Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-03-30
FROM CUBA.
A Cuban HOuse-LfEe and Manners ON
the Island.
from a Lady Correspondent
HOTEL SANTA YsABEL, /
LA HABANA, Feb, 1866.


From q Lady Correspondent
HOTEL SANTA YsABEL,
La HABANA, Feb, 1866.
Feb. l5th.-Dined with a sugar mer-
chant a foreigner, who has married a
beautiful Cuban, at G~uanabacoa, a suburb
of Havana. with a population of about ten
thousand. We crossed the Bahia in q
neat little steamer built at New York, and
took the cars in a remarkably clean depot.
The cars are of three classes, the third
admitting negroes. Those of the first
class are very plain, with narrow cane
seats. If 6 friend from the north had
looked in he would have supposed 1 had
blundered into the smoking car, as / was
the only female occupant, and almost
every man had a cigarro or tabaco.
The house of our friend is of one story
mot at all, however, like our cottages.
The heavy beams of the srched roof are
thirty-fve feet from the floor. There are.
of course, the tive row of chairs upon
the Peresan rug, but a little girl, sole child
of the house, who has taken the blue eyes
and fair hair of Vaterland instead of the
night-black orbs of her Southern mother,
runs from one to another and soon re-
moves all feeling of formality.
The dining-room, as is usual here, opens
upon the court so one has the sight and
odor of flowers as an accompaniment 70
the feast of good things. Had enough
Spanish dishes to make the meal piquant.
For desert a variety of preserved fruits,
none of the puddings and pies so common
with US, both French and Spanish wines
and coffee as that delicious beverage should
be prepared. Cigars were lighted before
leaving the table, and whether it be that
| the quality is SO much better than those
we get il the North, or the high ceilings
| and the absence of carpets and drapery
allow the odor to at once pass away, L
know not, but the smoke produces non of
the disagreeable effects experienced at
home.
The shops in Havana are small, many
Of them extending but q few feet from the
street. They have all some fanciful name,
as 1.-THE Nympho," "The Diana" The
Pearl of Cuba" aAn the Virtues" "Poor
Devils" &c. Frequently we find three
languages spoken in these establishments,
sometimes four. The ability to onverse
in more tongues than n is much COM
moner here-than with US.
The streets within the walls are narrow,
and have the Belgian pavement some
- --.- .4.akahnd aOEAua Tho
sidewalks are raiseda little from the pave
ment. There are no cutters, but when
built of Cuban stone they are grooved by
the feet of the passers. They are, in some
streets, so narrow that it is quite impossi-
BILE to walk without rubbing the wall at
every step, and to pass a person Is quite
out Of the question.
The streets are crowded with volantes,
victories and carts. The latter have the
oxen yoked just back of the horns instead
of upon the neck. The nose is pierced
and a thong passed through. The driver
sits upon the cart and guides his animals
without the screaming that is usually as
ISOLATED with an ox-team, but they use the
goad, which is shod with metal, in q man
ner that seems cruel.
Soldiers are everywhere, all Spaniards,
there are a few blacks that do a sort of
militia duty. Priests we see constantly,
sometimes on foot, with a long black robe
reaching almost to the ground, CLOAK of
same length, and hat with immensely
broad brim, rolled up at the sides. These,
too, are Spaniards.
Negro men and women are at every
turn, Gll smoking, the former with very
little clothing, bare feet, or the remains
of a shoe that it requires much skill to
keep on, the latter with expansive hoops,
q mantille of some kind on the head, and
light muslin dresses which trail half a
yard on the ground, and neither for dust
or mud are ever lifted.
The houses are of one, two or three
stories, of stone covered with cement
which is colored all possible hues. Blue,
green and yellow predominant, but enc
sees pink, chocolate, white and occa-
~casionally one picked put like a Merrimac
print. The doors are wide and high,
seeming to admit horses and carriages as
well as people. The lower story Is the
carriage-house, and from the paved court
a broad stone or marble staircase ascends
to the living rooms. This in the better
houses-in those of one story the carriage
depository and drawing-room are side by
side, separated only by an open iron
screen. Through the grated, ~unglazed
windows every passer-by can look in upon
the family gathering. The houses seem
very bare, nothing but the oiminutive
carpet upon which the two rows of chairs
are placed, no drapery, few pictures, no
books. The Cubans are not literary. VS.
are told it is within a shoIt time that Ia
dies have begun to occupy themselves e
little with newspapers.
The number and character of schools
too are very different from those of the
last generation. The boys of wealthy
families are sent to the United States or
to Europe for their education, and many
girls ofthe island are in Northern schools,
though it is objected that our tuition
makes them too independent.
Yours, KATE N. u.