The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-26

Strange Contrast of Men and Manners
in the Porto Rican City.

in the Porto Rican City.
Stephen Crane. in New York Journal.
AS one of the, Journal dispatch
boats boats clrcled slowly past the war
of Ponce the correspondents, veterans
or Santiago and other campaigns be-
gan to array themselves disreputably.
Ihey donned breeches of brown duck and
shirts of the hues of almost every kind of
vegetable, and their hats were s.ouch, dirty,
twlsty-wise and discredt to them. The
correspondents also armed themselves. In
the end they somewhat resembled jail-birds,
which is the business of men good at the
game OF war
The yacht dropped anchor and another
correspondent came from the shore He had
arrived two days previously. Upon sight
ing the formidable group on the quarter
deck he burst into hoarSe laughter Later
he explained the wonders of Ponce. 1t was
no Baiquiri. 1t was no Siboney. 1t was no
cable station at Guantanamo. Ponce, to be
sure, was city with hotels and shops a-I0
public hacks and BARRIERS and ice and ales,
wines, liquors and cigars Ii a man lost all
his lead pencils he could jaunt casually into
paned an unhappy soul with no tobacco.
there was no period of intoierable anguish.
In case of need, for instance, there could
be found such a person as a dentist. And
the correspondent went on to say that the
generals and the newspaper men were in
the habit OF riding TO the Iront-the terrible
front-in carriages The ferocity died out
of the arriving war correspondents. In car
riages? Name of heaven!
little seaport, developed four striking things
immediat ely-American buggies, naked ba-
bies trees laden with flaming crimson bios
SONS and the enigmatic smile of the Porto
Ricdn. They were all burning in the sun
shine and dimmed by the white dust of a
tropic city. They were all guarded by the
American soldier, calm, bronze ana blue
man with a bayOnet. And herein lay the
supreme interest, the interest of the juxta-
position of Michigan and Porto Rico-Grand
Rapids serenely sitting in judgment upon
the affairs of Ponce. This made one mar
vel: this was the extraordinary situation
that dazed the thoughtful American Ii
was as if a journal had announced: ~
Rochester trolley car has collided with an
cart in Buenos Ayres." You could not
gauge the thing; you remained simply
astounded.
Afterward there was the enigmatic smile
of the Porto Rican. 1t was enigmatic at
first because we thought of 1t too hard We
weighed it too much. We reflected upon il
until il became simply confusion-a con-
ciliatory. joyful, fearful. crafty, honest.
fact-the Porto Rican, taking him as a
symbolized figure, a type, was glad. glad
that the Spaniards had gone. glad that the
Americans had come. What the troops re-
ceived at Ponce was a welcome. The cheer
ing was led by the responsible men. the
merchants. the land owners. the people
with purses. When your man with a purse
cheers he has got TO mean it. Otherwise he
would choke to death.
In the applause there is a stratum of
deceit. but il is furnished mainly by the
peasantry, who have been forcibly taught
that the Spaniards are invincible and are
sure TO return. Meanwhile the American
soldier expresses his opinion of this prob
ability in a new word-Spinachers. The
Jamaica negro cannot say Spaniard. His
comic tongue makes him say Spuniard. The
American soldier says Spinacher because
when a thing becomes common he Is ma
tionaliy bound TO extract from II whatever
it may convey of our kind OF irony
Ponce. of course, bears the stamp of
Spain. that stamp which shall remain for
ever upon Mexico and the states Of Central