Identifier: landofdons00willuoft (find matches)
Title: The land of the Dons
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: Williams, Leonard, b. 1871
Subjects: Civilization, Spanish Spain -- Social life and customs
Publisher: London, Cassell
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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have risen to be capitalists. Inmany a dingy fdbrica the master labours among hisoperarios, blue-bloused as they, his meals and tastesas simple as their own. His men rise with the lark,and work sturdily till nightfall. They earn a toler-able wage, and spend but part of it. A drunkard israre, but socialism—and worse, anarchy, abounds.Perhaps it is because the Catalan workman knowshimself to be the prime factor of his citys prosperity,and has acquired just sufficient learning to be dan-gerous, that he commonly goes too far, exaggerateshis fitting self-esteem, and turns anarchist, so thatBarcelona may be said to be the worlds academyof this morbid creed. Apart from these disastrousleanings he is an excellent clothweaver, hatmaker,builder, carpenter, or ironworker—and taking onething with another his commonwealth has reason tobe proud of him. Subsequently to setting down the above shortestimate of this fine people, I have unearthed theDcscripcion General de Espaha of Verdejo Paez—a
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RETROSPECTIVE AND ETHNOLOGICAL. 5 diligent little work, written in the twenties of lastcentury, but still of value. According to Verdejo, theCatalans are robust, well-formed, and comely; reliablein their dealings, frugal, capable men of business,honourable, active, good soldiers, steadfast, enterpris-ing, and hardworking to a degree. Of sober habits,and devoted to their usages and language, they haveoften struggled hard to win their independence.Though they have been taxed with violent temperand unamiable address, they are hospitable, kind-hearted, and of an unaffected and ingenuousnature. All this chimes in precisely with my own ex-periences in Cataluna ; and Cervantes, who readcharacter as few are ever likely to read it again,proclaims the Catalans a courteous people, terriblewhen angered, yet naturally suave and peace-loving,,though—he qualifies admiringly—prone to sacri-fice their lives in defence of their honour. The Aragonese are as worthy as any of the occu-pants of Spain.

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