Things seen in Spain

by C. Gasquoine Hartley

Spain has something from of old, which the younger countries of the world, with all their headlong progress, have as yet only begun to gain. That something is tradition. It is interesting to note for one’s self the signs of this tradition in the daily life of the people—in their fine understanding of the art of living, in their unfailing courtesy, in their kindness in all personal relationships. I have never known a people with so little thought of themselves or care for personal gain. The greatest gift of their inheritance is a splendid capacity for sacrifice. And if, as must be acknowledged, this quality has led them often into evil, nevertheless it will, with awakened knowledge, gain their redemption.

In England, and even more in America—the newest as Spain is one of the oldest of civilizations—business is the only respectable pursuit, including under business literature and the arts, which in these countries are departments of business. In Spain this is not so; there are other aims and other traditions, havens of refuge from the prevalent commercialism.

The duty of expending great labour to gain the little good of money is not as yet understood by the Spaniards. They have always been, and still are, a people who stand definitely for art and the beauty of life—men and women whose spiritual instinct enables them to open windows to the stars, and through these windows, in passing, the stranger sometimes looks.

Literature and art in Spain rest on a long tradition which has not only produced pictures, carvings, splendid buildings, and books, but has left its mark on the language, the manners, the ideas, and the habits of the people. And even though in every art the technical tradition has been interrupted, there remains the tradition of feeling. Spain is one of the few uncommercial countries where the artist and the author are still esteemed as worthy and profitable members of the community. Spanish paper money bears the portraits of men of letters and great painters. Goya’s etchings are reproduced on the pictures used as stiffeners in the packets of cigarettes.

It is this ever-present consciousness of a great tradition, which we may call an understanding of “good manners,” meaning by this the art of beautiful living, finding its expression as it does in the common life of the people, that makes it true that, though the Spaniard belongs to the Past, he belongs also to the Future. He has the qualities which younger nations now are striving to gain.

Side by side with the new growth of material prosperity, which has been so marked in the country in recent years, there is to-day a corresponding movement of spiritual reawakening. When education spreads among the people, when the over-scrupulous submission to authority, which has given power to the officialism of Church and State, shall have found new channels of duty, we shall cease to hear dismal prophecies of Spain’s downfall. By the splendid spiritual qualities of her people Spain will be saved. She will be born again before many years have passed.

INDEX

Al toro, the game of,	[149]
Alcázar, the,	[113]
Algeciras,	[13]
Alhambra, the,	[103]
Andalusian, the typical,	[115]
“Angel’s hair,”	[139]
Architecture,	[205]
Architecture in Toledo,	[99]
Art,	[204]
Art galleries,	[150]
Banderilleros, the,	[50]
Basques, the,	[168]
Beggars,	[68], [242]
Boina, the,	[164]
Bolero, the,	[36]
Bota, or leather bottle,	[18]
Bull-fight, the,	[43]
Burgos Cathedral,	[206]
Business v. Art,	[249]
Cabaña a,	[170]
Cafés cantantes,	[36]
Cafés in Madrid,	[138]
Calientes,	[125]
Carvings,	[206]
Casetas,	[72]
Children, Spanish,	[145]
Chulos, the,	[50]
Cigarreras,	[46], [177]
Climate of Madrid, the,	[139]
Conservatism of Spain,	[14]
Consumos, or Customs officers,	[18]
Cordova,	[105]
Court of Oranges at Cordova,	[106]
Cruelty in the Spanish nature,	[60]
Dancing,	[35]
Democracy in Spain,	[19]
Diligences,	[193]
Dress,	[25]
Dulsaina, the,	[163]
El Greco,	[98], [217]
Escorial, the,	[237]
Espada, the,	[53]
Fábrica de Tabacos,	[176]
Family life,	[72]
Fans,	[140]
Feria, the,	[72]
Fishing,	[198]
Flamenco dance of the Gitanas,	[39]
Food, indifferent,	[198]
Friendliness,	[188]
Frogs as a delicacy,	[197]
Fruit-growing,	[172]
Ganivet on Moorish influence,	[29]
Gardens,	[30]
Generalife of Granada, the	[33]
Gente flamenca,	[46]
Giralda Tower, the,	[113]
Gitana women,	[74]
Gitanas, the, or gipsies,	[36], [163]
Goya,	[218]
Granada, the gardens of,	[33], [103]
Hair, elaborately dressed,	[25]
Hospitality of the Spaniards,	[125]
Households, Spanish,	[123]
Houses, construction of,	[25]
Indifference to pain,	[63]
Irun,	[13]
Jan Van Eyck,	[213]
Jarro, the,	[172]
Jota, the,	[39]
Kermesse, the,	[178]
Kindliness of the Spanish nature	[68]
Madrid,	[130]
Majos,	[115], [140]
Manaña,	[59]
Maria de Gaucin, torero,	[45]
Market, a,	[164]
Montanés, the sculptor,	[83]
Moorish influence,	[25]
Moors in Spain, the,	[26]
Mosque at Cordova,	[106]
Muleta, the,	[53]
Museo del Prado,	[150]
Museums,	[150]
Ox-waggons,	[167]
Pain, the Spaniard’s indifference to,	[64]
Painting,	[213]
Pascua de Resurrección, the,	[181]
Paseo de la Cuadrilla, the,	[49]
Pasos, the,	[80], [182]
Patio, the,	[25], [120]
Peasants, Spanish,	[164]
Physical traits,	[24]
Picador, the,	[50]
Plaza de Toros, the,	[46]
Port Bou	[13]
Posada, the,	[18], [153]
Prado, the,	[139]
Puerta del Sol, the	[138]
Railway trains,	[184]
Rastro of Madrid, the,	[134]
Reja, the, or grating,	[120]
Religion and dancing,	[78]
Religious processions,	[83]
Romance, Spain the home of,	[14]
Sainete, or “curtain-raiser,”	[144]
Santa Maria, Cathedral of,	[87]
Seguidilla, the,	[73]
Seises, the,	[79]
Semana Santa, the,	[80]
Serenos, or night watchmen,	[17]
Seville,	[36], [46], [80]
Spanish character, the,	[20]
Stendhal on the Spanish people,	[14]
Suerte de Banderillear, the,	[50]
Suerte de Matar,	[53]
Suerte de Picar, the,	[50]
Teatro Real at Madrid,	[144]
Tertulias, or parties,	[124]
Theatre in Spain, the,	[145]
Thrift and sobriety,	[175]
Toledo,	[93]
Toreros, the,	[45]
Toro de gracia,	[54]
Tower of Gold, the,	[113]
Unpunctuality,	[187]
Vacada, the,	[45]
Velazquez,	[151]
Ventas,	[77]
Wild animals,	[194]
Wine-making,	[172]
Women, fascination of Spanish,	[119]
Women, Spanish,	[24]
Women workers,	[175]
Zeguán, the,	[26]
Zurbaran,	[225]