The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-24
PORTO RICo'S SOCIAL LIFE.
ORR COMING INVASION CALLS UP
SOME RECOLLECTIONs.
Gaycties of the Capital - City and
Country Siaidens-Music and Life
in the Central PIaza and Nearby
Cemetery With Rented Graves.


From the Philadelphia Record.
jacksonville Fla. July 16.-Intense In
terest is already aroused here over the
preparations. now nearly completed, by
the military forces of the United States
for the invasion Of Porto Rico. The Amer
team forces Will be under command Of
Gen Miles, who will be accompanied ny
Gen FItzhugh Lee ana other eAperlencHd
officers. On the stan Of Cen Lee are tne
son of ex-President Harrison and the
nephew OF Vice President Hobart.
In anticipation of the occupation OF the
island the residents here are discussihS
Its physical and social characteristics.
The fact is recalled that Porto Rico is
the fourth island in size ia the West In
dies. II was discovered By Columbus on
his second voyage IN 1888 and was govern
ed IN the early years Of the following cen
fury by Ponce de Leon, famous from MS
search for the tabled fountain OF youth
among the wilds of Florida. The country
Is picturesque and exceptionally well wa
tered by 800 streams, OF which Al are riv-
ers The soil is rich and the yield of su-
gar, tobacco and other products eXtraor-
dinarily large.
Historic and social interests cluster
around San Juan, the capial, and prin-
cipal town, which was founded by Ponce
de Leon In 1911. and is built on an island
named Moro, connected with the main
land by bridges. The harbor is one of
the best in the West Indies, having a
comparatively unobstructeo entrance, ana
even at the wharves a depth of ten to
fifteen feet. The town Of san Juan, with
its district, has a population of about 3D.
900. It figures in history as place of
some military strength, and contains the
palace of the governor general in the Old
fort of Santa Catalina, bishops palace,
Cathedral government arsenal town
To fr faF1T lQi
out, well drained and one Of the most
healthful towns In the West Indies. The
Notifications of San Juan were materially
strengthened during the early months Of
1898, and the harbor Is said to have been
mined.
The social life of the capital presents
some charming characteristics. In the
center of the city is the grand plaza. When
the music begins, at In the evening, out
from their prison dwellings troop the fair
ladies of San Juan Some are blondes,
most are brunette. All, as seen in the
dim light of the fckerins lamps, seem
beautiful. They are bare-headed; all carry
fans, which remind one of the flicker OF
butterflies wings as they nit and start
half opening and shutting, as II about
balancing themselves on a bank of flow
ers.
They wear graceful mantilla, which Of
ten hang across their bare shoulders IN
stead of adjoining their night black tresses.
The ladies flock by themselves mostly, or
II they have male escorts are inVariRoiy
accompanied by a duenna, who was young
so long ago that she has forgotten all
about 1t and keeps shsrDest watch over
her charge. Two hours thus they revel In
the music of the band, and when the mu-
slcians have started Tor their barracks
with that light swinging pace peculiar 20
the Spanish infantry, then the fair senorl-
tas and less attractive duennas return
with in-concealed disappointment to the
eeclusion of their dwellings, While the men
disperss to the cafes TO gossip and smoke.
This the men do every night band concert
or no band concert; but the ladies' do not
emerge again until the next 'retreta,' or,
perchance to go shopping some forenoon
under rigid surveillance.
In the country districts the social regu-
latons are not SO rigid but in the coun-
try districts they viii tell you there are
also more maldens complaining of the
peffldy OF man. II will not do 60 give
Spanish girls the freedom OF American
young ladies, because-weI, because they
have never had #, and might not know
what to do with It when they got it.
The simple mallens of the country region
dance all night TO the harsh music of
great guord rubbed with a stick, to which
penetrating noise which sounds something
like the sharpening of a knife on a stone,
they gracefully glide through the langulo
mazes of the Spanish ''valsas."
They told a pretty story recently about
q girl Of San Juan. the daughter of the
captain general, Pauline Macias, who went
out into the streets Of the capital and
tried to rouse her country men and women
to the defense Of their city This may or
may not have been. true. but If true 1t was
in coutravention OF the Spanish code OF
conventionalIties. Rarely does a Castilan
Joan dare venture out to lead Spanish
troops, either to defense or to charge, for
no matter how much her service might
be valued, her act would surely be mis-
construed.
But no matter, whatever the future may
bring Porto Rico and the women of San
Juan, al present thsy are hedged about
by the strongest chains OF custom They
do not often venture out of doors unattend-
ed, and like the Moorish women, they WIS.,
Il oftener the cemetery than the picnic
ground.
Under the seaward side wall of the for
tifications with massive walls rising above
1t on the south. and the ocean surges
laundering 10 the northwsrd, lies the great
Campo Santo'' OF San Juan. A sentry tur-
ret guards the cemetery gate, beyond
which, disturbed by the roar neither of
waves nor artillery, many thousands for
rner residents OF San Juan sleep their last
sleep. This spot Is not large, but owing 70
the peculiar methods Of interment every
inch of space Is occupied, not only once,
but many times over.
In the first place, the graves dug in the
level are rented only for a term Of years.
AT the expiration OF the lease, out go what
remains Of the occupant of any grave, un-
less his or her friends put up the need
full for n rene wal.
What becomes OF the evicted dead? Come
over TO the angles of the walls and there
you will find piled in every corner heaps
of moldering bones, mingled with tattered
grave clothes, long black tresses and grin
ming, CHASTITY skulls.
These sights are not calculated 10 inspire
cheerful thoughts nor to impress one with
the idea that Spaniards and Spanish de-
seconded colonists are over careful of their
departed friends remains.
Against the frownin8 fortress walls are
the columbariae--to speak literally, the
pigeon holes--into which the weather. peo-
pie are thrust feet foremost, after they
have given up the ghost. The columbarium
IS long and deep and narrow like an old
fashioned brick oven, with a marble slab
for a door, which after tho body is in