Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-03-31

II one wishes TO loiter, he may be housed NJ the
quaint and celebrated Inn belonging TO Don 1gua-
clio Iturbe, an old Byzcayan bodegusro, matchless
as teller OF Falstafan tales and juggler OF cuban
vlandS Near the inn Is wonderful laguna, or
pool that legend says has no bottom Here we
caught, and afterward ate, some delicious fsh,
tne NJaca resembling our American percn, ana
as toothsome as Adirondack trout We also
discovered that here were even more peautilui
women than at far-famed san Francisco de Paula;
Joined N the genuine guateQue or country dance
a. one cabin, In the zapateo OF another; and were
Seateu 10 the fandango at q pretty villa on the
heights We also fought the cuban mosquito all
nlgnt with the escoba amarZa, shrub resembling
tne potato-yine In bloom as a smudge, TO the soft
mas ana guitars and passed grewsome day ex.
pIS ing cave or subterranean roadway edged
Mltu melodlous Invisible stream. fully Two
ieagues long and Inhabited by millions OF bats In
no other spot have ever seen or heard OF such
myIlads OF bats At every stumble OF our ponies
rat.ung, mapping, and moaning they fell upon us.
anu CHUNG 70 our animals like lazy, drunken spirits
OF oarkhess, and after a clammy, half-human.
a aai.npisn embrace, sud gaumily down upon the
aank eartn, uttering hoarse, mournful, gurgnns
plants OF protest.
Again, at old Gdines, which Is scarcely more
than village, the loiterer has much to study
ana enjoy. 1t Is more Moorish than Havana:
more Doric than any village OF the Holy Land,
No village In Europe that i have ever seen
furnishes such quaint old corners, or when the
tlon across its marvellous valley such enchanting
prospects. The untold riches OF the earth far and
near nave set their opulent seal on all things, ana
one can easily Imagine that the handsomest
women IN the world are here housed. SO, too. In
Gulnes the Spanish idea OF the constant seclusion
OF women is less rigorous. Balcony and portico
swarm with the beauties, fair as the tropic flowers
among which they smile. They are even upon
Ine streets In dainty squads. Everywhere are
song ana music and flowers and women and indo-
lence. And seated underneath the cool porch
aIcheS OF Old PoSada de Roig, what medieval
sighCs ana groupings are beheldi There against
tne portals OF san julien de los Guines church Is
group OF laZzaroni basking in the sun as typical
vi an mat Is desperate and dolorous as Rome,
SS ION or Morocco can show. Here
beside you are GitanoS nlthler and more persiS-
tent than ply their black arts In Lisbon, Madrid OF
saladoild. AT the mouth OF that narrow calle are
VI Shame as the kanaker girls OF the solomon Is
Ianus; All about in half-caught threnodieS, are
SOUNDS or music from instruments made and
pay eu precisely as when the same notes resounded
among the arabeSQues and tretwork OF the Alham-
Drah Court OF Lions half a thousand years ago.
ater carriers pass with puncheons on their heads
w nile through the medieval vision set actually
UeIOre your eyes OF to-day, coming to later time
ana form, which yet seem but relics OF dead CEN
lures, are the ancient volantes, dragged seepily
along eaoalleros, senori,as on horseback thong
page OF Don Quixote were furnished; and hail.
NAKED guaJiros with oX-boats primitive as the por-
terage OF the ancient Goths and Huns.
OTHER VILLAGES.
These three villages OF western central Cuba
are exceptionally winsome. There are others
most interesting; for instance Santiago, where
the wonderful bafios or baths are found, and the
walled town OF Holguin, over TO the east near the
impenetrable Jungles OF Sepa, where the denzens
1--we In more complete isolation from the outer
world than the swarthy hordes OF Morocco. But
the ordinary cuban vtllage-particularly all those
dotting at intervals the 1900 miles OF island
coaStline, where sugar, molasSes, bananas, cocoa.
nuts and pines are brought TO tide-water, and from
Inence 10 the greater SeaportS by the dainty
Spanish coasterS-is as dreary and lugubrious q
place in appearance could be easily found Ii is
when one comes upon some deserted farm home,
where nature seems TO strive for the concealment
or deSolation, and, in its wild luxur1ance, serves
but to dolefully emphasize it. Their contempla-
ton from little distance impresses one painfully
Through this rare and radiant atmosphere, which
has the weird quality OF giving objects at a dis
lance strangely increased and almost groteSquely
huge proportions the few nat-roofed, one-storied
and profuseIy piilared structures OF the Cuban
village, loom and grow into tremendous seemings
until the Imagination rresistibly receives them as
peoples In the night Of the ages, suddenly and
magically re-embowered with indescribable prod1-
gallty and luXurtance.
THE UNIVERSAL PLAN.
Little or big, they are all on the same plan. II
you have known one you have known all. There
Is the plaza, around which the aristocracy i've
and where a few filthy shops exist. Inevitably
and universally are half dozen palms. a half hun
dred varieties OF tropical shrubs and flowers count
less birds OF pleasant notes or gay plumage,' "a
comes, halt-runed fountain, market abandoned
10 NTH and decay, a church, and a cockpit. A
squad OF la guardia civil continually
CHANGING to prevent Irritation and
and its jangling-spurred members, who
have long since rotoed every body in the village
make excursions OF pillage In all directions, con-
shutting. as the armed representatives OF Spain,
the only genuine bandits and highway ROBBERS
from which Cuba ever really suffered. Knowing
all this well, comprehending the relation OF
government TO people, and people to conditions,
the marvel OF IL all Is the patience
and good nature Of this peasantry. That pleasure
or light-heartedness can still exist is incompre-
henslole. Ii would almost seem that the burdens,
outrageS ana desperanons OF Cuban people had
been so supreme, that, at last had come universal
Indifference, succeed by the reckless gaiety OF IT.
retrievaoie and repellant hopelessness. No one
can starve In Cuba The fendish rapacity OF In
human tyranny and bad government which
In our northern lands, where climatic
rigors add savage necessities would drive
a less patient people to madness and
murder, is here defeated, as II by the hand OF
God, through nature so bountiful in her gifts
that even music and reasting and song, though
pathetic plants be there, may still remain until
the awakened conscience or the nations shall
drive the murderess, spain, from this fair and
beautiful land. EDGAR l. WAKKMAN.