Wichita eagle., 1888-03-23
HAvANA'S NARROW STREETS.
Walking on q Fourteen Inch Sidewalk
Elaborate Politeness.

Walking on Fourteen Inch Sidewalk.
Elaborate Politsness.
With the exception of the PaseO and
Prado, and the many interesting little
plazas, with their tiny parks in which the
flora of the tropics are seen IN delicious
luXuriance, the Gales publicas or public
thoroughfares of Havana are remarkably
narrow. Many are only from twelve to
twenty feet wide. There are a number
but from six to eight. To stroll through
these sinuous passages and buld little
romances based on the contingency of
some fair senorita's aicoba to some per-
sistent don's quarto, is a delightful ex-
perience. And then one, while lodging
the sharp angles and massive walls, is re-
minded by innumerable sounds and
glimpses Of the exquisite interiors behind,
where there are endless beauty, bloom and
song. Sidewalks, in the American sense,
are unknown. A narrow raised fOotway
Of granite, averaging a no greater width
than two feet, is all you will find to keep
you out of the street. 1 have meas
tired some no wider than fourteen
inches. Custom rules that foot pas
sengers take the right hand way. No
people on earth are so courteous in the
crowding and hustling here. If you have
the footway and please to saunter leis~
urely, and one behind you is in haste, he
will step into the street and pass you with
kindly spoken ''Con perdon," or 'By
your leave" So, too, if one meets YOU
quite an unusual thing, for the human
tide moving opposite follows the other
side Of the calle-he will deferentially
step from the walk into the roadway,
while saluting you with some brief but
earnest expression of apology. This rule
of the right of way is inviolable, and the
archbishop or governor general, if either
chanced to be on foot, would observe it
with all the courtesy and eXactitude of the
less distinguished. There is only one ex-
ception. That is in favor of the ladies.
They are held strictly accountable to this
universal politeness and consideration on
their own part; but if occasion come when
you can serve them by getting into the
mud, even for beggar or hag, and you
fail of doing it you are esteemed-nothing.
This street usage and right extend also
to public conveyances, which are inexor-
ably controlled. The omnibuses here are
called guaguas. The lines bound from
the outskirts to central city points are
compelled to come into the city on one
street to the right ard return by another
street to the left; and no similar vehicle
is permitted to run in the opposite direc-
ton on those streets. Only the little vic
torias-each one, horse, cochero, or driver,
and all, compact enough to drive through
an American dwelling house door-are
allowed to wriggle and twist around
almost everywhere. The guagua is SO
characteristic Havana institution that it
cannot be overlooked. In appearance it
much resembles the first patterns of our
own street cars, set a little higher in the
air, or very old fashioned daguerreotype
gallery on low geared wagon wheels. 1t
has an excited and noisy conductor in
gaudy uniform, and an empujador, or
driver, who seems in q perpetual frenzy.
Four little Cuban ponies are attached to
the affair, and as you see it coming down
possibly Gale or Obispo-rattling and
crushing thunderously through the mar
row thoroughfare-the nags at full gallop,
the guagua swaying and bounding as
though it would land in some shop front
at every lurch, the driver leaning far
over the wheel team, lashing it with the
lines and cracking his huge whip at the
leader, the meantime shouting ''Hi-i-il
Hi-i-i!' at the top Of his voice, while
working with his right knee tremendous
stationary bellows that, at each prod,
emits a lugubrious shrek almost as
hideous as seaside fog horn-you feel
you have witnessed one active form of
Cuban danger.-Edgar L. WakeRan'a
Letter.