The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-05-14
GAY IN DEATHS [. S FACE,
SUNDAY SCENESIN HAVANA in
THE MIDST OF WARS ALARMS.
hevels go With Misery-Cof1n Makers the
Only People With Much Real Work
Gayetv Reigns While Men, Women, and
Children ar e Starving. e.

pleasure; in it thou shalt have no war"
Havana's Sunday is day of cock fights
bull fights, concerts, promenades, and mas
querade balls In these pleasures spaniard
and CubaIs, enemies all, consort togethe
as comrades without arms. At 7 o'clock OF
Sunday morning the Spaniard shares thu
coffee with the Cuban, and fails to give tn
passing Americana the customary weekda,
glare. At the same hour the Americana take
his coffee alone, and wonders what will hap
pen next in this Vesuvius-like CITY,.
From coffee hour at until breakfast at l.
everybody attends-church? No! The peo.
pie go shopping, for all the stores are open
The Spanish soldiers buy American trinket:
at the American shops to send to sweetheart:
IN Spain. The American buys articles fol
Inc folks at home, in shops where the clerks
speak not one word of English. He pays s.
for small fan, or 81 for canary bird, or s.
Tor pair of castanets, or SIS for mantilla
Inese prices are created exclusively fol
Americans. For the same articles a native
would pay only half the price. But in Ha
vana, as in all countries, save the United
States, the American is made of money. and
Is entirely bereft Of reason in spending it
Inc cuban, during the shopping hours, loi.
ters In and out Of the shops, but buys moth
ing; for only one Cuban in thousand has
money to spare, and he is an exception If he
has money enough to buy necessities
Misery of the Recommendations. 81
Meanwhile the reconcentrados food the
streets and beg. Thousands of outstretched
arms line the sidewalks, or rather the gut
ters. Those begging aims are in most
cases, nothing but bone and skin. Starya-
ton Is the common lot Some are so nearly
dead that all the food in christendom could
not save their lives. Others need medicine
more than food. All are utterly miserable.
Not one has CLEAN of hope. Not one knows
n1r fio1 ho-
thing remembered. To a stranger in Ha-
Vana, On Sunday, amid all the madness of
pleasure the fact that there is a reign Of
misery Is more apparent than ever. On that
day, and, for that matter, on all days the
misery is ignored by the average spaniard
The Cubans would help if they had not al
ready done all and given all in their power
The Americans give, ard give promptly and
literally. But the Spaniard continues to
ignore. But soon the American perceives
the utter hopelessness Of such charity, and
sends what he can afford to the relief fund
where he knows it will be wisely distributed.
In Havana alone there are $4,000 reconcen-
trados. OF these one-half are not only
hungry, but starving. The other half are
relieved and cared for by the fund.
Negroes Hour of Sport.
On Sunday the negro has his great hour.
1t is the shopping hour just described. But
the Cuban negro does not shop. Having
bought his mite of Goldfish, cornmeal and
coffee, and his bad cigar in the early morn
ing, he spends the balance of the time before
breakfast in alleys and side streets, at cock
fights and street dancing "boss" negro
owns the cocks. A courtyard Is chosen as a
ring. The spectators, all negroes pay !
centano GO cents) each to see the cocks kill
each other. That 20 cents represents ne
gros wage, if he is fortunate enough to have
work, for whole day. 1t is evident that
he ! cd
cock fight.
After breakfast come the bull fights, SPAIN
national sport. Killing bull is to Span
lard what batting baseball is to an Amer
lean. The American present at baseball
game is excited person at best. The
Spaniard present at bull fight is more than
excited, more than enthusiastically is blood.
thirsty. The place set apart for the bull
fight very much resembles the polo grounds
in New York. Only instead Of square
center there is ring, as at circus. All
Havana is there, the spaniard, the Cuban,
the creole, the negro, the American visitor
men, women, and children. The pleasures
of the hour are opened with speech. The
officers Of the army and navy sit in box OF
state, and act the part of complacent and
They have no money for trinkets and nc
pennies for the starving reconcentrados, but
they manage to raise SO in Spanish silver to
see the four bulls butchered.
At the Bull Fights.
The fight begins. All, almost instantly the
American cries, But this is not a fight, it is
only slaughter.' No matter The Span
lard thinks differently. He cries, Bravo
bring in another bull Finally after twelve
7eath by the four bulls, and after the four
bulls have been tortured till they are so weak
:hey can hardly stand, the great hero, the
matador, steps in and kills the bulls, ono
after another, by plungtng his sword through
their bodies. -sa.l.-
At the last bull fight here the matador wa
5pain's greatest. His name was Mazzintini
II the butchers in the slaughter houses a
chicago, where they Stay an average Of on,
,ull per minute. could see this famous MAJ
z,ntini kill his bull, they would hiss him
This same idol of the people, Mazzintlnl re
turned to Spain after that so-called bull fgh
He ook with him, III his leathern belt, $25.0 Ol
And yet nowhere on the face of Gods cart
can so much misery, ruin, poverty, and stzrva
ton be seen as in Havana at the very tim
Its citizens are paying from So to $l2 each 10
seats at a Sunday bull fight.
AS soon as the fight Is over there is rus
for the ferry. Back to the city swarm tn
pleasure-l lovers, mad with the sight OF tn
slaughtered horses and bulls, wildly merr
over the entertainment that would simpl
disgust the average American. Through II
streets they pour, scores in cabs, hundred
park. In carnival mood they pass house ate
house, in front of which hang yellow mas
marked with black VS. in their centers
each CT the houses there are one or more case
,of smallpox or yellow fever.
The Busy Coain-Maker.
What cares the pleasure-mad populact
There are plenty of collins. The coffin maxi
is the only man who is hard at work In
Havana on Sunday. He works In his 0W
doorway number of collins, all made tn
Say, are piled up on one side OF the doorsle
Still this carpenter works on, Mailing tn
pine boards into shapes to fit the human forI
For by Monday morning he knows that
the collins he has made on Sunday Will
lowered into the ground, each with Its de
tined occupant.
The passing crowds grin at him. Ha!
Door carpenter! He must drive nails on SUI
day instead of seeing Mazzinttni Kill the bu
Poor man! They sincerely pity him.
y Now the crowds, after swarming into T
plaza, the Prado, and the park, gather roul
the tables on the sidewalk In front OF y
cafes. Spanish private soldiers drink sug
and water. The officers drink antsette. Amer
cans cali for lemonade and ice cream. -
Cubans look on. or are treated by their friend
the enemy, alias the Spanish. All smoke 9
cigars Of various qualities though the ~ =
forty OF them are good. Seven cents on
an Havana perfecto, which n New a.
would cost q quarter 8ss ss8 isf
CONTINUED n 7TH COLUMN
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