Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-03-20
PEN PICTURES FROM CUBA.
street Scenes and street Noises in the
City Of HavauA

City OF Havana
NARROW STREETS AND RKcKLExs pRryxps-A
DINNER AT An HAVANA HoTKI.-RuRAL IrrU
IN THE ISLE OF ETERNAL sPRrNo-rRrrr.
TIVE AGRICULTURAL METHODS, &C.
Correspondents Of THE EvESrSe STAR
HAVANA, March IA
Although the time between leaving our o~u
land at Tampa and fastening our vision ON
Moro castle and the lowlying city OF Havana
with its ancient architecture was less than
thirty hours, the difference between the Gus
toms OF the two countries cannot be measured
by any lapse OF years. Casting anchor I'm the
harbor, we were immediately taken possession
OF 10y the Spanish police and custom officials
and, amid an interminable Jargon, we were
passed down the steamers sides, q strange mix
ture OF men. women and baggage. into Quaint
little yawl boats our luggage being committed
to the tender mercies of the custom-hous ON
GERS. The interpreter puts us into a Victoria
drawn by rat OF pony, and we are driven
rapidly through streets just wide enough for
two vehicles TO pass-the sidewalks on either
side being eighteen inches wide All along
these alleys are iron-barrcd windows. INNOCENT
OF glass, but promise In solid inside shuttars
IL Is dinner hour, and all the way 10 our hotels
shopkeepers and their clerks are eating al a
taoie sci In the store We aight at our hotel 10
nnd IL ike every other In the city-without "A
carpet or an elevator, the reception room Office
guests and walters d!ning-room the Kitchen,
hoor. Up hny-four winding marble stairs our
room opens on a covered balcony with blind
shutters and no glass Windows
STREET SCENES AND NOISES
The band playing in the plaza opposite tbe
hotel parents screeching In horrid Span,sh the
barking of an army OF dogs, the iratiie of great
carts and carriages over the roug h-paved streeta
the hooting and yelling Of policy vendors. the
other indescribable noises led ms Ia 80, 49,
aenonlum had broke loose under special In.
HH,uigence 10 weicome our advent 70 the city,
Mouioy decorations, ancient architecture dirty
hlthy streets, beggars everywhere soldiers
marching and countermarching children des-
utute OF dress, master and slave treadinp The
same narrow street, all indicate that we are
lar removed from the civilization manners and
customs of our own fair land.
HOTEL DINNER
At dinner we are confronted with N w.,,ar
who brings us a "lestra" tbilI of tare) in span'
ish, and We can neither understand the one or
READ the other In our dismay we cry ..Come-
ga Irregular dlnner) and our agile attendant
a ~ shu khtchen and soon brings Us abun-
oance Oh well-cooked food, with elegant pastry
not down In the cook books; fruits tropicsi
anu some OF which we had never heard: yiands
Shoice anu Delicate enough for the palate OF a
King; our first financial transaction Was the
purchase OF twelve and "A half dollars of Snanish
paPea currency, Tor which we paid five dollars
Ia greenbacks. Forty millions of this p.ner
was authorlzed; how much more has been is
sued no Teller can find out" IL is irredeema-
ole, ana those who were responsible fur It's
issue, III Is alleged, have made a ..diyyy" and
the proceeds shave gone where the w.,a,s,,'a
lwine.h; Hotel bills are payable In spanish
golu, whlcn Is worth seven per cent less than
our greenbacks. Our jehu takes his or.
ders in Spanish from the inierpre-
Ter al the hotel, and we are ratified
over the rough streets at a furious rate our
protests, remonstrances and inquiries all being
Jumbied together In Spanish grunL Forty
cents for driving two any where in the CITY. or
one nan dollar FOR an hour, payable in Spanish
TRASH Is cheaper than going on foot. So streets
are full of victorias at all hours OF day and
II. md MIA
mules, hung with bells and decorated with
tassels, are goaded and numerically beaten a.
they tug ut enormous loads on carts that must
nave been used in the era of the Pyramids
mere is happy, easy, go-as-you-please style
elegant, rich attire ride through the Streets
with simple lace over the head, while slave
women and beggars tread the sidewalks with
little but thin dress for a covering. The
climate, most delightful, is an eternal spring
In which the mercury never drops below sen
enty, or rises above ninety-e eight, ia which there
are out Two changes-one a "norther." which Is
simply cool, the other the ''rainy season" in
which IT is said most spaniards are born. The
atmosphere Is exceedingly humid. The clothes
you lay OF at night In the morning seem IN
have been baptized by some invisible agent
Your bed has a feeling OF dampness, and the
starch IN your shirt collar has lost its power 10
stand erect. The soil OF the island Is of a red
dish brown, and the clothing of the market
women and tails and legs of the mules are dis
tnctiy decorated with Its peculiar color.
RURAL LIFE IN CUBA.
A journey fourteen miles by rail and six
miles In carriage brought US 20 one OF the
largest sugar plantations, giving us an idea of
the manners and customs of the people in their
rural life. description OF one of these peasant
homes shall be type of the many We passed
on our pleasant trip. 1t Is low one-storv
rudely-built, palm-tna tcbed hut, with an earth
noor and one room, In which the entire family
eat drink and sleep. The pigs chickens cats
dogs, donkeys goals, stark-naked children. ali
range IN III and through IL with unqucstioned
freedom. In the foreground is "A grove. OF tower.
ing palms, through whose tropical foliage the
wind, signing, moaning. has played It's weird
Requiem generation after generation. In the
Held the sluggish peasant, 1.-the OF form and un-
encumbered by any excess OF dress, scratches
the SOIL with plow made perhaps OF the crotch
OF "A tree, and, holding the one handle he goads
his oxen and yels at them in Spanish as did bis
ancestors in centuries gone. The huckster and
the market farmer transport their products To
the city on horses and mules with immense
panniers adjusted 10 their backs, and into these
are loaded oranges bananas, figs, melons, grain,
Vegetables and all other products. These mar.
ket trains move creeping toward the city In
charge OF a rider, the halter Of one horse being
hitched TO the tail OF another-a strange mix
ture Of horses. mules and marke table products.
Corn is sown and cut green for fodder and a
cart-load oil IL Il packed on each mule, and this
strange cavalcade OF moving fodder creeps
along the highway into the city, and stopping
along the crowded streets ID is sold by the arm.
tul To those keeping horses or cows. The fences
along the highway are made OF cactus and the
aloe. its blossom shooting up from the center in
straight shalt twenty 10 thirty-five feet high,
with a thickness OF four 10 six inches at is
base.
A SUGAR PLANTATION.
Here and there is seen a tall chimney, from
whose throat a dark volume OF smoke is emit
ted. This is a sugar plantation, around which
clusters every other Cuban industry. All about
this establishment Tor miles the vast eNpanse
is covered with cane. The work Is done by
three 10 six hundred slaves, in charge OF an
oNerseer, the wealthy planter living in the city
on the profits OF the labors Of these unrequited
toilers. Long trains of carts drawn by two
yokes OF oxen, come I'm laden with cane, weigh;y
with uncrystaliZed juice. This il carried
endless aprons between two pondcrous rollers.
The expressed juice runs into a tank beneath,
and is pumped into great watts, around which
stand almost naked negroes, the sweat trickling
with long poles by these imps OF darkness, who
scream and yell MAS candeIar-more fire.
Down at the furnace mouth a black figure q
breech cloth his only DRESS Is feeding great fires
with bagazo, an admirable fuel made 10y drying
the crushed cane i'm the sun. After boiling and
purifying the product is passed TO the centri-
fugal machines, which converts the semi-liquid
mush in few minutes into hard and gllslenlng
crystals, which are then bagged ready Tor ship
ment to the refineries
THE CHANGING SEASONS.
There are no marked periods i'm Cuba out
lining the end Of winter or the commencement
of spring. There is a shade OF melancholy In
the strange mingling OF the dying OF the old
Spaniard has no love for trees, and the narrow
streets and alleys destitute OF shade, the
public parks being beautified by few sttnted
nal paluns fnfpNpprSel with