The times., 1897-05-02

hotels ard restaurants. and from every
quarter came the heseechng. the pitiful
prayer: '.Senontc, daInI las soiras de su
plato" t''Sir, give me The iearings on
your platel This heaTtJeDding cry rang
an my ear from morning tin night Go
wheIe you might, there was no escape
ffam the spectacle OF the hungry dToves and
Tire famishing thousands who wandered
Rbout the streets or the city.
have already shown that there was no
work TO be given to those who were
driven into the city where there were
already many thousands without employ
rRent. And had there been work it must
be confessed that the men and women of
this guatiro class are not very quick at
b;raing their hand to new pursuits They
are excellent and Woodworking farmers
en small scale On three or four acres
OF ground they raise all the necessities of
their simple lives, and even the ltxuries,
including coffee and tobacco. But their
struggle FOR existence had hitherto been
easy, and the sudden change IN their sur
Taundings seems TO have nearly paralyZed
all effort The women at first, and as
usual, made the iravest fight, and through
january and February hundreds OF them
could be seen drying straw In the sun, split
ting it nto narrow strips and weaving SOM
ineros. The straw costs them cents
hat, and the bodeguero, OF grocer, would
only pay them cents apiece for q hat,
which, er7en with the wonderful Gexterity
they exhibited required a days work.
1t can be truthfully said Of the whole
province of Matanzas that it resembles
nothing so much as great ash heap. And
The same is true Of the three other western
provinces. But there was a radius of five
miles AROUND the CITY of Matanzas that had
not been destroyed in January. This had
been poin ted out as the zone of cultivation.
where some day some remote mdnana, the
land would be allotted to tie pacifi,Ds
and seed be given them to plant But fl
nally moro cruel counsel prevailed and In
March the destruction OF all this property
and even the growing crops, was decreed
by Gen. MoIiDas, the military governor.
The last time I stood ON the summit of
Montserrat there We're three great fires
burning to the right and to the left Of me
and before me. Everything was on fire
except the sea, which cannot be made TO
burn, even by royal decree. And for
week Matanzas, usually SO bright and
clear. was as smoky and sooty as Bir-
ming ham.
Here in Matanzas. as elsewhere, ut every
station of reeoncentratiop, noticed that
the people are without any organization
whatever, and they seem to be lacking abb
solUtefy IN the Anglo-Saxon faculty or
combination, ty which they might possi-
bly, make their wants and their grievances
heard. They have no committees and no
seiectmen. Each family starvt.s alone
Not but That they are not very kindly and
Charitable the one TO the other. They are
1reipfu1 to one another to a surprising de-
gree; but they do not organize for SELF
preservation. and do not seem to under
stand the suggestion when it is made to
them. found them everywhere IN the
same state. completely stupefied hy The
sufferings and the misery they had TN
deIgone, and the prospect of imprniing
famine, starvation and plague, which ccp-
hDiIts Them
Shortly after the sunrise gun you hear
the first signal of the grewsonle spectacle.
military hand playing valseanuBic. Then
you see three or four COMPANIES Of N
fantry troop out Of the sail yport and form
ON the esplanade three sides of q square, /
the fourth side being the rampant Of the
fortress. Then follows another process /
sion. q troop OF soldiers IN skirmishine
order. and La their midst three or four
peasant boys, with their arms tied behind |
their backs and their legs hobhled, come
shutting down toward the wall, facing
which they areto die. Over them is horne
horrible o.ockery and sacrile ege-the image
of the Prince OF Peace. OF Our Saviour !
crucified, ana one of his shepherds stands i