The Ship-Dwellers: A Story of a Happy CruisePaine, Albert Bigelow
General
The Ship-Dwellers: A Story of a Happy Cruise
Paine, Albert Bigelow
Middle East -- Description and travel
"Picture postals twelve for a quarter!" was the American cry that
greeted us at every turn. If we had been English it would have been
"twelve for a shilling," or if German "_zwölf für ein Mark_," no doubt.
They do not mistake nationalities in Gibraltar--they have all kinds to
study from. Moors we saw--black, barelegged, and gayly attired--a taste
of the Orient we were about to enter--and if there were any
nationalities we did not see in this motley-thronged Mediterranean
gateway I do not recall them now. We bought a few postal cards, and two
fans with bull-fights on them, but unlike the _Quaker City_ "Pilgrims"
we bought no gloves.
I did look at certain stylish young creatures who passed now and then,
and wondered if one of them might not be the bewitching saleslady who
had sold those gloves. And then I remembered: she would not be young and
bewitching any more; she would be carrying the burden and the record of
many years. Unlike the first "Pilgrims," too, we did not hear the story
of the "Queen's Chair." That was worn out, at last, and exists to-day
only in the guide-books. We drove over to Spanish Town by and by, but it
was still less inviting over there, so we drove back, passed out through
the great gates which close every evening at sunset, and waited at the
pier for the little tender, for it was near evening and we were through
with Gibraltar--ready for the comfort of the ship.
It is a curious place--a place of a day's interest for the traveller--of
enormous interest to the military world. For two hundred years it has
been maintained with English blood and treasure, until it has become the
most costly jewel of that lavish kingdom. There are those
to-day--Englishmen--who say it is not worth the price--that it is no
longer worth any price--and they advocate returning it to Spain. No army
could take it, and no army wants to take it--nothing could be gained by
taking it any more. But it is one of England's precious traditions, and
it will take another two hundred years of vast maintenance before
England will let that tradition go.
There were papers on the tender, London and Paris journals, but the only
American news was that Congress had been advised against tinkering with
the tariff. That did not interest us. Had we not been face to face with
the headquarters of tariff that very morning, and heard the story of how
that noble industry was born? This later item was mere detail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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