The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-06


curio bargain hunter, The armory boasts
a collection of arms and armor which
is eclfpsed nowhere in the world. The
swords, crossbows, guns. sings, suits
Of mail, breast plates, pistols. helmets
and many other curosities run back to
the earliest times. But Madrid is big,
bustling modern city and does not hold
the attention of the globe trotter long.
From Madrid q side trip is made to
the Escorial The Escorial was built by
Phillip II, about the year 200. 1t was
designed as palace, tomb Tor the
kings of Spain and church. 1t is called
the eighth wonder of the world. To me,
it surpasses in grandeur and wonder the
pyramids of Egypt. The building taken
as whole is in shape OF a gridiron In
honor of ST. Lawrence who was broiled
and tortured TO death over n gridiron--
but the cathedral which is built In the.
massive structure is in shape of Greek
cross. The mausoleum, or place for the
receptacle of the kings remains, is per-
haps the grandest and most gorgeous on
earth 1t is said that many of the Span
ish sovereigns found peculiar pleasure
in haunting this royal burial place and
Maria Louisa scratched her name on the
marble casket which was to be her last
resting place. So powerful was Spain un-
der the rule of Phillip the Second that
he boasted that with two inches of paper
he ruled the world. The instability of
human institutions, however, was shown
when we next visited Cordoya. Under the
reign of the Moors this city boasted
population of more than a million inhabi :
tants and it was said at night one might
walk in a straight line for 10 miles by
light of the public lamps. Seven hundred
years after this there was not a. public
lamp In London and Paris was practically
a mudhole Now Cordova is a town of
4d, 900 and no tourist would stop there but
for its wonderful Mesquite originally
Mohammedan mosque, now a Catholic
cathedral. More than a thousand columns
of marble, porphyry. jasper and other
stones were brought from Carthage Con-
stantinople, Alexandria and other places
10 adorn and support its mighty roof.
This building was erected in the year 10l
and is still in a good state of preserya-
ton.
Our next stop was at Granada, a city
OF running waters and situated in one of
the most beautiful plains in the world. 1t
is said that when the Moors overran
the country they exclaimed when they
saw this delightful scene that they had
found paradise. Under the Moors Gran
ada numbered a population of 100000
souls--now it has 5000. The land around
ii yields oranges, lemons, hemp, fax,
small grain and of course the grape and
Give. You of course, know that the
boast and pride of Granada and Spain,
too, is the magnificent and ancient pail
ace of the Moorish kings called the Al
hambra. Washington Irving spent months
IN it's walls getting inspiration for his
delightful Tales of the Alhambra,'
which helped make him famous as
writer. This great building is now in
state of ruin, but enough OF 1t remains
to impress you with awe at Its beauty
and magnificence. In one of the cathe-
drals of the town we saw the buryinS
- M ND Icnl l,alla y
vault underneath these magnificent Sc
pulchres can be seen the actual coffins
which inclose their remains, also the
casket which held 1sabella's jewels which
she pawned to get money to defray the
expense of Columbus when he sailed TO
discover America. 1t was on the outskirts
of Granada that we saw the real ana
Cnly gypsies.. They are race to them
selves, never intermarry with other peo-
pie and live in caves dug out or the sides
of mountains and walled up In front.
We drove out to see these remarkable
people, taking along with us a policeman,
which we were told was necessary. We
went to the king of the gypsies' cave and
for a small consideration be assembled
his dancing girls, six in number, and
band of music consisting of guitars, man
dolins, etc. The girls were all pretty and
gave us the typical Spanish dances. 1t
is said to be dangerous to 80 there With
out an escort
Spain Is a decayed and decaying coun-
try It will never again hold the atten-
ton of the world as it has done in the
past. Its people still one handled
wooden plows drawn by oxen They still
tramp out the wheat and other small
grain under the feet of cattle. The ma
iority of the people are lazy and poor
and as / said before beggars swarm
around you. Still there is q wonderful
amount of interest in a journey through
this once powerful and romantic land,
w. B. REYNOLDS.