The times., 1898-05-15
lfE|!::1j|..Iz'j4Z1|..1!|l|>l|.l f|!::j|..I' y .!|l>

is thus characterized by the man who
marched and fought with him as cor
Z respondent for a considerable time:
lie IS gray little man. His clothes do not fit
Wen, and perhaps, if YOU saw it in photograph,
ms figure might seem old and ordinary Buf the
moment he turns his keen ewes on YOU they
strike like blow from the shoulder You feel
the VIII, the fcarlessness, and the experience Of
! nen that IS IN those eyes. and their owner be
! comes giant before you. He is farmer 10y
birth. the son OF a farmer, with an Anglo-SaXon
tenaclty OF purpose, and a of honor as
clean and true as the blade of his little Santo
Domingo machete.
In dealing with a demoralized officer,
this is Gomez's little way
The Major-But, my general, remember my
services IN the last war. | fought in the Ten
Years War.
Gomez-The more shame YOU This is as if I
said, had money, but spent it; had health,
but / lost it. Do YOU think the war is already
oTcrt II Is not when comes here saying,
i am OF ancient family, am a college profess
sor. or ! am millionaire, that he is respected,
but only when he can say, fight. White black
or yellow, Il fight is mans glory here. We
respect men for service alone and your service
does not entitle you TO respect. Oh, have
heard OF you many times before II is my duty
as commander in chief 10 make YOU fight as
private soldier. Here Col. Bosa take this private
soldier away.
At the time when the material for this
book was collected, more than two years
ago, Gomez had ceased to count on as
slstance of any sort from the United
States. He said of recognition that he had
Z mind TO forbid any mans speaking that
word in camp; that recognition was like
the rama good thing If it came and a
good thing If IL did not come. He had
very strict ideas about the moral respon-
sibllity of Journalism. Mr.. Flint says:
He held the editor of the New York Herald in
TAtIee contempt The fellow (el ito ese) pub
!lshes news IN one column that is favorable 10 ms.
IN another be calls US brigands; can he not take
one side or the other, none at ALL like an hon
est man?''
The author says that in Gomez's camp
you could leave anything, even a purse or
pistol, lying about and nobody would
take H. Tor ii was very well known that
Gomez would shoot any man found steal
ing the smallest thing as quick as he
could make court-martial convict him.
1he old warriors satire and wit Were as
biting as his reprOof. There is an anus
ing account, quoted from Harpers Week
ly, Of the first meeting of the correspond
ent of that paper with the Cuban general
The correspondent said that in order TO
talk with Gomez it was necessary for him
TO crawl under the generals canvas, for
the latter made no attempt to crawl out
and the canvas was not high enough to
stand up under. After a little eonversa-
tion the general told one of his aides TO
take the Harper's Weekly man TO the
deposit for correspondents" which is "a
place where you put either animals or
things" In fact it was as If Gomez had
said: Take him TO the pound
One OF the happiest incidents in the
book is the story of the enlistment of the
youngest Cuban patriot. who was, at the
time OF writing, eleven years old, four
feet tall, and weighed about eighty-five
pounds. This youngster one day espied
a hungry Spanish soldier who had laid
down his rife in order to catch a fat
chicken. The small boy captured the rife,
hid II, and scampered off. The soldier
danced and swore and called on the saints
as long as he dared stay behind his regi-
ment, and then ran after the disappear
ing forces. That night the youthful pa
triot, without saying anything TO the un-
Gle whose home he shared, shouldered the
rife and went TO hunt an insurgent force.
He and the rifle were of about the same
height, but after tramping all night he
brought himself and his Mauser safely
into the insurgent camp, and was subse-
Quently sketched by Mr.. Flint, for they
hadn't the heart to send him home. He
staid and fought with the rest.
In an interview with President Cisne-
ros Ar. Flint inquired If there were any
fear of race war when Cuba should
have gained her independence. His reply
was prompt and to the point:
aNo. decidedly no! Our negroes are naturally
peaceful and orderly. In the last war we LEFT our
families, our wives and our daughters in the for
essts alone with them for weeks at a time, ana
never suffered outrage or annoyance at their
hands Gen. Maceo has negro blood IN hlIn, ana
is the pride Of US all Our army mas scores oi
gallant officers who are mulatt0es. While the
dark race of Cuba produces such men we have
nothing 10 fear.
There IS a significant little incident in
an account of one of the skirmishes.
which has TO DO with the truthfulness OF
the Spaniard. A strip of meat, dropped
by a camp follower lay in the path, and
a staff officer riding beside the American
dismounted and hid the
meat carefully in the long grass, with
the grim comment, "If the Spaniards were
10 see that, they would say that we threw
away all our provisions in our retreat"
One Of the chapters Of the appendix de-
scribes the nature of Mauser rife, and
its effect on the human system. A dia-
gram labeled "a case of perfect recov-
cry shows the figure of a man in whom
a bullet made a track from the middle
Of his back through the throat and chin,
and came out just above the eyes. The
author saw the man who received this
wound, and examined the scars, which
were slight.
The book is full of information and an
ecdote. and though there is no attempt
at fine writing, the style IS clear and busi-
ness-like. Not the least interesting fea-
ture of the work is the preface by the
authors father-in-Iaw, Prof. John Ffske,
who gives a short history of Spanish rule
in Cuba and Of the Cuban wars of indie
pendence.
New York: Lamson. Wolfe & Co.
Washington: All booksellers.)