
Gypsies, who are the pure-blooded de-
scendants OF the Moors. and have all
ways been a numerous and important
part of the population, as In Granada
There may be seen the most pictur-
esque types and costumes In all Spain.