SPECIAL ARTICLE

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18231, 15 November 1924, Page 11

SPECIAL ARTICLE

%<£y spain. . W% . ——*— — VUfis-MBE' BATTLE OF s*y- the BUILDINGS." f'V (Bs W. D"A. .Cresswell.)- " 1 nMVTE —Mr Creeswell's articles K - JS. Sp«n are reaching us eo interY 'S&rff, that readers may have fori !S.« what happened in the last we * w ' travellers had reached ki-ISE »ft» a 6tt l n T 9 ™> f m ?& then been driven from \Mfc£«T mest* on the river-bank by a , fflEJjsTnl-l«*ii«fcUow..-EdJ | "'A *i rtjoded and tired that terrible afterin Seville than flung yErim the «**» of ifc ' clutehmg our CLsomg figs and plums, too exhausted &2d astray to attempt another entry "Iftbe city or to seek those enchanted Vrtrfens whose fame bid brought us I A foot to Seville, which were not, at * W moment, more than half a mile along the river, we were swept tribe sun, as adrift as drowning men, M W ti down the embankment, longing ''<Mfe**t and fall somewhere insensible jlltunable to sit down, unsheltered, Itfcop &* dan S er of tn€ sun - Nor could IfwFfind any place that was fit to sit % along that green ditch of cinders, : f %s& and shipping, over which reigned ,li «lence as though the place were §''TTf.crawled at last, I think, between Mti& casks' on the quay, and were not flag kept awake, even by the lazy [ygloHpnentfl of an engine and the crashsjl£~of its trucks. Wf,li you wi ll travel in an adventurous iafclj renditions you are somewhat ton't attempt it in Spain in r, in Morocco or Mexico, i last it vm& four o'clock, we ie city with a Spanish memConsulate as our guide, ment after leaving the river mmersed m buildings that j the sky. Here our guide rough narrow, bewildering i which we never but once when- we crossed, a square were and statues and the ' trees. Above us the yellow i shuttered from the sun; the shade, a few women lg dose to the houses from or, or a donkey, relieved of stood asleep with twitching sed a church from whose •mous doors heavy gusts of fd a thin gabbled chanting > the street. Tie lane itself a beggar by those grand rve which a shining-, tower n the shadows about us. „.... b yards we followed the high beyond which parts |af fcjnansion could be seen, whose high glafcG&s, f flooded with sunlight and' ¥tasfieasjj| with creepers, looked out to the plain and the masts I 'along the river. . |i~TKm.m ; .scene changed almost bej aware, and we waded k ,TOofljfelߧfowß and cafes and .stalls that hid the shops W^^W^x. among a throng that, were as wßS&&gM ***h v the smells and'colours ||||||srfheni aB were the wasps that ||]||rea the meltmg fruits in hundreds. ||E|jpsbß dishevelled doorways of eat'came the inevitable, appalof -frying oil, mingling in about us with the oaths laughter of ait impetuI race. Wherever the | ||ip£fr fell, the scene was brilliant | ijlpftrilring in the extreme and exI ||gsffiithe emptiness and silence of the Wbso&, through, which we had • come. u mgmj&ttQ waded to our necks behind ||ipßde), our eyes were hardly, turned-. ||||||tivament from the buildings, that the sharp and certain purmen from, the litter of ideals, and hatreds that surH^fflifiSbJßß—^the Arab, the East/ the the animalism of dark, and that miracle ', of ffiß|#»tion and altruism that arose iglfej™ B ' desert. Stripped to the waist. sinking sun that left the half in shadow, like ■» B£gi tf Bronzed, Gleaming Fighters, our way so densely it ||fi||purdty be followed for: twenty ua before it was lost. Illgpwed and amazed us most, who found the plain and the open §H|Jnnurilated in this surprising mannothing remained of the life |li|f|rid been ours; for weeks except igljflpwnofce strips of sky. x Buildings 1 the history and men., We were plunged into Already the plains and the fallen and been dragged to H&j&ar/and forgotten. Blood on their I|j|ps"*jiad faces; the jgants of men the skies, and the 1 inhabiiwfc°f Spain knew nothing of this! asleep! They fly, they fall, the With another effort be conquered and enslaved, at last of knowledge and 4hose enemies we know as and nature, who -carry |jß»i# our buildings their banners of up Spain 1 And then, cruel sun, look out; you terrible Emperor, our H9|S£-> *M djsoover the gateways palace and surprise when jour relentless reign and decay, that enslaves the @g|»><!f man in savagery and superstihe done. " a skirmish was Seville, i an affair of brigands the | manner, gleaming knives, j wißg& "«olours, and a ferocious gaiety, ggjgfEKtied and muddled, a flippant fflgiweof evolution. Here they were, |||£&U6wb we had failed to meet'among. |||br»«rras. Not extinct, the banditti, Ifjp" 0 ! Here was Soain, a swarming IfenM* band, too often on terms with to whom they deserted once BK of Pern and Panama. "betrayxzis -their* ovftl jpanlcind MSW'desperate struggle for enlightenmastery of nature fand Wpcev-The real armies, where are front line of the fight the MgHp£/guns, the millions of soldiers, gifsantic, and equipped', the ißjlJJjr-ihe murmur and the" roar, the the dying, the terrible, gipßrible enemies launched from the unregion's that surround this fiery precarious encounters New York, I shall see you |lipi«H-yott Signors, como estan Sjwiwt "We meet at last* Ton are Ktfighters, I see, though compared BHteoto doings in London and New lllfofethat was merely a battle of ™|s?«itbeleßS there was something, an jjSilip-i/a gaiety, a beauty 'that rather of the arena, the crimson the yellow sand, like the'yel-. the sky, the slim, silverish the explosive crowds. The, world, the real fighters, need beauty; Why not join upt you will, you will. If not, ; me, but you will be compelled. HWrWhUe, Signors, we shall spend a ggPtghts with yon, in gallant and gay hope. So now good felyour camp fires and bring

out your guitars, and good-bye to the facts of daylight for a while. Buildings I Buildings! how they intoxicate and astonish a man. They alone of bur great arts are' the soul of taan joined to action. Buildings are action. , To what heights of example and drama can they not rise. Even the • Government Architect has a sort of soul, crying crasdly for salvation from the midst of Wellington, as all who have seen the new Parliament buildings will agree. We reached at last the "fonda" to which our guide was conveying us, which proved to be. much too dear. However, we found one that was cheap enough near-by, one of those rat holes of little Spain that escape the treadings of the giants of the world as holes in the rocks may do. Here, as soon as possible, Our Guide Left Us in Disgust at so mean a lodging, having evidently acquired a somewhat British upbringing at, the Consulate. Our room was a gloomy recess that opened off the "patio," whose light and air were quite excluded, firstly by a black," unventilated lobby in which it was impossible to see anything as we squeezed past, except a stale heap of bedclothes, where -somebody-: was obviously in the habit of sleeping, and, secondly, by a dingy curtain that pretended to divide the lobby from the larger place, with one high, thin window, that was ours- This tiny loophole, that looked out on to the street beside the front entrance, but too high up for us to see out of it, contained a very old and,interesting grating through which passed all the air and sunlight we might have, together with the slightest sound from the street without.

So little light reached the apartment through that one opening that it wab necessary to make use of a. dim, decrepit electric .bulb at all hours, when the combination of these two futile illuminations, by means of which you could dimly perceive an iron bedstead that nearly filled the .room, a washBtand and a forgotten assortment of bottles and odd boots in one corner, was most weird and incredible. I could not imagine, though I had been eager for the roughest sort of lodging, however ■we should sleep on one bed in such an atmosphere.

That evening, after bathing at the Consulate, we took refreshment on tho pavement overlooking the Guadalquivir, with the incisive, white houses of Seville at our backs.

Above the river, where it narrowed upstream beneath its bridges, there was a gash of red in the smoky sky where the sun had escaped from sight. Lower down stream the decks and rigging of small steamers stood idle and silent against the quay, the barrels and cases they had unloaded and the railway trucks half hidden by tho balustrade with which the avenue was ■edged, above a..twenty feet drop to the quay. Across thp river stood the white facade of Triana, that interrupted a little our view of tlie silent, treeless plain that surrounds the city, and the pale outline of the sierras that surround the plain.

Occasionally a tram came bounding along the avenue, not very faßt, and crowded with whitely-clothed'men who clung wherever there' was footing, one throwing himself off, with a gesture to the remainder, whenever" it suited him. Bowling.brightly and easily by caine the carriages arid the morev casual "f'coches de alquiler.?' In the carriages were borne the languid wives and daughters of the richer class, with black attire and subdued White faces as though they shunned and dreaded the sunlight; and next, these precautions not -being deemed warning enough, each appears more secluded'and prudent yet from the back' mantilla that envelops the hair,/ the .forehead and "sometimes the: eyes/ 1 a ;sippos6,3atr ofice. of'; 'allufement ;and the notorious ardour !o'f the' Spanish : male. ;,;'.' ' . f ". ; -In the coche's de alquiler, the taxis of Seville, lolled the • young' men in twos, and threes, with tight trousers, Straw hats, cigars, and :dark glances, and.an air of increasing liveliness and relief. !as the daylight disappeared and the darkness increased. Clearly it.was much appreciated, this evening display of mantillas and'conventional-modesty; which, like restraint : in men,, is ,the largest lie in women, a He which we learn in: time to need and admire..':"'. ■ Down the river we could see the great trees; where the gardens of'the Delicias begin, towards which the 39 vehicles were streaming.;

-Soon the}Vice-Consul,-who dined at eight, had left,ns, when we sat, attentive and enchanted, for a long; while before returning to our bed. Darkness and. quiet descended an, Seville, and a. medley of lights appeared along the river, from the. quay, the • ships, tliO' railway -yards, and the ; receding. whiteness of Triana, before which the carriages were soon returning like black arid abriost invisible birds froriv the dark receases of the Delieias. to disappear.into the lanes of- the-city behind us. Sounds of,voice's. and singing, melancholy and remote, as such sounds in the open air, v across plains -and the blackness Of water, always are, reached us from across the river, " where the harsh facade of. Triana was soon suffused in its own light, that seemed to rise from: the ground as though, ; Tne Houses Faced a Ditch of Fire., as though the river had flung all that hotness in their faces while remaining black and indistinguishable 1 itself: Within that broad, silent gulf shone only a few sparks of red and green, the wearied watchlights of empty ships, with their scandalous, disheartening tale of one man aboard and the rest riotously ashore. Is there no religion, no- society that has the predicament of that fellow at heart! A beggar,-strumming a guitar and 81 "En Grana-a-a-da! En Gfana-a-a-da!"

the first words of a song I was- to hear all over Spain, drifting gradually nearer until he stood without the ring of trees in tubs that spread around our tables and marked the territory of our cafe from the rest of the pavement. Now, since this js the story of' a discovery it is the story of an emotion. I felt it in' Seville that night as strongly as ever in Spain. Our friends the brigands had lit their fires and touched their gnitars, and 1 was in tears. Every feature of the* earth and sky, the cool air, tho shapes of buildings, the odours from gardens we had yet to discover, filled me with unutterable, Still joy. And-when in a moment a huge moon assembled in fragments of fire behind the trees by the river, and rose completed and perfect and almost blinding in its light until the flickering, ashen plain beyond and. the faint outline of the sierras were drawn imperceptibly from -darkness, I was swept entirely, away. I felt an ecstasy whose only name is* love (gentle citizenß "of Christchnrch," be neither amazed nor. ashamed), a secret of environment cannot' fathom, though I know it depended on my seeing Seville, and Spain," with an 'emotion' that was mine.

* Sitting there, gazing on the.rirer, I bad a dream of Spain. I was. floating -down its wafers from darkness to the present day. .Block from, .forests at first, then gashed with fires, and inverted savage forms, soon it was. wflectinK the pagodas and minarets oTtha-Eask -Strange tempks and incense', and the banging of gongs. It flows from Asia. urj» Europe. The spires of ,calt?hedrsUfl Tierce ite waters, iarmour and'cannon gUtter along its banks and kings oro

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