Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-05-24
LLrLNG ~ KIEIN1-

Where life IL love, aud love one long, true dream.
LIVING IN HIT1N1.
The moment l entered the city | was
struck by its resemblance TO Pompeii We
were driving through long streets, edged with
rows Of one-storied houses painted in brilliant
colors, and having open shops. Very few of
these houses are more than one story high,
but the rooms are very large and lofty and
open upon an inner courtyard. They are
close reproductions of the houses discovered
in Pompeii, only ON larger scale, possessing,
moreover, II few modern improvements, such
rs glass windows, very small ones though, let
into the huge wooden shutters, aud barred
from without by heavy iron gratings The
majority are wildly painted, one-half the
way up a bright blue or pink, and the rest
white The roof is fiat, and there are no
chimneys, fire-places being unknown, and
not used here. The cooking is done upon
charcoal stove, rs in Southern France and
Italy.
The mansions of the wealthy, which are
not built in one quarter rs with MS, but scat
tered all over the city are remarkably beau
tful. 1t is difficult to resist the temptation of
stopping to look through the half open win
dows and doors TO catch glimpse Of the in
terror which looks SO classical and cool, with
its tessellatcd payements, its succeed columns
and its frescoed ceilings. Beyond the priuci-
pal saloon, which always looks on the street,
bathed in the sunlight, is the inner garden,
where banana trees spread their broad and
glossy leaves, and often shade pretty foun-
tain, or an aviary full of brilliant tropical
birds. Here stands IL marble statue, and
there hangs the picture of saint, having a
lamp burning before it, Negresses loll round,
idly staring at the passers by, and not unfre-
quently | have noticed under the wheels of
the family carriage, which always stands in
the corridor of the wide entry, group of
naked little colored children playing pitch
and toss.
If it were possible for catastrophe similar
to that which overwhelmed Pompei to de-
stroy Havana, and its ruins were to be dis
covered long afterward, the likeness between
the classical and the modern cities would at
once occur to the antiquary. There would
be seen the same narrow streets, deeply rut-
ted by cart-wheels, with the same broken and
wildly painted columns, the same outline in
the arrangement of the apartments of the
houses nay, the very churches could with
ease-once ruined-be mistaken for temples
of the gods Even the implements for house
hold use, the huge earthen water-jars, the
stoves, and the cooking utensils, could easily
be taken for those designed by the Romans,
who nearly two thousand years ago, subju-
gated the ancestors of these colonists. They
tell me, those who know the country well,
that much in the social habits of the people
would have been well understood by the in
habitants of ancient Rome
The streets are picturesque in the extreme
The buildings are in II fine style of architect
ure, and constructed with much solidity of
yellow coraline limestone. The churches are
handsome, and have AN air of greater antiq-
uity than they are really entitled to, very few
of them being over two hundred years old
There are many pretty squares, centered with
gardens. in which flourish tall palm trees of
several varieties, the beautiful scarlet ibiscus,
or southern rose, and scores of other plants
which we prize in our hot-houses A pecu-
liar fascination hangs about the first hours
spent in the tropics. There is so much that
is novel, from the airily clad inhabitants
down to the piles of strnnge-looking fruits
heaped up in the market stalls The imagin-
alton is at once excited, and the busy brain
occupied with things striking and often bril-
liant, is apt at first to overlook discOlnforts
which, before long, become only too appar-
ent and annoying
| had been assured on good authority, that
| could reach Cuba from New York in a little
over three days, and that, on the second day
out, l should experience great change of
climate. 1t really takes siX days to perform
the voyage. 1t has been done recently by
the steamship City of Washington in three
days and eighteen hours, This was an excep-
tional trip, and one of the shortest on record.
A change of climate is usually felt on the
morning of the fourth day, rarely before !;
often in winter and stormy weather, not until
the vessel has entered port The homeward
trip is usually shortened, by the effects of
the rapid up-current of the Gulf stream, by
about twenty -four hours.
There is not a single tirst-class hotel in Ha-
vana at the present moment The San Car
los, down by the port, used to be good, but it
is now in disorderly condition. The Tele-
grafo enjoys a respectable reputation, but its
accommodation is greatly inferior to that of
the Passage, where | am staying The Ingln-
tun is universally pronounced unclean, badly
served, and the restaurant know is expen-
sive, and. rs usual here, very inferior. The
Passage is unquestionably the handsomest
hotel in Havana. 1t is admirably situated on
the Prado, and enjoys fine air. The rooms
are lofty and neatly furnished, the SdIoRs
clean and handsome, and the whole place
looks cheerful, and even brilliant. But the
service is by no means at present up to the
mark, and the restaurant is poor and expen-
sive. have had dinners and breakfasts here