Morning journal and courier., 1888-02-04

m1ngl6Q DuSlu0SB 8Qu AOLu0 1lL6 greet IAo eye and consciousness with rare suggestiveness, picturesqueness and color. Nor is this 1.-the of the interest and charm of Havana street. There are nowhere else such strange contrasts ill diversity of race and condition. In a half hours time types of nearly every living people and living illustrations of ev- cry possible condition in life will pass be- fore you. Nearly every powerful nation has it's mAn-ofwar in Havana harbor in winter. Their officers and men fit to and fro on er- rands of duty or quests of pleasure. Every shade of negre blood can be traced in thou- sand faces in that time. Every type of the Asiatic group of humans troop before you. The American types are all here, from the quickly-made millionaire to the quickly ruined millionaire, the humble tourist and arrogant tramp. Travel in all Spain-lands of the continent and you will discover no truer types of Spanish women or men; while all the innumerable shades of Cuban color and caste are here presented for study.
 THE SHOPS AND CAFES.
 The shops and cafes of Havana are surely more bright and interesting than those of any other city. Among the shops you will find no great establishments covering a half acre of ground, half dozen stories high and giving one feeling of despair to enter; but they are all one floor, high, cool, pretty, and many ladies have habit of shopping from their carriages, to which the
 
 bring for inspection and purchase any arti- cle desired. In America it is the endless eff fort of merchants to get goods of every pos sible description under one roof. Here the shops as rule are more characteristic and individualized. One merchant deals in silks and trimmings; another only in velYets; an-
 other may show superb lines of linen; an-
 other sells cottons and prints alone; woolens
 can be found only at the merchant in wools;
 all manner of laces occupies the attention of other merchants; and rarely will you find
 the general notion store so common with us.
 So, too, outside of the textile fabrics these
 divisions are vigorously observed. A pho
 tographer is not s'an artist:" bronze goods do
 not include pottery; the jeweler sells jewel
 ry, not watches and clocks; the woodenware, ironware and basketware merchants are not each all the others; and wine merchants do not sell soap. .'Ar, q -. In all these shops there is richness and taste, but not obtrusiveness in display, and from one end of the city to another the neat
 ness, brightness, lightness and airiness of the shop form much of Havana's attractiyeness.
 All this, too, is in despite,of an architecture
 that would preclude delicate arrangement
 among more stolid people. But the Span-
 iard and Cuban both possess just enough eff
 feminaoy to make dainty nest out of an old
 ruin anywhere. Again the dress of mer-
 chants, salesmen and the most menial helpers adds to the pleasing effect of the shop.
 Nearly all are attired in linen, pure white or
 in dainty stripes. The white necktie is uni-
 versal and it is refreshing to thus see it. It
 is clean thing too. They are only preten-
 tious or sloyenly who relegate it anywhere to the use of full-dress, the clergy or the wal ter. Let us have more white and less fune- real black, or barbaric colored designs, about the male American neck.
 Many salesmen here are clad only in pa- tent leather gaiters, silk hose and pure linen trowsers and shirts; but these are spotless. Indeed, the Cubans are the e1eanest people regarding their dress I ever knew. A steve dore will load mo1asses on vessels for week and you can hardly find a spot upon his white suit when Saturday night comes. Somehow your sense of propriety is not of tended when you see cash boys, errand boys and helpers of all sorts in skin-tight, loose ly-woven cotton shirts, and as airy brooches and slippers. Often, too, for change here | will stand three or four negroes. packers o1 boxers, or something of the sort, with bare ! feet, spotless white trowsers held by gray ! sash, and with naked, gleaming waists, arms ! and shoulders. But they all fit marvelously \ into these shop scenes, and nobody faintf away but an occasional visitor out of thos | few wonderful American women who ar | naturally mortified st this, but whose tea party fortitude is equal te assisting in strip | ping character to the skin-and under it. l THE WOMEN.
 One class you will miss in Cuba-not onl, ! in shops, but everywhere else-is the womel | workers. The most sensible and often thu l handsomest of women can be found occupy l ing places of trust in American mercantil establishments and offices. In all Havan
 but one place is noticed where white womel l are employed. This is at & modistes ol l Calle de Obispo; and these are scraggy 10 l indeed. Women in Cuba are ladies, washer | women or demi-monde. Shopping is dont l by the fair senoras or sanoritas in the after | noon, and one will then certainly see beauti \ ful women. They are neither fippant no l trihing in their purchases as in some coun l tries. No salesman would dare gossip witt | them, suggest for them or cnattingly ente ! upon discussion of their affairs. Nor d. l they inform shopkeepers of their own O i their peighbors' intentions. They seem t. l know just what they want and go straight | way and get it. The turnouts are very gay ] thousands of women meet, mingle and pas 1 greetings; but there seems to be a genera understanding here that a shop is not jus ] the place in which ladies should entertain ! one aaother. This may arise from the fac | that Spanish women are we'll bred. An( ! we'll bred women set some store upon thei own dignity and the home. The cafes o l Havana are as bright and winsome as thes I of Paris, but are mere attractive at all sea l sons of the year, for the climate allows of ] greater openness to the street. This is takel l advantage of in all little ways of decoration | and arrangement that stand for invitation and welcome. Some of them are very grant l affairs, bus all possess an atmosphere O l snugness and daintiness that is delicious 1 Indeed, it must be set down to the credit O l all these people that the delicate refinement | of life are inherent. Courtesy, politeness consideration, or at least the surface use O | it, are universal. They are an artistic peo pie in the environment of little things l though themselves unconscious of that na l tional characteristic; and both facts are de- l lightful to one who tarries with them. Ha vana is as bustling, busy city exists But this quality of tolerance or considera l tion, or kindly indifference of whatever il | is, that allows a respectable stranger or l domestic tramp to rest his body anywhere l at any time, without being hustled-ol l worse, levied upon and brutally menaced intc l purchase, whether or not-is grateful one | and you may sit in church all day, in | cafe so long as you like, or step into a shoI | and take possession of one of the rocking ! chairs that are foun1 everywhere, remaining {, there to contemplate street scenes half day \ if you wish, and TO one will approach yol | unless you indicate such desire.
 These cafes and fondas Cor eating houses for the latter are equally resorted to) are tn, | resting places of the gay city. Their mum | Der and patronage are remarkable TheI | are ali wide open to the street the year round l One fancies they are almost 8 part of it, a | frequently more than one-half the cafe is un
 derneath long, wide; huge-pillared porticoes
 Here chattering crowds by day and brillian
 crowds by night, under the flare of lamps 1T great, century ry-old metal frames, never eeas cigarette smoking, gin and wine drinking
 although all liquors, however frequently or
 dered, are used in sparipg quantities. Ant
 between the shrill cries of the dulceros O
 confection- peddlers, the hoarse important
 ties of the lottery ticket mobs, the ever-mi
 nor music of the wandering street minstrels
 and the umberless sounds of marvelously gay but never brutal and more than hal
 Oriental city life, the "click, click, click" O l the universal and never-silent dominoes upoI
 the marble tables, come to you as an under
 tone staccato of myriads of unseen castanets | EDGAR L. WATERMAN. l STANPEB.