Evening star., 1898-09-07
CUBANS AND SPANIARDS.
A Queer Lot of People Seen in the
City of Havana.

sEecial Correspondence of The Evening Star.
| HAVANA, Cuba, August 2S, 1885,
| Sunday in Havana! And such Sunday
| l never imagined even after reading dozen
| times of such. Before we were I'D this
| morning the boats of the hungry began
| to arrive; we ran bucket relief until
| they departed joyfully and then we started
| for shore. Half of our soldier boys were
| allowed to go also and they made an in
| stantaneous hit! The wharves were crowd
| ed with people out for an airing and as
| they caught sight of the blue uniforms
| they fiocked to the landing. AS the boys
stepped out of the boat they were engulfed
| for a minute and then disappeared lIp the
| street at the head of procession, a pro-
| cesson which, though constantly changing,
| followed them all the time they were out
| and escorted them back to the boat In tri-
umph. These Cubans are queer. AS We
steamed into the harbor they swarmed to
| meet US, yet gave us demonstration of
welcome. Today as these first American
soldiers seen in months appeared, the SOL
| diers who had wrought their long-coveted
freedom, they simply stared, followed them
all day and stared. Yet We know from the
| occasional English-speaking ones whom we
meet that they are delighted. They seem
| to feel helpless as to expressing themselves
| to these American soldados," but they
showed their feeling every time there was
a purchase to be made. After minute of
| jabber between the soldier and the dealer
| some one would struggle out of the crowd
who had a smatterng of English, and amid
a cloudburst of smiles. gestures and broken
and mixed language the transaction would
| be pushed through, the helper would smile
and wave himself back into the crowd and
the procession would get under way again.
The Spanish soldiers. who literally swarm
over the town, stared pretty hard at the
boys, too, but gave them never a scowl
even the day through. The Spaniards strike
US forcibly as understood, and probably
q n ia 0f mar n
they were selected for behavior and not
size there were three six footers in the lot,
| and they are all tall and hearty looking.
Tour Through the Streets.
The soldiers having swept the streets
pretty clear of people, we insignificants
without uniform, started off and struck up
| the main business street. Weyler street 1t
is now, but the boys say that it will be
| renamed "Walkover de America" as soon
as Lee gets to work here We found every
| thing in town very wide open, except the
streets. that Is They are no wider than
the sidewalk in front of The Star office,
with little two-foot flag walks on either
side, that when two people meet one
of them steps into the gutter. 1t was hard
sightseeing. If you stopped to look in a
window some one behind you very likely fell
over you before he could stop. If that
didn't happen people walked out into the
street to avoid you or rubbed over you as
sneaky and got out in the street. Then you
| couldn't enjoy what you We're looking at
because you had to keep eye out for
coming buggies, which couldn't possibly
get by without rubbing into you
We went up some ten blocks of stores of
every description; dry goods and millinery
stores and lottery ticket stores, bakeries
and boot stores, and places where You could
buy lottery tickets, money changers Offices
where we got eight Spanish dollars for a
five-dollar United States bill or gold piece,
and where we could buy lottery tickets If
we wished, cigar stores and cafes innum-
cradle, and everywhere crowds of people.
1t reminded me greatly of circus day in
small town. We got warm after a bit and
dropped into cafe for drink. We asked
the waiter: Speak English?' Ma" We
looked around for something familiar in
sight, but saw nothing and came back to
the waiter. Ginger ale,' we said. very
loud, people always do when talking 20
a foreigner. Ginger ale, you savvy?'
Ma ne didn't savvy, but everyone else in
the place was interested by now, and
stranger came to our rescue. "Se, Sc.
senor,' he said in a tone that gave us con-
ffdence. Then he turned TO the waiter and
said impressvely: 'Zhin! Zhin koketailr'
And he retired in deep disgust when he
persuaded him we didn't want that. These
people all seem to think that Americans
must be fond of strong drinks. An English
speaker, who encountered the soldiers, in
sisted on treating them, and when all but
two of the boys ordered lemonade he re-
garded them with astonishment and dis
trust and departed hastily, evidently fear
ing fraud of some kind.
Bad Plight of the People.
We gave up our attempt to get a drink
there and went on up the street Soon we
struck their central park little one block
square with statue and a few trees, and
opposite us the Hotel Ingliterre. We made
for it, introduced ourselves to the manager
and begged for the tip as to what you said
when you wanted lemonade. He almost
embraced us, said we were the first people
at the hotel in two months nrade US sit
down and went after the lemonade himself
AS we drank we questioned him about mat
terS generally. He says that in twenty
days more the town would have had to
surrender from starvation; rice was 90
cents a pound. flour GO cents, potatoes,
beans, corn, etc, were all gone Even hay
had run out, the street cars had stopped
and many horses had died The poor had
been living on green corn and pineapples,
and the acid of the pineapple after much
eating had disastrous effect on them.
Every one, rich and poor, Cuban and Span
lard alike, welcomed the close of the war
and almost without exception would well
come annexation.
We went out and wandered around the
queer little crooked streets again, getting
lemonade when we wanted it now. and find
ing more opportunities to buy lottery tick
cts. The Prado is wide we'll shaded street
running through the center of the town, a
mile in length, and as it cooled off the SEN
orltas came out IN CROWDS from behind
their barred windows and walked up and
down. and a Spanish military band came
out and played in the park, and no one
would ever imagine while looking at the
scene that there had been war in which
they were concerned, or that they had
been close to starvation a week ago. We
found that three theaters would be open
in the evening, a play, some living pictures
and ballet being the attractions, but we
returned to our boat at sundown
We are promised decision by the Gus
toms officials tomorrow noon as to our
paying duty and are eager for it. The
major says he will pay no duty, that is
sure, but at all events We will know where
we stand, and can figure on when we can
begin to distribute our supplies in guam
tfty instead of by the bucketful.
A. c. TOWNSEND. |
AU(,TIoN SALES or uEAu Esr.rD