The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1898-07-29
nowhere in Cuba without seeing
soldiers on duty.

On the top Of the hill is the prison,
and it is terrible thing to get into
prison here, for you may get clapped
into the "chain gang" The watch
man at night stands on the corners
with pike and lantern he blows
whistle and cries the hour and state
Of weather, thus: "Es Ia una. Hace
bien tiempo;" or "lts o'clock, and
fine weather." The clocks strike the 1
quarter hours from all the converts
and castles, making a silvery chime.
We meet priests and SISTERS hur.
rying to sick beds, regardless of the
music on the plaza or the people on
the street, and every once in a while
we see a soldier drop to his knees to
receive blessing, his sword dangling
and gathering behind him. Santiago
knows no Sunday. The men go right
from mass into a bull or cock fight.
In the morning about o'clock may
be seen the countrymen coming to
market, with donkeys, on which will
be panniers hanging to the ground
with fruit, and ! was astonshed one
morning by what looked like hay
cock moving toward me, and when it
got near me saw the nose and tail OF
very little horse sticking out; this
little horse was carrying its own fod-
der. On top on the hay sat man
with black velvet jacket with little
bells all around it, aud a big sombrero
hat; he had pistol in his belt and a
dirt. / was told he had come down
from the mountains; he looked like a
bandit. The COWS are driven to the
doors to be milked, so your milk can't
get all the water in town in it. They
wear a bell, which rings and tells
they are coming.
All houses are built round the court
yards, which are full of trees and
flowers. Cuban beds have no mat
trcsses they are Of iron with sack
ing on which you lie, and have a
sheet, pillow and mosquito net
tucked under the legs of the bed to
keep out tarantulas. Many bed rooms
lead out to the courtyard. Cuban
houses have no cooking stoves ; some
have kind of oven in the yard Gu
ban ladies do no housework blacks
or coolies do it all. Ladies go right
home from mass, but many OF the
men 60 down on the corner of streets
and play dominos or cards-they are
awful gamblers.
We ride in the old volante through
the now deserted streets past the con-
vent and prison, ard down to the
landing, where we take the boat and
60 the steamer to lay till evening,
when we return to find all the people
out-some riding, some walking rOund
the plaza, where the band plays every
highland all the shops are now
brightly lighted, and we see the shop
men bringing out goods to the ladies
to look at. These ladies themselves
look so fascinating in their white
dress and lace mantilas thrown over
their hair, with rose just over the
ear. as we see in pictures and most
OF them carry large fans, sparkling
with jewels.
AS we walk along we can see into
all the houses, for they look exactly as
if the whole front Of the house was
pllcd up, after they open the immense
windows, and in every house you al
ways sit opposite the gentlemen, nev-
er beside them, which would be con-
sidered bad form. We can see the
beds with their linen covers Of lovely
drawn work. Every one goes to bed
in the middle Of the day, and all busi-
ness is spended for nap after noon.
Everything is done very early in the
morning and in the evening, and, in
fact, felt, after being there a week,
like prowling all night with the cats
| felt too languid to move after noon,
and l soon found out | could not do
as | would at home. This is what
will bother our troops; as they can
not stand the hot sun, they will have
to fight in the night.
Santiago has no drainage and is
filthy. The better class goes away in
the summer, just as we do, but the
nigs and coolies do not mind 1t.
AS we sat on Mr.. Us piazza that
evening, on the crest Of the hill, and
looked over the lovely harbor and
down through an avenue Of palms and
banana trees waving in the clear
moonlight, l thought, What atoVe-
" land this isl" but after walking
down this avenue to the landing
across the little railroad track which
goes to the plantation, and getting
into little boat to 90 out to the
steamer, | saw big sharks, with their
mouth wide open to eat me, and it did
not seem quite so romantic, but live
to write this, although there was one
particular shark that struck by hop
ing would drop into his capacious
mouth, and left him gaping after US as
we steamed away from Santiago for
Cienfuegos.
II don't know that need any work
done about the house. What can you
Il e,1l