Excerpts from selected Caroline Earle White texts

By Pere Gifra Adroher

The next day we left there [Tarragona] for Valencia. The first part of the long journey we skirted the coast as we had done between Barcelona and Tarragona, and had our eyes gladdened by a constant view of the blue Mediterranean; but after a time the railway struck inland, and we were soon travelling through groves of orange trees well-nigh as thick as leaves in Vallombrosa. We had hitherto seen mostly olive trees and vineyards, where the grape-vines were cut down to the height of a little over a foot, together with occasional fields of grain; but as we neared Valencia, we beheld little but orange trees, most of them in blossom and some bearing fruit. The air was redolent with their fragrance, and we enjoyed to the utmost our first experience of such travel (11).

Source: White, Caroline Earle, 1895, A Holiday in Spain and Norway, Philadelphia, Lippincott, p. 11.

Our steps were, of course, immediately directed towards the great wonder of Cordova, the famous mosque, now changed into a Catholic cathedral. Though we had read of it all our lives, we were unprepared for the marvelous sight that burst upon our view as we entered. It is of such immense dimensions that it appeared to us even larger than St. Peter's at Rome, and in whatever direction we turned our eyes we saw before us a sea of arches supported by delicate, slender pillars, yet in nothing like confusion, but arranged so symmetrically, that wherever we turned there lengthened out before us a wide vista with columns on both sides stretching out almost interminably.

Source: White, Caroline Earle, 1895, A Holiday in Spain and Norway, Philadelphia, Lippincott, p. 16-17.

The cathedral [in Seville] is very fine, but we could not see it to advantage, as it is in process of repair on account of the destruction caused by the earthquake six years ago. Several of the immense pillars were so much injured that a considerable portion of the ceiling fell in, and it is a work of years to replace it. It is in this cathedral, in one of the chapels, that we found the celebrated picture, by Murillo, of St. Anthony of Padua, in which the figure of St. Anthony was cut out several years ago by a man who concealed himself in the church, and carried to New York and there exposed for sale. The theft was discovered and the portion of the picture that was taken returned here, and has been most skillfully restored to its original place (51).

Source: White, Caroline Earle, 1895, A Holiday in Spain and Norway, Philadelphia, Lippincott, p. 51.