The herald., 1898-08-21

untouched on account Of the red tape with
which so many imbecile servants of thu
government are bound hand and foot. Majo,
Smith referred in speaking to me to the
grand work of Mrs. Donald Mclean, Mrs
Harry Wallerstein. DR.. Anita MCGEE, Mrs
Manning and the other leaders of the
Daughters of the American Revolution.
| OF General Joe Wheeler, the hotspur OF
thirty-fve years ago, whom I recently met
I cannot say too much in praise. One OF
his lieutenants said he was ''bald-headed
Chevalier Bayard," and another one "he is
a white-haired angel with dash of hell. ~
Old and sick and ailing, with body that is
| Insignificant, the mans soul is so great as
ITO overawe all who come within his infiu-
ence. In command and action the puny
and aged frame vanishes, and in the saddle
he Is simply an invincible intellect which
could conquer the world. Nothing could be
more pathetic than to see him half carried
about, filter. apparently, for the hospital
than the field. and yet with mind alert and
full-powered, planning and designing the
movements and the orders which meant the
security of his men and the success of the
army to which he belonged.
The war has brought into fine relief the
commander-in-chief, General Nelson A.
Miles. He has more than justified the af-
lection with which he is regarded by the
American people. have never heard a
word of complaint or criticism in regard to
him, his methods, his conduct or speech.
Courtly, heroic. kindly and gentle. he is
as lovable type of soldier as the world has
ever seen. He gives his generals the full
lest liberty, and allows them the discretion
Ixr,}tb birh intn 80 to-
defeat He is singularly modest and In
variaby gives all the credit to third par
ties and never refers to his own share in
any action he mentions. remember when
serving on the editorial staff of the Mail
and Express of New York seeing in the den
Of my chief (Robert c. Alexander) life
sized picture Of General Miles going into
action. 1t seemed to me when gazed upon
him hero in the flesh making ready for
Porto Rico that the picture had become
animated and stepped from its frame. He
looks the soldier to perfection and he has
not only a soldiers courage but a soldiers
brain and heart.
Every travelling correspondent and in
spector Of supplies runs across Cubans,
more especially women and children, whsr-
ever she goes. 1 had met many in New
York, especially during the grand Cuban
American womens congresses conducted
by Mrs. James Fairman, Mrs. Donald Nc
Lean and others. They were magnificent
women, beautiful, accomplished and re-
fined and belonged to the middle and upper
classes of the island. II all Cubans were
like them the problem Of the future gov
eminent of the place would be very SIM
pie. In Florida one meets with an entirely
different set. They are drawn chiefly from
the middle and upper half of the lower
classes. But in Cuba itself you meet a
mixture of all three types. The first notice.
able thing about them is their ignorance.
Under Spanish rule education has been so
neglected from Pinar del Rio to Santiago de
Cuba as to be almost as insignificant as 1t
is In Spain.
The Spanish politician instinctively re-
CARDS a school as his worst enemy, and
bein gtoo cowardly to attack it openly he
ruins it by not paying the schooimaster
In Spain it is said that onyl thrity-three per
cent of the people can read and write. Cuba
is not so bad. but from all see and and
investigate. not more than forty per cent
can read and write. A terrible contrast
when compared with our great eastern and
central states where the ratio is about
ninety-five per cent.
spoke to one little woman who was gray
haired and wrinkled, although under 80
years old and who had been a teacher in
village in Pinar del Rio. She was fierce
revolutionist, having lost her father in the
ten years war and two brothers in the
present rebellion. One Of these was pa
triot and a martyr, the other she said was
a renegade and traitor, but to the Span
iards he was a rebel on account of his re-
lationship and was therefore shot down in
cold blood.
She had been a schoolmistress herself d
ridiculous salary of about one hundred
and fifty dollars year. She said the school
house had not been repaired or touched by
the government in the memory of the vii
lage. What little repairs had been made
were the result Of her own labor or the con-
tribution of the villagers. The second year
her salary was cut in half, the third and
ourth years it was not paid at all and she
lived upon the money given by the few peo-
pie in the district who desired 10 have their
children learn to read and write. Yet all
this time taxes were being levied and paid
for the support of the little school and her
salary and for the roads whic hled to 1t,
which in the rainy season were impossible
quagmires, and even for the books and In
struments which the children were sup
posed to. need.
In speaking of loot and pillage she was a
rabid advocate of the doctrine OF spoils.
She said: my fathers home was very
handsomely furnished and what furniture
was not destroyed was stolen by the Roy
alsts and is now being used by them. What
little and my brothers had shared the
same fate. When Spain has been driven
should not be allowed to take my own or
must I still sit homeless and helpless and
see what once belonged to me and stf1l be-
longs to me giving comfort and pleasure to
those who have wrecked my life?
ut is all over our land" she continued,
more than a hundred thousand families
have been robbed in this manner, the men
murdered, the women and children massa-
cred in cold blood or deliberately starved
to death. Their belongings. or what re-
manned of them. have been taken by about
twenty thousand Royalist families who
enjoy them still. Is 1t more than justice
that the survivors of the one hundred
thousand should demand an accounting
from the twenty thousand?"
These Cubans are not unanimous in their
views. Almost every little town and VIII
lage has its own opinion in regard to public