The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-26

~NSoi illC lCS uldllOll DIGdhldSL 1llu dinner hours-from ten o'clock till noon and between and p. m.-you see them by the score, each cantenero car rying a nest of white or blue porcelain basins set into light framework, the handle-bar of which rests upon his shoulder. The food thus served is cooked in central kitchens and sent out as hot as possible. The price varies With the number of courses desred- from thirty to fifty dollars per month. In all Spanish-America, you know, the customs of southern Europe prevail in the matter of eating, the late break fast and early dinner consisting of about the same articles, each served by itself, making the simplest meal a cer- emonious affair of several courses. The canteen arrangement has It's advanta- ges as well as it's drawbacks. Some essentials are sure to be forgotten, such as salt, sugar, knife or spoon; the food is likely to be unpleasantly cooled in transit, and in time everything tastes alike-of the tin, tinny-from soup to dessert On the other hand while men may fare we'll in clubs and restaurants, women who are alone in these lands where the mediaeYal idea of seclusion for females still prevails, cannot ap- pear unaccompanied in public places without great embarrassment to them selves and frequent insult. One who has acquaintances in the city may be certain of invitations to stay in private houses; but you should remember that these proverbially hospitable Havanese have now little ready cash. Despite pa 11tj11 pitU o nd ,o1o
 tions in the interior the presence of a guest at the board for weeks or months might prove a severe tax upon the fam fly; and to offer money in return would be to wound their pride beyond repara- ton. Therefore, undeterred by gure- some reports of fever, your correspon- dent went to her old home, the Pesaje hotel, whose proprietors speak English and make special point of caring per- sonally for their guests. Luckily for recent arrivals, the panic that ensued in the Pasaje after the sixth American yelloW-fever patient had been taken out of it, left a few unoccupied corners, The truth is, there is no more danger of fever in one house than another, public or private, in Havana Danger is pres- ent everywhere, and the worst time is yet to come when American sanitation
 begins in earnest In all fever-haunted places, from Mexico to Brazil, the ex- perience of centuries is the same-that the germs seem to turk in old walls
 drains and sewers; and wherever the latter are disturbed yellow Jack is sure to break out in that vicinity Even in the always cosmopolitical Pasaie a great change is apparent. During the last year or two it has become the fla Vof1te place of our countrymen in Cuba, being newer and nearer to date than the once fashionable Ingleterra; :; and just now, with it's tableful of off, cers, capitalists and business men from the United States, one would hardly know it from New York caravansarv
 except for the marble floors, pillared salons and yellow-satin- -canopied bed
 steads. The swellest officers of the Spanish army also made it their head quarters, but it is noticeable that those who yet remain do not swagger so much as formerly, order less expensive wines at dinner, and glover upon
 American piga' with a different ex- pression of countenance.
 In the Prado, in front of my balco- ny, bands play every day; the evening paseo in the beautiful Parque de Isabel is filled with well-dressed, chattering crowds and the theaters are nightly ! crowded. But under all this apparent peace and good will the volcano smoul- ders The shallows nurnur, but the deeps are dumb" Business proceeds in 1 it's usual routine and the town goes tranquilly to bed-past midnight, be- cause the typical Havanese is not giv- l en to over-much slumber; and it gets up before sunrise, wondering what dreadful things have happened over night and holding it's breath in antici- patton of possible occurrences, Thanks to strict censorship, the news
 papers tell us little of the carnival of crime that is going on in Cuba-of nightly murders and robberies and out rages of every description. The Span- tsh system of press control would hard 1 ly be tolerated in any other country. even Russia: but here it is as rigid as i inexorable. They assure us that cor respondents are not coerced, but are ! free to write what they like True enough, they may write quires and i reams of too-literal correctness to ! please the powers that be, and when the blue pencil gets done with it a doz- ! en lines remain for the publisher. Yet i it is said that Don Carlos Moreno, the | present press-cersor, is much too len 1 lent toward American correspondents.
 Therefore there is talk of displacing ! him in favor of Colonel Girauta, secre- 1 tary of the Spanish commission of evacuation-a second Congosto, or prompting Mephistopheles
 The worst menace to society is Gene ral Blahco's latest act, alleged mercy. This was to bring back to Cuba the l 'Nanigoes, as they are called, under the pretense of liberating political pris- oners. They are really the worst crim- I inals that ever infested this unhappy l island; while thousands of real "politi- caP' prisoners, men of standing and character. whose only crime was love i of liberty, yet languish in the dun i geons of Ceuta. The Nanigoes are all negroes, or at best with but slight adulteration of Cubano blood. Before 1 the war they formed a regular argani- zation for the perpetration of crimes, with initiation rites passwords and other secret methods of communication | Candidates for membership were first required to drink the warm blood of a rooster; and then to draw blindfolded, from box containing black, white and 1 yellow balls. If he drew a white ball,