The record-union., 1898-12-13

tinlid wives and even children Who pick
up Spanish with a rapidity. that their
elders cannot attain. The women who
| thus come down here must be pfepared
| to undergo much in the way of diseon-
| fort in living. Hotel Recommendations
are, st best, poor indeed and houses
are scarce, dirty and almost uninhabit-
| able. OF course, there are exceptions,
some fairly comfortable houses having
| been obtained, but only a few, aud each
| day they are harder to find and their
~entals advance steadily with the de-
mand. San Juan needs much improve
lrent in the matter of living acccmr1o-
dations off cred before an American nd
val or army officer can feel safe in
| bc;ng;rC his family.
In thousands Of South American and
| West Indian towns that boast a plaza
and military band there is music on The
plaza at o'clock on Sunday evenings.
San Suan is one of the few such towns
where the music is American. This
music on Sunday evenings is an old and
popular Spanish custom, and guileless
people at home are told that upon these
occasions the beautiful dark-eyed Span
ish girls come out to walk and be ad-
mired. This is a stock story of the re-
turned South American wanderer, so it
is that the men from the North are all
keen to get to the plaza to see the show
they have often heard described. But
/ the best class of Spanish and South
American women are timid and easy of
| affront, and it is a fact that the last
| few disturbed years in Cuba and Porto
Rico have done much to keep them In
doors. To many of these Southern w,o-
men the Sunday evening promenade
was the only outdoor break, for weeks
at time, in the pitiful monotony of
their daily lives.
| The plaza at San Juan is absolutely
bare and stone paved. 1t is long and
comparatively narrow. On the one side
| is the town hall, with it's two stocky
towers; at one end is the severely pla in
facade Of La Disputacion." The -other
| buildings that face 1t are two stories in
hight, and white, with narrow hanging
balconies. The band Of the Eleventh
Infantry plays in the center, and the
musicians carry with them from their
barracks kerosene torches to light their
music. The electric lights of the town
are out of order, and the row of feeble
gas lamps that surrounds the plaza do
nothing more than make objects dimly'
visible.
The south side Of the plaza is the only
proper one upon which to promenade
sharp distinctions concerning the pro-
prieties are drawn here. Only the COM
mon people Of the town promenade on
the north. Along the southern side
some enterprising man every night puts
long row of rocking chairs and rents
them out at 10 cents each for the even
ing. The band plays in the center, and
up and down the south side walk the
best people" 1t is an endless march
| to the shuffling of mems feet and the
strains of the American music. Spanish
words predominant, of course, yet there
10 considerable English spoken and
bright American girls, wives of officers
| or daughters of some high official, gay
and trim in last summers dresses, find
army men only too ready to walk with
them through the promenades. The
town clock calls each quarter of hour
with changing bell and the cafes on the
ground are always busy. About lO
o'clock it is all over and the plaza lakes
on its accustomed deserted appearance
Lieutenant Colonel Allen c.. Bake
we'll arrived recently in San Juan,
bringing American flags for the school
| children of Porto Rico. Colonel Bake
we'll comes as the volunteer represent
ative of Lafayette Post, No. lao, and
| the flags in question are furnished by
the post in accordance with its custom
and usage in promoting patriotic edu-
cation and loyalty among school chill
| dren. Colonel Bakewell will supply
600 flags to the island, a number suffi-
cient to give one to every public and
private school in Porto Rico.
The first presentations were made
| this morning at 8 o'clock on San
Juan's principal plaza. There We're as
sembled all the teachers, principals and
pupils of the several schools in the
city, including two long lines of lit
tie boys from the orphan asylum. The
band Of the Eleventh Regiment played
patriotic airs, and the flags dotted the
sunny child crowded square with bril-
liant bits of color. There were rich
children and poor ones, some fair as
! Germans and others as black as they
could be- AT the head of each school
procession marched the standard
bearer of the colors that in the future
would bring to it's new followers much
that the flag which has gone at last
| denied their fathers in the past.
The position of the Roman Catholic
| Church on the island to-day may be
called strange and even illogical. Mer-
| chants farmers, business men, civilian
employees, all classes of society have
! their defenders, and those who busy
themselves with striving for their fu-
ture benefits. The newspapers are open
| to all who would complain of abuses,
or who can suggest improvements, but
one never sees mention of the church
| therein. The church alone seems to
have been forgotten.
Men of the church who discuss this
present situation are fully aware Of
the fact that the Government of the
| United States does not support any
church or creed, and that the Church
of Rome from this time on must stand
upon its own feet, and expect a lively
competition in religious matters.
The clergy say there has been
great change of feeling evidenced since
/ the Americans took possession; that
the people seem glad to let the church
make it's fight alone and unaided. and
| few come to it's help and support.
These people have not foresworn their
old faith with their old flag" say the
clergy. "They are still catholic, but
| the voices of a few free thinkers are
] stronger than the weak, half hearted
effort of over 100000 members"
General Brooke recently issued an
| order stating that, with the exception
| of such as had already been abolished,