No hay nadie en el mundo que atienda mejor que la pobretería en España el arte de no hacer nada y de vivir de nada; el clima del país contribuye con … - Washington Irving

Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world. A small brook glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquillity.

Here were kept up the old games of hoodman blind, shoe the wild mare, hot cockles, steal the white loaf, bob apple, and snap dragon; the Yule-clog and Christmas candle were regularly burnt, and the mistletoe with its white berries hung up, to the imminent peril of all the pretty housemaids.* * The mistletoe is still hung up in farm-houses and kitchens
at Christmas, and the young men have the privilege of
kissing the girls under it, plucking each time a berry from
the bush. When the berries are all plucked the privilege
ceases.

There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity, that never dreads contact and communion with others, however humble. It is only spurious pride that is morbid and sensitive, and shrinks from every touch.