Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1921-01-19
RHODES SCHOL.IA AR
WRITES OF SPAIN
Frank Harold Recounts
Interestingly Expert
ences On Trip

The following letter from Frank
Harold, Americas Rhodes scholar
at Oxford, England, supplements
that published few days in which
he told of a visit to the battlefelds
of France and Belgium, and later to
Paris. In this letter he describes
his experiences in Spain.
Cordova, Spain, Dec. 81, 1920.
Dear Father: l think my last letter
was written right before l left for
Paris. This last week has been mos
! strenuous, but very interesting.
could write a book on what we've
seen and done.
Durr and l left Paris for Bor-
deaux Monday morning, Dec. IS. Ar
rived there at p. m. and walked
around awhile but didn't find much
of interest and turned in real early.
The next day We spent between
Bordeaux, France, and Irun, Spain.
There wasn't much of interest in this
ride, either. Irun is just across the
border between France and Spain.
1t was an awfully long ride from
there to Madrid, though. We got
on the train at 6 a. m. Wednesday
at run and reached Madrid a. m.
Thursday. 1t was the worst ride l
ever had. The car was cold and
snow was on the ground and there
was no, place on the train to lie down.
The Spanish soldiers had Just got
ten Christmas leave and the car was
full of them. Most of the day was
spent in the Pyrennees Mountains.
They are as grand as anything in
the states, | am sure.
At night the soldiers kept up an
awful racket and the seats were as
hard as rocks. We were crowded,
so didn't get much sleep. The Span
lsh soldiers are certainly inferior to
the French poilu in every way. This
uniforms are covered with brass but
tons and colors and look very cheap,
but they are so proud of them that
they like to show them to everyone.
l counted forty-seven brass buttons
on one uniform. Their pants are
bright red and coats are dark blue.
The caps are red and blue. They
are a noisy, rowdy crowd.
The peasants on the train are
rougher than the French. They car
ried their food with them and each
one had a little bag of red wine.
Tong and Sanford who had left
US in Paris and gone ahead, joined
US on the route. So our party is
made up of four Oxford men. Tong
is from Arizona, Durr from Mont
gomery, Ala, and Sanford is an
Englishman and "you know me Al"
Finally arriving at Madrid we set
out to see the town on Thursday.
We stayed till Sunday morning. Now
that | have seen some more of Spain,
| can't say that Madrid is typically
Spanish. 1t is a very young city
compared to the rest of Spain. But
1t is a very beautiful city. Next to
Washington and Los Angeles, about
the prettiest I've ever seen. 1t is
we'll laid out, has wide streets, many
parks, beautiful statues, some mar
Vicious architecture and fine, hand
some buildings. AS in France, no
building is over six stories high. The
uniformity certainly improves a
place. Thursday night we went to
theater to get an idea of what it
was like. The show started at 1890.
The seats were very cheap and the
theater would be rated 3rd class in
the states. The music and dancing
were all Spanish and all by Span
ish women. They would sing
song, go back and change their dress
es while the audience waited, sing
another song, another wait, etc.