Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-10-17

"at your service, sir" but this is only an
exaggerated form of compliment. and
means no more than do these Latin-Ameri-
can compliments. Even to borrow Gu
When he finds you really want the article,
if only for a canter of few hundred
yards almost invariably he viii begin TO
make excuses. The horse Is lame, the sad
die is poor, the animal is not used to a
strange rider, or something of that kind.
Among themselves the Cubans are very
Jealous of their horses, and such qlarre.s
were usually over the ownership OF a
horse. Notwithstanding their pride in The
animal, they take little care of 1t, and 1t
is a rare thing to find Cuban horse with
out a sore back. In the early days: when
brigandage flourished, bandit chief, such
as Manuel Garcia, would have a dozen
fire horses hidden in different parts of the
country. His natural enemies the civil
guards. were also well known. The brig
ands never risked mourning the enmity or
the country people by levying on them for
horsefiesh- The rich sugar planters paid
this tribute. In the interior of the island.
especially in Camaguey, there are. or
were, some fine ranches, and these sup
horses. 1t is here that is still to be seen
the old-fashioned Cuban vehicle known as
the volante. The volante disappeared from
the streets of Havana years ago, but in
the country. where the roads are no more
than trails, it Is still used extensively by
the better class of people. The guarijoS
OF peasant, who can not afford a volante,
at least manage to own horse. and the
sturdy little animals carry double, the
peasant woman sitting in front of her
husband on the foreshoulders.
Some Rural Customs.
In the rural districts it is still possible,
or was possible before the war, to see
some of the old customs in their primi-
tive simplicity. The rural dance was one
OF them. 1t differed somewhat from the
60, nr I'll AaN-
and holidays were usually celebrated by
variety of open air dances. One OF these
was a kind Of an impromptu waltz: in
which everybody was expected to Join.
little change. Weddings and funerals
were the occasions for the celebrations,
however, funerals were more simple than
in the cities. 1t Is within the memory of
many people still living when the govern
ment in Havana, or the captain general.
which was the same thing, promulgated
a decree regulating the degree to which
mourning should be permitted for the dead.
Among other things. the decree prohibited
the public exposure of cadavers, At that
time it was the custom to keep the win
dows of the house in which a death had
occurred closed for six months. Before the
funeral the catafalque was erected in the
house with elaborate symbols of mourn
ing. The lamentations of the women were
expected to be piercing and continuous
Their cries Were supposed to be heard for
blocks away, and to be repeated at the
arrival of any sympathizing friend or rela-
tive. Failure to mourn with sufficient
vociferation was supposed to show a lack
black was also required to be worn by
the relatives of whatever age or sex. Tnis
custom has not entirely disappeared. Dur
ing the last two or three years every day
hundreds of women and little children
could be seen daily in Havana, clad in
deep black. These We're the symbols of
losses of relatives in the revolution. Some
were Spanish women, wives, mothers and
sisters of officers who had died or been
killed in the futile attempt to Put down the
revolution. The majority, however. were
Cuban women who mourned for those
fallen in the ranks in the insurrection.