Excerpt from Spain of the Spanish
I think most persons find themselves willing to speak, or write, of anything they like very much. But sometimes it happens, at least this is my personal experience, that spoken words and written thoughts, on subjects which interest us greatly, seem weak and inadequate. The fear of seeming to say too much makes us, not infrequently, say too little, and then-how difficult it is to make people see through our eyes !
The difficulty of writing reasonably and effectively about Spain oppresses me at this moment: just when I have written the last line of the last chapter in this book. It has been a very real pleasure, this task of trying to indicate some of the characteristics of the wonderful Land of the Unexpected, but now that it has come to an end I feel, and very keenly, my own shortcomings.
Love counts for something in this funny old world of ours, but to give an adequate impression of a great country, something more than love for it is required. However, I take consolation from the fact-and it is a fact-that without love one cannot hope to learn, much less to teach, the secrets of Spain. Of love I have enough and to spare, and this is easily accounted for, since I have always enjoyed a thoroughly good time in the Peninsula and, without exception, I have found its people sympathetic.
The Spaniards possess one special quality which is absolutely priceless. They are naturally trustful. Even to strangers they extend the hand of good-fellowship, without the least fear or suspicion that such confidence may be misplaced. They are quick to resent and slow to forgive a betrayal oi trust; but in the beginning, before anything has been done to arouse reserve, they are frankly friendly, as children.
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