Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - III. Seville
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
SEVILLE 83
the most beautiful in the country? Has not the city a
cathedral which compares with the most celebrated
churches in the world in its majestic beauty; and is it
not esteemed by“many architects as superior to the
Church of St. Peter at Rome? Is there a population
anywhere which places heavenly matters so confidently
in the hands of its priests as does the population of
Seville? Or is there anywhere a population which
clings more tenaciously to its observance of the church
holidays?
Seville has one hundred and thirty feast days each
year and the other days can hardly be called real
work-days. But even these one hundred and thirty
days are not sufficient to give expression to the city’s
joy, and the streets resound nightly with songs and
tinklings, and the call of the blood.
Night in Seville is too beautiful to be described!
It is now December. This is winter: the Andalusian
winter, with sunlight and a blue sky. But the sun can-
not reach into the narrow streets and deep courts; it
is miserably cold inside the houses, and all living things
take refuge on the public squares and on the banks of
the Guadalquivir. In the narrow streets, poor women
on their knees are scrubbing the sidewalks and the
lower parts of the walls. This process is part of the
weekly cleaning-up. Dogs and children wallow in
garbage heaps which have accumulated, at every point
where streets radiate, and form something like a little
playground. An athletic young man is walking from
house to house, ringing each doorbell and asking—
whether this letter belongs to you. “You see, I cannot
read,” he adds by way of excuse, and proceeds to ring
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
