The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-03-19
SOUALOR MOCKS GAIETY
LIFE \ VAGUE UNREST AWAIT
ING THE CRISIS.
AMERICAS SPLENDID REPRESENTATION
Intelligence of Movements Of insurgents
Meagre--Spanish Soldiery Behind Six
Months in Pay--lnsurgents Reported
Wei Clad, Fed and Armed.

SOCitleu ITcSS)
Havana, March 14-Slies of turquoise,
royal palms with trunks of silver and
crowns of green, many charming looking
women and fine loking memo, bands
| thoroughly melOdic, houses whose outer
ugliness but accents the statue haunted.
flower embossed beauties within, occa-
sional flashes of MONDAY heat rendering
the siesta time almost Il necessity, ozone
laden morning and evening breezes that
make ones lungs a luxury, semi-occa-
| sonal showers with sub-tropical down
pouringS-these are some of the attach
ments and attributes that mark Havana.
! as retaining some of her old-time charm.
| Narrow. ill-paved streets, unsanitary
and foul-smelling garbage, uncleanly
alleys and back yards, lack of modern
convcniences misery, starvation, dis
ease, death in countless and appalling
forms, stagnant business, regnant Off
cialism, crowded hospitals, gorged pris-
ons-these, the seamy sides of the tapes
try of life here and to the observant
the sadness makes discord of the joyful
notes. A visit to a relief station makes
the laughing crowd around the band
stand in the "Parque Central a mock
cry and the gay equipage of the rich
officer or merchant only brings into bold
relief the mean death cask of the pau
per and the paciiico.
| 1t is u cosmopolitan city in Il way. bur
while the Latin, the Gallo, the Indian
| and the African predominant in num-
| bers, the Anglo-SaXon holds, as usual.
his share of public attention. The most
animated conversation among the yOlu
| Bile Cubans is hushed into quiet OBJ
seryation if Sigsbee, of the engulfed
Maine. comes into view. Sigsbee, alert
pleasant-faced, kindly voiced, medium
| in statue but erect in carriage, keen of
eye, ready of tongue, almost debonnair
when off duty but incisive, yigilant, po-
| litely peremptory, sure in command.
| quick in foresight, when on board; the
| first man the stranger wants to see and.
| if SO fortunate as to meet him, the last
TO whom adieus are made.
Then there is the Court of Inquiry
| Sampson, tall, slightly bent as to should
erS as he gravely listens to question or
| suggestion. with face marked with
! thought, firm lips, shrouded by grey
lmustache and beard, courteous but cold.
quick to detect assumption and quicker
to grasp a point OF moment, a very ideal
president of a court for whose decision,
it is not too much to say, Christendom
waits with agerness-Chadwick rudy,
semi-portly, genial, suaye, fluent, hearty,
with eyes none the less keen that they
grow merry ON occasion and lips that
can close in lines of iron though, we'll
acquainted with laughter-Potter, bru-
nette, soldierly, quiet but kindly, self
effacing but with the weight of high in
telligence in glance, speech, gesture; the
model of the executive officer, diploma
fist. man Of the world-Marix, a poten-
| tial of high value in any deliberative
body; looking as if he could address
court and jury to marked advantage
| should occasion serve, posted in every
detail of his profession las indeed are
all his cOnferees), a man not to be hum
| plugged and in the habit of weighing
even his own thoughts before he gives
them utterance. Certainly a quintette
(.,lgsbee always being included Of which
the United States is proud.
| Pencil picture might be made of Lee
that dashing cavalry soldier and I'M
bluffa.ble consul-general-of Elwell, Miss
Barton's chief of staff, with the face
and form of Pickwick and a heart as
kindly as that dear creature-0f Sprin-
ger, vice-consul, who knows Cuba and
its people as he knows the game of
whist-of half dozen other officials
whose names are now almost house
hold words in the States; but suffice il
that all are men to be admired for
strong and manly qualities
Interesting too, to a Dickens, a Thack-
cry, a Dumas or a Kipling would be the
better class of correspondents to whom
Havana is now the habitat of hope
| alas for them that it is hope deferred.
They must join the vast mutitudes who
| read their dispatches in playing the
| truly Spanish game of "set down." Pa
| thence is harder -lere than in the North
| for the Islander is a NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
row. person anyhow and the sight of
| his cool nonchalance while great events
are having birth is aggravating. Those
OF this dilettanti complexion of thought
| who were in the corridors of the Hotel
| lnglaterra must have been startled on
the day that the Associated Press CORE
spondent read to a group of newspaper
men the bulletin, Senate" passes fifty
millions defense bill this morning, unani-
| mously. What n cheer went up lit
was startling in its suddenness, invigo-
rating in its volume. News from home,
in advance of the semi-weekly steamer
| is always eagerly desired here and when
| it was such news there was hand shaking
and cries of Walked up have they?
| Hurrah for Congress- If there was
an American, civil or official, native or
lnaturalized, who did not rejoice at the
news, the correspondent did not find
/, him.
| The fourth-estate here is the liyeliest
factor observable. Several of the Hava-
ma newspapers are really enterprising
and for all editions the newspapers rush
| and grow yociferous as in the Yankee
cities. 1t is a little amusing, after
glancing over columns and pages of gov
ernmental manifestos, pronunciamentos,
bandos and the like, to note the brief
editorial paragraph which says in eff
feet "same old thing Words are they,
s;gnifying nothing" The political sit
uation, so for as il can be learned, has