White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-09-17

letters of Introduction to high officials
and wealthy families go away with
glowing accounts of the sumptuous
ness Of life, of the lavish hospitality
accorded visitors, and of the very
modern manner of living in this only
specifically undermined city.
Other earnest seekers after local
color who visit Seville and, in their
desire to know their Spain, live among
the Sevillanos endure the inconyeni-
ences of modest Spanish homes, spend
long hours in crowded cafes to engage
in endless discussions with the ever
talkative habitues, attend frequent fes-
rivals and bullights. These folk carry
away vivid, glowing picture of a
Seville en- festa-colorful, rather
noisy, highly picturesque.
Average Income Is Puny.
Only in rare instances does the for.
eigner come to know the true home
life of the Sevillano. There is not
much money per capita in Seville these
days. To be sure, certain of the city's
families are immensely wealthy and
live in the style of oriental potentates
and occidental plutocrats, while for
eign residents are forced, for appear
ances' sake, to struggle along at sim
tistical handful. Fully three-fourths
of the towns population lives and has
it's being and is wholly happy on an
income of around a dollar a day per
person.
In many cases this income must COW
er the needs of an entire family, and
some of Seville's families need much.
But somehow there is always enough
left over for the menfolk to afford a
few hours each evening with convival
friends in favorite coffee shop, and
to secure a seat Gin the SUM- at the
Sunday bullfght; and for the numer-
Gus children to purchase penny sweets,
as occasion demands, from the howl
ing huckster who passes the door each
morning, accompanied by congenial
donkey laden with sticky lusciousness;
and for the women of the family to
have a new imitation tortoise-shell
comb cobwehby lace mantilla, and
a holeless pair of silk stockings-this
last because the weaving of silk hos
iery has in recent years become one
of Spain's leading manufacturing in
dustries.
The people Of Seville blend past and
present in their dress and in many of
their customs. The high Spanish comb
and lace mantilla of olden times are
still worn here, perhaps more general
ly than in any other city of Spain.
But the comb is more often than not
perched precariously in modernly
bobbed hair. while-the mantilla COW
ers a beautiful head filled with decid-
eddy up-to-date feminine thoughts and
ideas.
Racially, the people owe much to the
Moorish residence in southern Spain.
Brilliant black and brown eyes and
compilations ranging from darkest
sepia to the most delicate Of creamy
textures are strangely reminiscent of
long generations OF ancestors who
dwelt beneath the Sahara sun. Inter
mingled with this great majority, how
ever, one finds increasingly large per-
centage Of the blue eyes and light hair
of more Anglo-Saxon communities.
olives and Cork.
Seville is an industrious city. Many
of the city's activities revolve about
the production and shipment of picked
olives and various grades of olive oil,
for it is the central point of distribu-
tion for the richest oliye-producing
area in the world. There is an ancient
local saying that the only genuine
queen olives produced on earth are
grown within seeing distance Of the
Giralda tower, the soil and climate
of this region being particularly well
suited to the full maturing of this
class of the fruit.
Much of the cork insulation found in
our modern electrical refrigerators
and many of the cork disks in the
metal caps of ginger ale-and other
bottles were shipped from the port Of
Seville. The world acknowledges no
wrought iron more artistic than that
fashioned by the gypsy families of
Triana.
Seville's industries, however are not
permitted to interfere too radically |
with her moments of rest and relaxa-
ton. Every coffee shop (and there
are scores Of them in Seville) Is
noisy stamping ground, humanity
choked. from early in the afternoon |
until long after midnight. Indeed, one
may pass at any time during the dag |
or night and see gesticulating knots
Of men crowded about cup-cluttered
tables, talking, talking.