The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1898-03-24
National Red Cross in Cuba.
IcoNr1NuED FROM PAGE THREE.

teens, in their blue cotton suits and straw
hats! If it came to conflict with fists,
every one of US could have vanquished
half dozen of the dispirited fellows; but
each was walking arsenal, with gun and
knife and machete. Arrived at CalabaZar,
the chains stretched across the highway,
which served as dead line for the Re-
concentrates, were removed, the sentinels
in the fort saluted as we passed, and the
escort struggled back on the weary way to
Naranjo. Later on returning by train to
Havana we learned the wisdom of the Com
mandante's precaution. There had been
diminishing that day within a league of
the town last visited. The Spaniards had
not come off victorious and consequently
were in unusually vicious mood, and the
lives of party of trangers-Cubans-
headed toward the recent ''scene of &C
tom would not have been worth much.
As it it was. we encountered some dark
looks, and murmurs about American
spies" My harmless note book came
near getting us into serious trouble, as it
was suspicioned to contain a plan of the
Spanish Notifications Fortunately the
camera was left at home that day, and for
the first time in my life l blessed my in
ability as an artist; for otherwise should
surely have been sketching some of those
picturesque forts. Had such picture
been found upon me, it is doubtful if |
would now be writing this letter.
Los FosSos, that den of death in Hava
na, where few weeks ago the Reconcen-
trados were dying at the rate of 100 day,
has been transformed into tolerably de-
cent hospital-thanks to the Red Cross.
Paint, soap and water have been used
without stint, conveniences have been
added, and physicians and nurses are in
daily attendance. One who visits the
place by day is profoundly impressed by
the improvement; but eternal vigilance"
is the price of it-or rather, eternal scrub
bling. Los Fossos is the general sleeping
place for the whole army of beggars,
mostly Reconcentrados, who swarm the
streets of Havana by day seeking what
they may devour. At nightfall they drag
themselves back, with all their sores,
filth and infirmities, to the only shelter
they know; soup is dispensed, and they
lie down and wait for another day of beg
gary. Then the scene is worthy the pen
Gil Of Dore. Wrapped in their rags and
tatters, some almost naked, men, women
and children lie i'll long rows on the floor,
in the courtyard, under the carts, where
ever human body can find room. Many
of them are orphaned children-here and
there solitary little wretch alone
less and motherless brothers and sisters,
clinging to one another for protection,
but Los FOssos is infinitely better than it
used to be, since all are now tolerably
sure of something to eat at least once a
day, through the bounty Of the United
States. Formerly it was the morning
the melancholy heaps of humanity aud
pick out the dead from the living-talling
dead children from the mother S arms, on
finding perhaps a dead mother with cry
ing children crawling over her. Tears?
y es, we have shed them: and they con-
tinue 10 flow day after day. But works
tn no
souls demand sympathy-and more than
that they need substantial aid.
The Red Cross Society continues to
have more or less trouble with the Span
ish authorities in Cuba. Unexpected OBJ
stacles are continually popping up like
.Banquo's ghost, and delays are the order
OF the hour Just now there is a
kick in the custom house over an In
significant box of toys-which would be a
regular god-send in the new Orphanage if
the waits could only get hold of them.
Although Spain subscribed to the treaty
of Geneva long before the United States
came into the fold, she has never accepted
the american Amendment" the terms
of her treaty providing only for sick and
wounded soldiers in time of war. If it
were not for the worlds opinion, it is
doubtful il she would admit the American
Red Cross at all into her Island colony,
since the Cubans are about the only ones
to be benefited. For the Orphanage just
established, Miss Barton leased a com
modious house in quiet suburb of Hav-
ana, a beautiful, old fashioned casa, with
large, airy rooms and ample grounds, the
once Luxurious home of a titled Spaniard
All was ready for the reception OF 70
orphans, when the first Glitch occurred.
Unfortunately, we had been speaking Of
it as the "Children's Hospital because
naturally all the starving waits are ailing.
Just as the children were about to be
moved in, the Alcaldi decided that it was
against the law to establish a hospital
outside Of certain limits: but after a
weeks delay the necessary papers were
made out under the name of an Asylum, -
and things proceeded exactly as had been
first intended. Only So children, between
one and six years of age, are there at