New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-13

I MEDITERRANEAN MOODS Footnotes
Of travel in the island of Mallorca
Minorca. IbiZa and Sardinia BY j.
. crawford Fitch. NJ a With fronts
/ piece in color reproduced from a draw
ing by G Biasi. 30 Illustrations ~
black and white and maps. Svo, pp.
323 i 7. Dutton & co
! Mr.. Fitch informs us in his introduc-
1 ton that he is an epicure Of travel. He
| long since outgrew the facile delights OF
the occasional holiday tourist whose un
vonted idleness and change from Gus
tpmary habits and familiar environment
create for him a mirage in which all that
is strange is rapturously beautiful; he
+ has outgrown the impressionability Of
the tripper with an exhaustless fund OF
spirits. but no standard Of criticism.
Mr.. Fitch has reached the stage where
the stars Of the guide book are warn
ing. not a lure. where the unfamiliar has
come 10 wear a monotonously familiar
look. and all abroad" has turned into
an arid desert. Gases II contains not
vet discovered by the tourists agencies.
hidden from the writer's of guide books
mapping the main travelled roads. and
some of these he visits in this volume.
which has al the attractiveness of the
unknown.
This fastidious roamer has a mind rich
" stored for its voyage Of discovery. l.
in his preface he is just a bit super
cilious toward the indisCriminate atu-
Jude of the average traveller abroad he
forgets his attitude the moment he gets
away from its opponents and begins ~
| observe. Then he becomes a culturel
COMPANION with a wide fund of informa-
tion TO draw upon for allusion and COM
harrison. and his interest Is as vivid in
the stagnant, primitive human lie a"
these isolated island communities as 81
| their architecture and their past tie
Yields a polished pen, tempting con
stantly TO suggestive quotation. ana
when one cannot agree with him one
realizes anew how profitable a compan-
ion is he who would convince US against
our own cherished convictions.
There IS some truly admirable writing
in Mr.. Fitch's description of the cathe-
dral at Palma on Mallorca, which out
| of the wealth of his experience. ne de-
| clares TO be the finest church he has
ever seen. The passage is too long To
be quoted here in full but this fragment
may serve as an illustration of its dis
criminatingly enthusiastic note:
have found the great beauty of this
! cathedral in that most difficult triumph OF
he architects art the S N6st bnidngs i'm
prison space. so that window or even a
picture on the -yal is needed to provide
/ way OF escape. In the perfect puldlns
| and herein is the perfection of Palma $
1 cathedral-spaCe Is not confined, but rather
/ created. II is no longer negative nut
| positive thing: il floods round you Ike
light not depressing, but refreshing the
! senses. The extraordinary modesty OF TINS
| cathedral which never ohtrudes ltseli'
which in fact appears TO recede as the
eve interrogates II. proceeds from the fact
that its beauty resides not in obvious Ornd-
ment but in its arrangement of plain sur
! faces and rounding lines which serve mere
! ly as the mould and receptacle ot space.
But side by side with this beauty in
stone there was the cinematograph at
the Teatro Balear. \ sad blow to one
fleeing the beaten path, and yet Mr..
Fitch saw in it's pictures the birth of
/ new art
He is not least interesting, informing
and inviting in his observations and eX-
periences of the people in these Islands,
nor is there lacking touch of quiet hui
NOR in his view of them. The religion of
the Mediterranean, he says. is untouched
by Northern mysticism II is terribly ex-
plicit. as in its representation of the
Passion in the Cathedral at Christmas
tide on Easter morning the statue of
Mary is taken TO meet that of Christ in
| the market place, 10 the accompaniment
of music But in the afternoon Of every