The times., 1898-09-11
IN 4 SANTIAGO PALACE
Fannie Brigham Ward Goes to
Housekeeping.
DIR. STERNBERG'S NURSES

DIR. STERNBERG'S NURSES
They Are Landed In Cube Without n
Place TO Lny Their Heads or Eat,
and CIarn Rarton Goes to Their
Mansion Under Many. Difficulties.
Santiago de Cuba, Aug. lS.-When Sur
geon General Sternberg's female immunes
arrived in Santiago, a month after the
battle, no provision had been made for
them. They had waited two days on
| board the Olivette in the harbor, when
Gen. Wood, military governor of the city,
came to Miss Barton and said:
For Gods sake. tell me what to do
with Sternberg's nurses. There is enough
work for them in the hospital, but where
can they eat and sleep? They can't re-
main on the Olivette, for she goes to sea
tomorrow; nor can they stay every hour
of the twenty-four with the men in the
hospital. There are some young ladies
from good families among them, and they
must have suitable protection when not
ON duty"
Ii was really not Miss Barton's bust
ness, in the mission OF Cuban relief on
which our good President had sent her,
but since the surgeon general had neg
lected this branch of his own department
she promptly shouIdered the burden.
Send the nurses ashore said she.
"They can go to work at once In the hos
pital, and before night a place shall be
provided for them
An empty house was Immediately Sc
cured, furniture rented, necessary crock
cry and cooking utensils purchased and a
couple OF Cuban negresses engaged TO do
the work. But who could spare time to
superintend the thing? One glimpse OF
the slip-shod servants, who understood
no word of English showed the necessity
of a head. The immune ladies had come
to nurse not to housekeep. and every
member of the Red Cross party was al
ready overworked TO the limit of endur-
ance. At this juncture your correspon-
dent, who is merely visitor In Santi-
ago, offered her services as matron pro
tenn for the nurses home. Why, could
yOuE NOuiu yOus Salu MISS
with sigh Of relief
Il can and / WILL" was the answer.
Show me the house; send me brooms,
mops, soap servants and rations; and
you may tell the ladies that dinner viii be
waiting for them at p m And so I as
sumed my inglorious role among the
workers In Cuba.
81 dreamt I dwelt In marble halls"-a
dream came true. Ours is a big bare
palace, the once splendid home of some
proud grandee, but ike its owner, now
decidedly down at the heel It's high
ceilinged rooms, mostly without parti-
tions and partially divided with lofty
arches, present an imposing Vista of mag
nificent distances, courtyartis and corri-
dors. Double doors OF stained glass, ex-
tending half way up, afford some privacy
to the bedrooms while admitting free
circulation of air. The beautiful floors
are of white and colored marbles, laid in
patterns, like patchwork quilt walls
frescoed and painted in panels, the raft
ers hidden by white canvas stretched taut
overhead; and tie great windows with
out glass. and open from floor to ceiling
are furnished with iron bars outside and
latticed shutters within. Nothing can be
more picturesque than the ancient casas
of Santlago-all succeed and painted in
time e-mellowed tints of rose. pink, sky
blue, pea green, and yellow; their pro-
jecting roofs of red tiles covered with
the moss of centuries, their quaint veran-
das. barred windows and enormous doors
But every one of them is typical Cas-
| titan in character--a brave and beauti-
full front, dwindling unparalleled poverty
and meanness behind the outward show
ing. Like other palaces of the old regime,
ours was extremely dirty. infested with
yermin and void of every convenience.
Soap. water and eternal vigilance have
somewhat modified the aforementioned
evils and necessity mothers many make
shifts In the latter time. The hired fur
niture, for which alone we pay s25 per
month (the rent of the empty house is $50,
American gold), consists of a hundred
chairs, rnarble-topped stand and cane
couch in the parlor, rickety sideboard
and dining table, two useless kerosene
| lamps. and in each sleeping apartment a
wardrobe dresser and bare iron bedstead,
without mattresses or covering. Fifty
United States dollars bought very linn
tied supply of pots, pans and dishes, and
most of those articles are lacking which
are considered indispensable in every
Northern kitchen Hence the mother of
invention turns every emptied tin can in
to service, its edges neatly hammered
with stone. Every crate, box and meal
sack is eagerly seized upon and devoted
to some important use, and a lard pail
is regarded as little short of boon from
heaven.
Have we occasion for a bread-board and
rolling-pin? The clean bottom of a dish
pan serves the former purpose while a
glass bottle does excellent duty in the
latter capacity. Every trunk masque-
rades as a couch or table; wardrobe
is pantry. cupboard and locker; the sheets
of an army cot answer for tablecloth,
and cambria petite has been con-
verted into napkins. To be sure, we
might dispense with such iuxuries as the
two last-named but when the wearied
nurses return at night aching IN every
fiber from a long days toll their refuge
should bear the nearest possible resem-
blance to q real home. If the reader
imagines that under these conditions the
aouse-mother's task is an easy one, let
him or her come and Try il awhilel We
are subssting upon army retions, eked
out of the Red Cross supplies-such as
beans bacon, hardtack corn meal tin-
ned beef and coffee-p.entiful and good in
quality. The daily menu-bacon, fried
mush and coffee for breakfast: timed
beef beans and hardtack for dinner-will
sustain life indefinitely, and serves ex-
cellently well even every day for a week
But eternal sunshine grows monotonous
in time, and the best things pail when
too often repeated.