Ohio History Journal

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BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK REVIEWS

 

 

And Then the Storm. By Sister M. Monica. (New York, Long-

mans, Green & Co., 1937. 231p. $2.50.)

Few foreigners have been privileged to study Spain from

so many and widely different viewpoints as the author of And

Then the Storm, and little escaped her discerning and com-

passionate eyes. Chaperoned by the two charming sisters of

Don Juan de Cardenas, the then Spanish ambassador at Wash-

ington, Sister Monica had intimate contact with the old aristoc-

racy, and found the Spanish women "kind, elegant, spiritual-

minded and alert."  The wife of our ambassador, Mrs. Irwin

Loughlin, was another of the good angels, who befriended the

writer through the first difficult weeks of adjustment in a strange

country. The historical researches were capably guided by the

distinguished scholar, Don Miguel Marques del Saltillo, and the

equally eminent historian, Doctor Palencia, who recognized in

the American nun a kindred spirit. Sister Monica spent many

hours poring over the ancient documents in the National Archives

of Madrid, and the famous Archives of the Indies at Seville.

However, the keen-witted nun was never too wrapped in the dim

past that she failed to observe the momentous happenings of the

present. Even in 1932, she caught something sinister in the

Spanish capital at Madrid. Most of the powerful aristocrats

had fled the city at the advent of the Radical Republic taking

with them as much of their fortunes as they could salvage. It

did not escape the notice of Sister Monica that while the graft-

ing Republic stripped the nobility, it was not the poor who profited

by the confiscation, although it was being done in their name.

The author liked better the tortuous streets of Seville. Its tradi-

tion and people had a strong fascination for her. The convent

where she lodged sheltered a constant throng of servant girls

and working women. The kindly Religious gathered in the little

waifs from the byways, fed, clothed, and instructed them. There

was a small group of gentle-women living at the convent en

pension. Listening to their conversation as they sat around a

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