The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-19
\ PEN PICTURE OF HAVANA.
uur CITY FULL OF SCENES OF sun
SHINE AND SORROW.

rf.Tn
,be Pauper and PncificO Amid
so.nes of Understandable sauaIor
and Misery.
r,ron, a staff Correspondent Of the Asso-
ciated Press.
havana. March 14.-skies of turquoise.
.,rsI palms with trunks of silver and
.-,uns of green, many charming looking
A.,r,en and fne-looking men, bands thor
..gblv nelodic, houses whole outer ugli-
.oss hut accents the statue haunted, flow
embossed beauties within, occasional
eoshes of monday heat rendering the
sesla time almost necessity, ozone-laden
morning and evening breezes that make
ore's lungs "a luxury, semi-occasionai
showers with sub tropical down pourings
these are some of the attachments and
attributes that mark Havana as retaining
some of her old-tyne charm.
Narrow ill-paved streets. unsanitary and
foul-smelling garbage, uncleanly alleys
and backyards, lack of modern conven-
fences. a superabundance OF glare sur
felt Of squalor, misery, starvation, disease.
death in countless and appalling forms.
stagnant business, reghant oficialism
crowded hospitals gorged prisons-these.
the seamy side OF the tapestry of life here,
and to the observant the sadness makes
dscord of the joyful notes. A visit to a
relief station makes the laughing crowd
around the band-stand in the Parque Cen
trail a mockery and gay equipage of the
ricn officer or merchant only brings mo
bold relief the mean death mask of the
pauper and the pacifico.
II is a cosmopolitan city in a way, but
while the Latin, the Gallo, the Indian
and the African predominant in numbers.
the Anglo-Saxon holds as usual his share
Of public attention.
The most animated conversation among
the voluble Cubans is hushed into auier
observation if Sigsbee of the engulfed
Maine, comes into view. Sigsbee, aloft.
peasant-faced, kindly-voiced, medium in
stature but erect in carriage keen of eve
ready of tongue. almost debonnair when
off duty, but incisive, vigilant, politely per-
enptory, sure in command, quick in fore
sight when on board; the first man the
stranger wants TO see, and, if so fortu-
nate as to meet him, the last to whom
adieux are made.
Then there is the court of inquiry
Sampson, tall, slightly bent as to shout
ders as he gravely listens to question or
suggestion, with a face marked with
thought, lips shrouded by grey mustache
and beard, courteous, but cold quick to
detect assumption and quicker 10 grasp a
point of moment, a very ideal president
Of court for whose decision it is not
TOO much to say, Christendom waits with
eagerness.
Chadwick, ruddy, semi-portly, genial,
suave, fluent, hearty, with dyes none the
less keen that they grow merry on occa-
sion and lips that can close in lines of
iron, though well acquainted with laughter
Potter, brunette, soldierly, quiet, but
kindly, self-etfacing, but with the weight
OF high intelligence in glance speech, sges-
turei the model of the executive officer,
dplomatist, man of the world.-Marix a
potential of hight value in any delibera-
i've body; looking as if he could address
court or jury TO marked advantage, should
occasion serve, posted in every detail of
ms profession (as, indeed, are all his con-
1erees), man not TO be humbugged and
IN the habit of Weighing even his own
thought before he gives them utterance.
Certainly quintette (Sigsbee always be-
ing included of which the United States
is proud.
Pencil pictures might be made of Lee
that dashing cavalry soldier and unbluffa-
Ole nsul-general-of Elwell, Miss Bar
TONS chief of staff, with the face and form
ol FlckWick and heart as kindly as that
GEAR creature-of Springer, vice-cbnsul,
VINO knows Cuba and its people as he
KNOWS the game of whist-of half dozen
o'ner officials whose names are now al
most household words in the states; but
suIce 1t that all are men TO be admired
Tor strong and manly qualities.
interesting, too, TO Dickens, a Thach-
cry Dumas or a Kipling would be the
pe'ler class of correspondents to whom
havana Is now the habitat of hope-alas
Iof them that it is hope deferred. They
must Join the vast mutitudes who read
,nen dispatches in playing the truly Span
Nh game of set down." Patience is hard
81 mere than in the north, for the islander
~ day-after-to-morroW' person any
now, and the sight of his cool nonchalance
"hle great events are having birth is ag-
eIdVatlng. Those of this dilettanti complex
'OH Vi thought who were in the corridors
VI tne Hotel Inglaterra must have been
T.dIued on the day that the Associated
IlesS correspondent read to group of
He@e"spaper men the bulletin Senate passes
nuE millions defense bill this morning,
uu"Hlhously.' What cheer went up! 1t
| vas startling in lis suddenness, inVigorat-
ing IN its volume News from home. in adj
nauce OF the seni-weekly steamer is al
maSS eagerly desired here and when it
va sucn news there was Misunderstanding
eNl cries of walked up have they? Hurrah
loI congress" If there was an American.
S S or official, native or naturalized, who
r I not rejoice at the news,
"% correspondent did not find him,
Inc fourth estate here is the llvelest
,'e.or observable. Several of the Havana
H"spapers are really enterprising and
,o. an editions the newspapers rush and
~" Vociferous as in the Yankee cities
o., Is lttle amusing, after glancing over
fs,tllAs and pages of governmental mani
i1s'os' pronunciamentos, bandos and the
S ~e, 10 note the brief editorial para
staph which says in effect Same old
ing" '' e
ne political situation, so far as it can
,r earned, has been given from time to
nfl py cable. In this, as in the general
ma beneath the splendor and squalor,
soris running alike the light talk and the
v,s discussion, is that current of
doSe unrest which might, in semi-para-
noo NAL fashion, be described as 'Ex-
b''g the unexpected" What tomorrow,
bril me next stroke of the clock may
kro5 Iorth, no man knows His lack of
f,o.' cage does not impair his powers of