The Portland daily press., 1898-03-26

over your window make a very beautiful
rainbow effect on the marble floor when
the sun shines into the room The beds
are pretty picture to look at. The he'd
steads are brass, with symmetrically
curved mosquito canopy tastefully draped
to protect the sleeper from those musical
pests, which do business every month in
the year. The picture is somewhat dis
PEELED when you discover there is nothing
between you and very flexible Slr"
mattress except one thin quilt and Il sheet
The effect is something like getting into
a hammock. Another popularity of the
room is that the partition which separates
you from the adjoining room reaches only
eight or nine feet from the floor, and by
standing on a chair, il inclined, you can
look in on your neighbors We distinctly
heard the voices of two feminines in
liquid Spanish from the other side of tire
partition, but, having An insurance
policy insur1ng against all accidents we
went soundly to sleep without fear.
1t seems to a stranger in Havana thrb
one half Of the population are engaged in
selling lottery tickets. They are offered
you by all Glasses, ages and sexes. They
are hung on hooks in elevators, and the
boy or man in charge of the lift suggests
that you invest. Almost every store can
supply you if you want them. HaH-clad
men, women and children importune you
in;Spanish to help them out. The wonder
is where all these wretched people get the
money to start in business. Probably
they sell on commission, but it must take
q great deal of confidence to trust them
on the streets with so much valuable CD
property.
There is considerable absence of
drunkenness in Havana. / saw but ono
person intoxicated and he was hanging
around the American Consulate asking
assistance. He was ar American am
ashamed to say. His story was that he
had been stranded here and being an
American sailor had been abused by the
Spanish to prove which ne showed mo the
cuts on his head. He apparently deserved
all he got. s-
The cemetery is an interesting place to
visit and one is repaid for the trouble of
a two or three mile drive to see some OF
the fine monuments there, especially one
erected by the city to the memory of
thirty.six frenlen who pefished in q con-
migration several years ago. 1t is OF ltal-
ian marble, grand in proportions and
elaborate in workmanship. Medall1ons
in life size of the dead fremen are cut in
relief on one of the supporting blocks of
marble nine on each SIDE The main
shaft is surmounted with figure of an
angel holding the dead body of a fireman
in it's arms. and on each side and angle is
some beautifully worked design eOnlmem-
Grating the occasion. The whole struc-
ture must be about IS feet high and posi-.
bly, 30 feet square at the base. 1t was
made in Italy and must have cost several
hundred thousands of dollars. The Ha-
vana funerals all occur at 5 o'clock in the
afternoon, and soon after that time you
see professions coming into the cemetery
from all directions. The carriages re-
main at the entrance while the bearers
carry the casket to the grave, followed BY
the mourners l saw several funeral pro-
cessions vending their way slowly up the
hill without hearse or carriages. These
were of families too poor to have any
Thing but plain coffin. This was being
carried on the shoulders Of men and as
the distance is sometimes several miles it
requires quiteI number of able-bodied
men, who relieve one another frequently.
Nearly all the lots in the cemetery are in
closed with iron fences, and almost every
grave mark has wreath of metallic flow
ers attached to it. There is an appearances
of neglect noticeable throughout the
cemetery. but that seems to be character
istic of the people.