The herald., 1898-03-27
HAVANA, THE CITY OF EVIL
Men Experienced in the Vicious Ceners Of the Universe
Declare the Cuban Capitol Has No Equal

| HAVANA, March 1S.-(Special Corre-
spondence to The Herald.) city where
the keeping of Sunday as Englishmen and
Americans keep it Is unknown; a city in
which women cannot move abroad alone at
any time of the day without danger of in
suit; a city whose chief amusements are
bullfghting and cockfghting; where the
cigar and cigarette are smoked eternally
and the cafe and music hall are the chief
delights of the populace. This is Havana
today. These are features of the daily life
of the city that have caused men expert
enced in evil things to declare that Havana
is the wickedest place In the world. Vice
flourishes there as 1t does in few other
cities 1t is about the only thing.that the
citizens seem to care to see flourish.
There never was a more indolent and
careless people as regards improvements
and moral well-being. Everything helps
along this condition. Fresh arrivals from
Spain bring with them a little CLEAN of
hope, but it is never long lived. Both the
climate and environment are against it. If
one did not kill moral energy the other cer-
tainly would.
The new arrival perhaps makes feeble
attempt to buffet the tide, but the chances
are all in favor of his going with it, and in
ninety y-nine cases out of a hundred little
stay In Cuba finds him a warm supporter
Of the unregenerate doings that find favor
there.
Dances are given in the theaters such as
would speedily bring down upon the house
q squad of police were the same thing at
tempted in America. The houses in many
quarters reek with immortality. While So
;o;t or iS allowed q
houses are open abodes of vice that faunts
itself in the faces of pasers-by in all stages
OF undress.
If any voice is lifted in protest it must
be very weak one, for no one is ever
heard lamenting over the degraded state of
large portion of Havana's people. 1t is
not at all improbable that the innocent
stranger will find that he has taken up his
abode in a house of ill-fame. The distinc-
ton between a dissolute and an honest
woman is so fine that few trouble to bother
about it, and any suggestion on the sub
ject would be received with ridicule. Why
should any one trouble about the presence
of a so-called dissolute woman in a house
in q city where the sacred ordinance of
marriage is regarded so lightly that 1t is
most frequently ignored altogether, ex-
cept by those who can AFFORD the luxury,
and care to devote the time necessary to
the performance of the ceremony.
Sunday is the great gala day of the week
in Havana. Everything is going full blaze,
from the lowest dive to the swellest cafe.
The streets are crowded. The women in
happier times than these were conspicuous,
though none went about unescorted, unless
reckless of consequences. Truth compels
the statement that as rule, whatever
physical beauty the Cuban women have
comprises their greatest charm They are
unintereting in conversation, for the rea-
son, mainly, that they do not know any
| thing. They are kept almost like prisoners
during their girlhood and young woman
hood, encouraged in Incidence, and have
as little to talk about as they have to do.
They learn only to play on the tin piano
that can be heard jangling at most any
hour of the day in Cuban house-for
pianos are robbed of their character by
the climate here just as much as men
and they go through the ordinary studies
of girlhood. and then they come Co an in
tellectual Nirvana. They seem to be very
pious and take every opportunity to go to