The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-21

steamer brings them; and the instant it's stairs are let down the welcomers swarm on board. -
 And then what a chattering ensues- what tears of joy and hysterlcal em- braces! The men throw their arms | around one another and kiss as' fer Yently as the women-with this dlffer- ence: While the men salute each oth- CT by one resounding smack, delivered square on the moustached mouth, the womn kiss twice, merely touching their lips to the others cheeks--tirst the right and then the left The Cuban kiss" is extremely graceful Ohe female kiss, mean)-When one gets used to 1t; but the neophyte is apt to bungle and collide noses by presenting the wrong cheek first.
 Snugly ensconced under the bird- cage cover of some barque bueno, you find the long ride to shore delightful, in spite of shifting sails and dashing
 spray. Having passed the sentinel lighthouse at the harbors entrance, you glide right under the Moros guns so close to La Punta the point upon
 which it stands that you might easily toss a pebble into it's pink, blue and ca |
 the oldest castle in the place. which lifts it's crumbling walls above a mass
 of coral rock; past the Cabanas, that
 doleful prison of infamous history;
 forts, old and new all bristling with cannon, and long lines of batteries and
 barracks pertaining to the late war.
 How medieval it all appears-the time
 stained battlements and ornate sentry | 1Ns l,Lo1 ,4 .,rr1A tnftI
 esque relics of the military architec-
 ture that prevailed when the Moors and
 Spaniards were fighting in Grenada!
 The Moro, with it's Dahlgren guns peer
 ing through yellow stones, might be
 Malta, broken loose from it's moorings
 in the Mediterranean and f1oated over
 to anchorage in the Caribbean, both
 having been built on a similar plan a
 little more than three centuries ago,
 when Philip II. was king.
 The celebrated harbor is shaped like
 an open hand, it's entrance represent
 ing the wrist, the city spreading out
 like fingers, and the palm broad
 enough to hold the navies of the world.
 Just now the stars and stripes are most
 in evidence among the flags of all na-
 tions.
 A group of American steamers, gov
 ernment transports and rnen-of-war
 surround what is left of the Maine"
 and we passed that spot of saddest
 memories with feeling of satisfac-
 ton that the outrage has been avenged. Evidently the same thought was in the
 minds of our fellow passengers. Said
 one: T wonder when Spain will blow
 up another American vessel?"
 Guess she won't want to try that
 little trick on a Yankee ship again." re-
 marked another.
 The long wharves where you land are faced by the Caballera, an immense
 building, open to the water, with gilt tering zinc roof supporting the entire
 length of clusters of iron pillars. From time immemorial this has been the
 great rendezvous of island trade-the
 Chamber of Commerce, the Bourse of
 Cuba. On the left is the Casa Blanca once popularly supposed to guard the : city-a pleasant little fiction long nursed by the citizens. Farther on is the village of Regla, with it's great } warehouses of stone and corrugated iron for storing sugar; and in front is
 the busy Anduana. or custom house But here is marked change from the drowsy old times of the land wherein } it seemeth always afternoon Now all is hustle, confusion and one hears less of Spanish with it's softly flowing vow els and superlative adjectives, than , blunt, to-the-point American sen . tences. A mighty procession of mules
 horses, ambulances and army wagons
 laden with stores and supplies from the
 tro oprtS ic ncfo foil ,,r
 from the landing; and as their drivers force way through the narrow
 streets-a feat almost as difficult as for the typical camel to go through the
 needles eye--the air is filled with the
 cracking of whips and the special words, without which it is sait that army mules cannot be managed 5 Soldiers-so1diers everywhere! And wearers of Uncle Samuel's livery are : almost as thick as the warriors ot l Spain; at any rate, the former are : more conspicuous, moving briskly about 3 with the confident air of victors. One
 isses the late omnipresent Orden Pub lico and Guardia Civil-the Spanish in.
 fantry who performed police duty ir
 guarding the city, until their deporta-
 tion a few days ago. They were an ad.
 InlrdDle DOuy Ol lllSH to loOh at III lllell l picturesque uniforms of dark blue de = min, with trimmings of red or green
 and their Mauser rifles warranted tt l kill at the distance of a mile and half
 All were of Spanish birth, the pick o } the troops in Cuba; and to be eligible f for service in the Guardia Civil a mar , must have some education and furnish : references of good character.
 l The latter clause is a delicate bit oi
 irony which many poor souls will ap r preciate. They were the alleged pro e tectors of the American consulate a Q the beginning of hostilities and Consul 9 General Lee passed through more per = ills from their bullets than he will prob : ably ever again encounter. The Order . Publico furnished Weyler and Blanct : with local spies in addition to thei l other duties, peering into windows, in f timidating children, servants and wo - men, and reporting scraps of over U heard conversation which crowded th : prisons and sent whole families into ex 1, ile Their reward for these distin g guished services was such as Spaii e usually metes out to her faithful sub < jects. Most of the men had families ir f the mother country, and in spite O |, short pay and long arrearages, they