Castles in Spain

WHEN-I-WAS-A-BOY I used to plan the kind of home I would have when I grew up and had plenty of money. It was to havea gymnasium in the attic, a zoo for pets in the cellar, a museum of curiosities in the parlor, and a soda-water fountain in the dining-room. My mother used to say that was my Castle in Spain, and when I asked her what a Castlein Spain was, she said, “Any wonderful home—in your mind.”

But Spain is a real place, a real country, and there are real castles there even now.

The map of Europe is like a puzzle-picture. If you turn it around or look at it sideways you will see a little oldwoman with a big head, a hump-back, and a long leg kicking a football into the sea. The head is called Spain, and the cap that Spain is wearing on the front of her head is called Portugal. Where the head joins France thereis a collar of mountains called the Pyrenees.

At one time Spain not only looked like the head of Europe, she really was the head of Europe, for she owned a greatpart of Europe. Then there came a time just after Columbus discovered America when Spain was the head not only of Europe but of all the World. She then owned a great part of North America and all of South America, except Brazil.So she was the greatest country.. Now, however, Spain doesn’t even own all of Spain. On the map Spain seems to be rubbing her nose against the nose of Africa, as some savages rub noses when they meet. This nose of Spainis called Gibraltar, but Gibraltar does not belong to Spain; it belongs to England.