Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-08-20
LIFE I'm CUBA.

cool, and the first thought OF the man VINO
builds Il house, q store, or makes SUIT OF
clothes, or rows boat, or drives II wagon,
or in short, does anything whatever, Is to
keep the sun away or to keep the blood cool,
as the case may be. The shopping streets
are rooted over with great sheets OF canvas,
and the shops themselves are more open
than so many tubs stood sideWise, for where
the tubs bottom would be there is always
moro or less of an outlet to the courtyard
in the rear, so they may be almost likened
ia loopholes for openness. The big hotels,
public buildings, and even some of the pri-
vate houses, are cooled by broad second
story verandas, whose supporting columns
reach to the ground, and form an open, yet
shaded place between the building and the
street. The public hacks are open victorias,
with movable tops, the row boats have can
vas awnings or coverings of sheathlng bent
over the boat, from gunwale to gunwale,
like big half barrels. The few men who are
obliged to venture into the sunshine carry
umbrellas, and the ladies keep indoors until
after sunset.
Baths are very numerous, low-priced and
excellent in Havana, and one of them, q
marble affair fed with naturally medicated
spring water, reminds the traveller OF SINH
lar institutions in the Orient. On the water
side, near oil the seaports, are numerous
bath houses; but they are unlike ours.
The dressing rooms are IN houses on the
beach, and bathing is had within an inclo-
sure of upright Stats to keep the sharks out.
One of these, at Matanzas, is Inappropriate
" called Saratoga. The name is refreshing
to American eyes, for English words are
uncommon in that land. Here and there
one sees the words, English spoken" in
front of store but the inquirer often finds
the one who does the English-speaking
either not in just then, or able only to mas
ter sufficient English to demand extortionate
prices for his wares. In Havana the hotels
translate the signs of their bar-rooms, bar
ber shops, and baths into English, and in
Mantanzas is seen the legend, Coffee house;
English spoken" On the other hand, IL
prosperous professor of languages displays
on placard in the dining room of tho Ho-
tel Passje, in Havana, the words, "lnglis
taught"
But the careless and the poor in these hot
cities 10 very lightly clad, and, while women
clad in nothing but calico wrapper are of
| ten to be seen in the poor quarters, nude
| children between infancy and ten years OF
age are sometimes seen in the better streets.
| In Matanzas I saw a colored slave woman
| shopping in the principal stores with her
charge, pretty white boy OF ten or eleven,
clad in straw hat and pair OF shoes.
Another child, absolutely naked, carried
what looked like book -satchel of plated
grass slung from one shoulder, and appear
ed to be on his way to school. Such
sights are sufficiently uncommon in the
cities to make deep impression on the
visitors mind, but in q ride across Cuba
in the cars one sees so many nude negro
children playing around the little thatched-
rooted sbanties that it is possible to getquite
accustomed to the very defensible custom.
It is not nice to let children 60 unclad in hot
| weather, but it is better for them than the
oppressive extreme, common in this country,
| of burdening them with unnecessary cloth
ing.
The Cuban houses are open in the centre,
and capable of being thrown nearly wide
open in the front and rear. Enormous win
dows without sashes, protected by iron bars
instead of glass; and great doors, through
whose openings coaches may be driven, leave
very little woodwork or masonry between
the tenants and the street. Behind the front
rooms is a roofess, paved court, oftentimes
set with tropical trees and plants, and per-
| haps with a fountain in addition. The
floors of the rooms are covered with marble
or tiles, the kitchen and servants quarters
are beyond the court in the rear half of the
structure, and very lofty ceilings add to the
| GOODNESS. The air circulates in these houses
freely as under grove of palms, and it is
peculiar fact of material significance to those
| who live there or contemplate going there
that there is almost always breeze. Such
sitting, close days as we had here last
month, and such sweltering nights as we
have half.a. dozen of every summer are un.
known there. The heat in Cuba in the sum-
mer time is intense 1t it dry and peppery,
and it stings and pricks the skin as if a
M illion grains of hot sand fell upon
your face and hands at once, yet
/ when one steps out of the sun beneath
q tree or awning, or into one of these t1arlng
houses he is apt to feel cool at once. Very
few persons stir out of the houses, Offices or
stores during the heat of the day. Strangers
sit in their rooms in the hotels with one end
of the apartment wide open on the veranda
over the street, and the other end wide
open on the balcony in the inner court. The
room floor is of marble, the chairs are seated
with cane or skin, water is kept cool IN an
earthen bottle-lke implement with little
hole in one side to pour the water in at, 9
spout on the other side to pour it out Dy
and no opening in the top. The bed ls
frame of iron, covered with tightly
stretched sheet of canvas or wire, upon
which are sheet or two and pillow, the
whole being inclosed in a coarse lace OF
mosquito netting. A curtain sliding or
rings over brass bar in the doorway shuts
out the gaze of the passersby, and privacy
and exquisite comfort are obtainable. Goo
as SO many caverns are the great ston'
churches, to which women flock all day:
1t is the custom for business men to arise
and take cup of coffee very early in tn