Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1885-04-29

regiments and TOBACCO SnOpS all aQVorClSe
themselves under such titles as Sacred
Heart, Faith, Hope, Charity, Conception,
Annunciation, etc.; while likely enough the
proprietor's first name was Jesus. Thus the
people come to be careless in the use of hal
lowed names, although capacity for literal
profanity is not one of the accomplishments
of the Spanish language.
Whatever the people do they do extrava-
gantly. I have seen young man with three
monster gold rings on one little finger; and
both ladies and men plaster their faces with
powder till they look CHASTITY beyond descrip
ton.
If you look into the sitting-room of a we'll
to-do family you will observe two long rows
of cane seat rocking chairs, placed exactly
opposite each other, and leading usually to a
window. The arrangement has an aspect of
stiffness which you will at once feel but this
aspect of stiffness is sensibly emphasized
when you learn that it is an infexible Cuban
rule for the ladies to sit in one
row and the men in the other" There is no
rsdy rssh' out " of gh sght in hs ths see gulf a4p snd
it is night. The day has no aftermath;
the stars hurry to supply the place of the de-
parted orb, and away to the south-the
southern cross augments their industrious
twinkling.
One would think Havana harbor would be
full of excursion steamers, but have never
not yet discovered this popular American
variety of amusement.
Nature is very kind to some of the lower
animals in these latitudes. The hair of the
pig comes out, leaving him sleek and shining
while the wool of the sheep undergoes a
single out the Cuban hen for such favors
On the contrary, the feathers of the hen
remain as numerous as anywhere else, and
in view of the fact that there is no cold
weather, the hen is deluded into laying all
the year around, her product being such di-
m1nutlve eggs as you may see at any bodega
in town.
1t is customary to keep the volante and
the family horses in an apartment in the
house.
You will have no difficulty, if you are out
bright and early any morning, in seeing the
Cuban milkman about supplying his round
of patrons. He drives his milch-kine before
him from house to house, and directs the
lacteal stream into such dish as the family
may provide, right in the presence of the
housemaid. Thus the citizens assured of
an undiluted liquid, tho sometimes fancy
I would prefer to have the product of those
emaciated, bruised Cuban cows diluted, >
aid that very sensibly. I have seen the
same system in other countries, notably
with goats instead of COWS in the cities of
Athens and Cairo.
Gambling Is popular here as in New
Orleans, and guess more So although have
not entered any dens analogous to those of
the Rue Royale as yet. Monte is the only
game prohibited by law.
The street cries are extraordinary, though
not to be compared with those of Japan
You will not hear them at all, perhaps, at
one of the swell hotels, any more than those
of Yokohama in one of the foreign hostelries
there. But once get into real Havana, and
you would fancy riot must be brewing.
You hurry down stairs expecting to witness
some shocking atrocity, but find that it is
only the man with fruit, onions, or eggs for
sale, eomplacently notifying his run of GUS
toners of his readiness to serve them. Some
times he is ON foot with both arms loaded
down, and again he is accompanied by a
shambling old crate of horse who bears the
burdens while his master does the bawl-
ing.
Akin to this is the method of signalling by
q shrill hiss,-so common in Paris. The
newsboy block away, the cabman ON the
other side of the street, the waiter at the fur
ther end of the cafe, are all summoned by
the everlasting "Ps-tl" And, strange to
say, there is a penetrating quality in the
signal whereby it may be heard above all the
rattle and roar of the street traffic, and at
times when an ordinary ''Halloa!'' would be
impetent.
l cannot educate myself out of noticing
small things, and must therefore confess that
it always makes me mad to see the natives
wear the heels of their shoes fattened under
the heel of the foot after the heathenish fash
ion of the Turks and Arabs.
Of course there is perfect passion for
military display.
And yet have not witnessed drill or
parade yet that was equal to the average
amateur torchlght procession in American
political campaigns. The bayonets point
everywhere and nowhere in particular, and
the dangling arms suggest motions such as
Florida tree-moss might be supposed to make
when agitated by shifting cyclone. The
Cubans pay nearly twenty-five millions q
year to keep up this empty show, calculated
to insure the enforcement of Spanish
aimed at laws rights OF theirs which we
would call inalienable.
l believe it is in bad taste in the States for
a person to say "Miss'' in the case of mar
ried lady. ''Senorita' may be used instead
of ''Senora," however, and the person ad-
dressed accepts it as one of the fulsome com
pliments which these people always be-
slowing.
Beggars are numerous, though not to the
extent characteristic of most tropic coun-
tries. l have seen one Chinese leper by the
wayside craving aims.
Gorgeous plumed peacocks practice their
unearthly screeches on the roof tops, ungain-
ly buzzards wander over the ouburban fields,
and jerky green lizards are liable to leap up
on your hat when you sit down under tree.
EMILE.