, 1888-04-08

Havana are a brave, hard working class.
They are chiefly negro women or mestizos
In all the varying shades. Many of these
carry on quite a little business in the
quaint patios of the lower quarters.
Among their help will be found old Afri-
can women with the tribal brands upon
their blue black jaws; Chinese Coolies,
withered to skin and bone; handsome
mulatto girls, and not infreduently de-
cayed and ~forlorn whites; all living and
toiling together in apparent lazy, sodden,
good nature. Among these lavenderas is
a remarkable character named Louise.
Louise is a. mulatto born and bred in
st. Thomas. Her mother was a black
woman and her father a rich Danish con-
signee at Charlotte Amalie. If you are
much about the vessels and bay here you
will know Louise. There is scarcely a sea-
port in the world where she is unknown.
She is the only human being in Cuba who
conducts a business as a monopoly with
out dividing the spoils with the Spanish
government. No sea captain entering
Havana dare attempt clearing without
paying tribute to her. She does the
Washing for all, and woe be to him who
attempts to divert trade from her. She
is over 6 feet high, spare and square,
with a wonderful turban on her head and
an expression of scorn on her face. She
seemingly speaks every known language,
and a vessel has scarcely passed Moro cas-
tie before she is seen in her own guadano
alongside the craft in advance of the GUS
toms officials, getting the first news and
particulars. 1t is said she can tell you
the name of every vessel that has entered
tho horhnr for fha Loot ttunnty -.
tongue, its home port, its master and its
trade, and is in as much demand for in
formation and advice at the wharves and
among the shipping interests as old Con
zales, the richest ship chandler in the
world, himself.
There are several thousand mule and OK
carts in and about Havana. You cannot
find in Cuba a drayor four wheeled wagon.
This Cuban cart is literally a great affair.
The wheels are frequently ten feet in
diameter, the felloes six inches broad and
as thick, the spokes as big as your leg,
and the hub like a half bushel basket.
Many are covered like the old ''emigrant''
wagons; great rush pouches dangle from
beneath; and the shafts are together
larger than the little mules entire body.
A tremendous load is piled upon the cart;
and, benignly perched upon that, is your
Cuban carretonero or cartman, with shirt
rolled to the shoulders, wide linen breech-
es. sprawling slippers, and, despite the
sun, a iaunty cap of red or blue, no larger
than, and precisely the shape of, a full
grown mushroom. The caps tell the ma
~tionality. Those wearing red ones are
from Navarro, while the Biscayans are
invariably told by the blue. Where bulls
are driven instead of mules, as in all the
heaviest freighting, the cartmen are called
boyeros. The latter are Cubans or Canary
islanders.
But all these swarthy cartmen are the
~jolliest of humans; eat Gargantuan meals
of soup and vegetables in the low bode.
cones; leave their ANIMALS at night in
yards in the care of stable men and repair
to the cheap cafes over in the San Lazaro
quarter, where they smoke, drink, play
the guitar and sing the provincial songs of
old Spain until the midnight challenges of
the centinelas echo from the grim para
pets of La Punta fort hard by.
But in all these lowly %toilers, and those
of a score more classes | could describe,
there is a rare and winsome good humor,
which, | am led to believe, is not all Sur
face radiation. 1t is difficult to draw the
line between sunny kindliness and kindly
sunniness in a people. AS ready as one
may be to doubt motive in the presence
of a universal good nature bordering on
levity, there are here certain proofs of a
certain tenderness behind these smiles.
And tenderness never fails of close ALI.
ance with goodness.
EDGAR l.. WAKEMAN.