The home life of the Spaniard, which pictures his softer shades of character, and shows the more delicate tracings of his mental and moral sensibilities, must not be disregarded. There alone we shall see him as he is, stripped of the paraphernalia attending his appearance before men, with the intents and purposes of heart and mind laid open before us.
We have noticed how the genius of the Mahometan clung to the soil long after he was driven away; to this day southern Spain is more Arabic than Gothic. The towns of Andalusia—of which Cádiz, with its whitewashed antiquity and its streets and walls clean as a taza de plata, is the key; and Seville, radiant with sunny gardens and glittering towers, is the pride—consist of narrow, tortuous streets walled by Moorish mansions enclosing cool courts. Shutterless windows, through which half-muffled lovers whisper soft nothings to bar-imprisoned señoritas, open without; fresh young love and musty antiquity thus mingling in harmonious contrast. Then, favored by the voluptuous air of spring, or broiling beneath the enervating heat of summer, are Granada, Córdova, and Málaga, where glory and shame, heroic virtue and unblushing vice, erudition and ignorance, Christianity and paganism were so blended that the past and present seem almost one. As if proud of their Moorish origin, these cities of southern Spain battle with time, and hold in fast embrace the shadows of departed grandeur. The better class of Moorish houses are yet preserved; and the otherwise unendurable heat of this so-called oven of Spain is rendered supportable by the narrow, crooked streets—so narrow, indeed, that in some of them vehicles can not pass each other—and by the irregular, projecting stories of the terrace-roofed houses.
Though widely separate in their religious systems much there is alike in the national characteristics of these grave and haughty sheiks and the Spaniards. To both were given conquest, wealth, and opportunity. Both struggled blindly and bravely, sinking into national decay and corruption, which closed in around them like a pestilence. But in their religion there was no doubt a difference. One was sensual, the other spiritual. In one were the seeds of progress, of intellectual culture, and of all those enlightenments and refinements which make men more fit to dominate this earth. And though the Allah akbar echoes from the receding hosts who worship God and his prophet, yet its mission is fulfilled. Where now is the might of Mauritania? Where the power and pride that caused Egypt to dream again of the days of the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies? Syria and Palestine are desolate, Bedouinized. To Bagdad remains but the memory of ancient splendor; her palaces are heaps. No more the good Haroun al Raschid walks her streets; no more the universities of Kufa and Bassora, Samarcand and Balkh enlighten the world. The sons of Hagar have had their day; their work is done. What Spain and her colonies now are need not here be told.
DWELLINGS AND FURNITURE.
Every Spanish town has its plaza, great square, or public market-place, which every day presents a busy scene. Thither in early morning resort the improvident—though not specially lazy—common people for their daily supply of food. Then there is the paseo, or public promenade, or, as it is more frequently called, the alameda, from álamo, poplar, a beautiful walk, shaded on either side by trees. There may be seen every pleasant day after the siesta, or midday sleep, groups of either sex, and all classes, high and low, rich and poor, walking to and fro, chatting, smoking, flirting, drinking in health and content and merriment with the cool, delicious evening air; while ladies in carriages and cavaliers on curveting steeds occupy and enliven the roadway.
Numberless kinds of dwellings obtain in various parts, conspicuous among which are the Asturian caverns, the subterranean abodes of La Mancha, the forts of Castile, and the Moorish palaces of Andalusia. Stone, hewn and unhewn, is the material employed in mountainous districts; adobe, or sun-dried brick, with thatched roof, upon the plains. A common class of architecture is a windowless parallelogram divided into two rooms, one for the family, and the other for the cattle, the attic being used as a barn. Houses of this kind are built in one and two stories. An out-house for stores, which is also used as a sleeping-place for the women, perched on pillars eight feet high, sometimes stands adjacent. Across one end of the family room, which, of necessity, is used for all domestic purposes, extends a fire-place, ten or fifteen feet in length and six feet in depth, over which is a large bell-shaped chimney extending out into the middle of the room. This style of building might be elaborated, wings added, or the form changed. Tiled roofs are common, and overhanging eaves. Some houses are of three or four stories; others run out long and low upon the ground. More pretentious dwellings are often in the form of a hollow square, with a patio and garden within. Of such are convents with cloisters, and over them ranges of corridors and rooms.
Among the upper classes the apartments of the lady consist of an antechamber, or drawing-room, a boudoir, a bed-room, a dressing-room, and an oratory. The drawing-room is furnished with tapestry hangings on which are represented battles and biblical scenes—war and religion even here; polished oak or mahogany high-backed chairs, clumsy, and elaborately carved; in the corners of the room triangular tables on which stand heavy silver or gold candlesticks with sperm candles, the light from which is reflected by small oval Venetian mirrors, in fantastically wrought gold or silver frames; cupboards with glass doors for plate, etc. In the boudoir is a toilet-table before Venetian mirrors profusely draped in handsome lace; a book-case, work-table, arm-chairs, sacred paintings and family portraits; in the sleeping-room, a tall heavy bedstead with damask or velvet curtains, a crucifix—the image of silver or gold, and the cross of ivory—with a little basin of holy water near it, a priedieu and prayer-book; in the dressing-room a wardrobe, and all necessary toilet appliances; in the oratory an altar, a crucifix, two or more priedieux, and, if mass is said, as is often the case in the houses of the great or wealthy, images of saints by the masters, with all the accompanying ornaments of devotion.
The dwellings of southern Spain, large and small, lean toward the Arabic in architecture—Arabic decorations, with second-story balconies; the rooms rich in carved ceilings, wainscoting, and arabesque; the entrance from the street in city houses being through a vestibule and an ornamented iron-grated gate. During the summer, when the sun's rays strike like poisoned darts, the family live for the most part in the patio. There upon the marble pavement, beside the cooling fountain, and amidst fragrant orange, palm, and citron trees, visitors are received, chocolate drank, and cigarettes smoked. There too they dance to the music of the guitar, play cards, and take their siesta.
To oriental customs may be attributed the jealous privacy by which the women of Spain were guarded by husbands and fathers. Besides her natural weakness, woman was yet inferior, inept, characterless, not to be trusted. The fortress-like houses of the better sort, which are scattered all over the table-land of the Peninsula, with their spacious inner court and iron-barred windows, were so arranged that the part occupied by the female members of the household was separate from the more public rooms of the men. This precinct was unapproachable by any but the most intimate friend or invited guest. Their domestic policy, like every other, was suspicious and guarded.
This is further illustrated by the mode of entering a house, which also shows the effect of centuries of warfare upon manners. In outer doors, and in those of distinct floors, and apartments, was inserted a small grate and slide. On knocking, the slide moved back, and at the grating appeared the lustrous, searching eyes of the inmate. "Quien es?" Who is it? was the salutation from within. "Gente de paz." Peaceful people, was the reply.