Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1919 — MOORS HAVE NOT LOST HOPE [ARTICLE]

MOORS HAVE NOT LOST HOPE

Despite Long Dispossession, They Still Hope to Return to Granada and the Alhambra. • At Granada. I remember, that the guard ianshi pof the Vel a (or Watch) tower at the extreme western point of the Alhambra, directly overlooking the city, has been in the hands of one family for several hundred years—practically since the conquest, in 1492! During a stay of several weeks at Granada'. I cultivated that family, consisting of an aged crone, a middle-aged daughter and a scapegrace grandson ■•ailed Escamillo. Upon the top of that' tower hangs the famous “wishing bell” that is believed to insure a husband to any girl who can knock it with her knuckles sufficiently loud to make it ring. The bell is about seven feet above the nearest perch, and that is where 'Cainitio comes in. tie allows the anxious girl to climb upon his back and then stands erect so sin* can reach the object of her hopes. The gratuity is never less than a peseta (19 cents), and the fees often equal SI,OOO a year. That bell is supposed to be rung hourly throughout the night to apprise the sleeping people in the city below that the Moors have not come back: but across the Strait of Gibraltar. absolutely every night, the coffee houses of Tangier resound with the droning, haunting song of “Yerga,” the Arabic word for “We shall return!”— meaning to Granada and to the repossession of the Alhambra.—Julius Chambers in Brooklyn Eagle.