The record-union., 1898-03-20

ments of the Insurgents.
! HAVANA, March 14-From a staff
! correspondent of the Associated Press }
Skies of turquoise; royal palms with
trunks of silver and crowns of green:
many charming looking women and
fine looking men; bands thoroughly
melodic; houses whose outer ugliness
but accents the statue haunted, flower
embossed beauties within; occasional
| ftashes of monday heat rendering the
siesta time almost a necessity: ozone
laden morning ana evening breezes that
make ones lungs a luxury: semi-oc-
casional showers with sub-tropical
doWnpQurings-thes are some of the
attachments 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 backyards; lack of modern
| conVenienceS; a superabundance or
! glare; surfeit of squalor, misery.
starvation, disc ase, death in countless
and appalling forms; stagnant busi-
0ess Iegnant officialism, crowded hos,
pitaIs, sorged prisons-these, the seamy
side Of the tapestry OF life here. and TO
I the observant the sadness makes dis
/ cord of the joyful notes.
visit to relief station makes the
/ laughing crowd around the band stand
in the "Parque Central mockery,
and the gay eQuippage of the rich OIL
i Ger or merchant only brings into bold
relief the mean death mask of the pau
! per and the paClfico
/ it IS q cosmopolitan city in a way,
! but While the Latin. the Gallic, the IN
! dian and the African predominate in
/ numbers, the Anglo-Saxon holds as
4 usual, his share of public attention.
! The most animated conversation
among the voluble Cubans is hushed
/ into quiet observation if Sigsbee of the
engulfed Maine comes into view. Sies-
/ bee, alert, pleasant-faced, kindly-voic-
ed medium in stature, but erect in car
/ riage, keen of eye. ready Of tongue al
/ most debonnair when off duty, but in
cisive, vigilant, politely peremptory,
sure in command, quick in foresight
I when on board-the first man the
I stranger wants to see. and, if so fortu-
nate as toameet him. the last to whom
adieux are made.
! Then there is the court of inquiry
/ Sampson. tall, slightly bent as to shoul-
! ders, as he gravely listens to question
/ or suggestion, with face marked with
! thought. firm lips, shrouded by gray
/ mustache and beard courteous. but
! cold, quick to detect assumption, and
/ quicker to grasp a point of moment.
very ideal President of a court for
I whose decision, it is not too much to
! say, Christendom waits with eaeerness; :;
! Chadwick, ruddy, semi-portly, genial
/ suaVe fluent, hearty with eyes none
+ the less keen that they grow merry on
/ occasion, and lips that can close in
/ lines of iron. though well acquainted
with laughter; Potter, brunette. SOL
dierly. quiet but kindly, self-effacing
/ but with the weight of high intelh gence
I in glance, speech, gesture, the model
! of the executive officer. diplomatist
man of the world; Mark. a potential of
high value in any deliberative body
] looking as il he could address court
or iaiy to marked advantage should
occasion serve, posted in every detail
! of his profession (as indeed are all his
! conferees). a man not to be humbug-
/ ged, and in the habit of weighing even
1 his own thoughts before he gives them
! utterance. Certainly a quintet (Sigs-
/ bee always being included) of which the
! United states is proud
Pencil pictures might be made of Lee
that dashing cavalry soldier and I'M
| bIuffable Consul General; of ElweI
Miss Barton's chief of staff, with the
+ face and form of Pickwick and heart
as kindly as that dear creature: of
] Springer, Vice-Consul, who knows Gu
I ba and its people as he knows the game
of whist; of half d dozen other officials
4 whose names are now almost house
hold words in the States but suffice it
! that all are men to be admired for
strong and manly qualities.
/ Interesting, too to Dickens, a
/ Thackeray. a Dumas or a Kipling,
! would he the better class of CORE
1 spondents to whom Havana is now the
/ habitat Of hope-alas for them that it
is hope deferred. They must join the
vast multitudes who read their dis
patches in playing the truly Spanish
game of set down" Patience is hard
er mere than in the North, for the
( islander is a day after tomorrow
/ person anyhow, and the sight of his
cool nonchalance while great events are
having birth is aggravating.
Those of this diiettanti complexion of
thought who were in the corridors of
the Hotel Inglaterra must have been
startled on the day that the Associated
Press correspondent read to a group or
newspaper men the bulletin, Senate
passes fifty millions defense bill t;.is
morning, unanimously" What a cheer
went up. It was startling in it's sud-
denness. invigorating in its volume.
News from home, in advance Of the
semi-weekIy steamer. is always eagerly
desired here, and when it was such
news there was Misunderstanding and cries
of Walked up. have they? Hurrah ios
/ Congress" If there was an American,
civil or official, native or naturalized,
who did net rejoice at the news, tie
correspondent did not find him
The Fourth Estate here is the i've
liest factor observable. Several Of the
Havana newspapers are really enter
prising. and for all editions the news
papers rush and grow vociferous IS in
the Yankee cities. 1t is a little 1nlus-
ing, after glancing over columns and
pages of governmental manifestos. pro-
nunciamentos, bandos and the like &c
note the brief editorial paragraph which