Omaha daily bee., 1899-02-07
4 TROPICAL TWELFTH NIGHT.
How the Closing Holiday 90 the cuban
Fiesta Was Celebrated,

ftcSta WAS tetehrhNfNs
Twelfth Night. or the Day Of the Kings
as they call it in Havana, was the closing
holiday OF the great Cuban Fiesta de Ia In
dependencia on that day, relates cor
respondent OF Golfers Weekly, the little
children of Havana. who have never heard
OF Santa Claus and his reindeer we're made
happy by finding their hemp -soled slippers
filled with sweetmeats and such wonderful
tritles as can only be brought by the Three
Wise Kings from the east on their annual
trip to the West Indies.
For us older children Uncle Sam, in an ac>
cess of newly acquired parental affection,
provided such adult entertainments as mill
tary base ball games and regatta Of naval
cutters and of men of wars crews In lIas
vana harbor past the spoil-sport skeleton OF
the battleship Maine. At night the cafes
were allowed to keep open one hour longer;
an American band played Dixie In the
Central Plaza; at the Sport club, the former
Cercle Militar Of the Spanish officers the
ieunesse doree of Havana, was to give a
ball In brief, our Independence festival
ended in a blaze of glory and everybody
was satisfied, excepting only provost mar
shals and possibly that old irreconciliable,
General Gomez who has ordered his troops
to remain under arms until the real inde-
dependence of Cuba as he chooses TO style
1t. shall have been accomplished
To tell the truth, some of us were grow
ing bit weary of the long g-continued patri-
otic celebration. with its everlasting caval-
cades by day and no less incessant tom-tom
dances by night. 1t was like the continuous
performance of a certain popular puppet
show on the Plaza de Monserrate, where
craven Spanish marionettes are thumped
on the head by valorous insurrecto puppets
at every hour of the night and day. When
I first passed the place l found the show in
tensely amusing and fingered long enough
to see several diminutive captain generals
strung up to equally diminutive guasima
trees by fierce 'mambi'' mankins. After
the fourth or fifth night the thing began
to wear on my nerves and now 1 cannot
cross the plaza and hear the barbaric janglt
of the showmans music without a shudder
of disgust.
It was a diplomatic masterstroke on the
part of our authorities to let the fiesta end
with a general American celebration of the
former Spanish holiday of FL Dos de Reyes
"At all events" say the Cubans, 1--WE
shall not be deprived of our holidays" and
when Captain Sigsbee caused invitations to
be sent to the prominent members OF
Havana society to view the American re-
gatta in the harbor from his ship, they came
to the Texas in such numbers that the crew
had to take to the upper structure.
or all the celebrations of Twelfth night
that it has been my fortune to take part in
this was the most outlandiSh-and the most
enjoyable. AS we mounted the gangplank
of the battle e-scarred Texas, now brilliant
in new coat of white paint, we were re-
ceived by Captain Sigsbee, who stood fac
ing the wreck of the Maine. Around him
Were his officers, in the white uniforms fol
it was as hot as any Fourth of July and
the awning over the after deck made it hot.
ter for those who stood beneath over the
gangplank came star bespangled Cuban of
ficers, with their ladies in the demi-toilette
of the West Indies, Chinese consuls, foreign
naval officers from the French and German
war ships in the harbor, and no end of Amer
lean officers, both naval and military. A
band played, punch was served and couples
seemingly impervious to the heat danced or
the promenade deck. There was a queel
mixture of languages as the couples swept
by, and everybody was interested in every
| thing except the boat races they had come
to see. The crew in the rigging above made
UP for this, and when Texas boat won one
of the races there arose a great shout from
the rigging, intermingled with weird toot.
ing from the steam whistle. Even the
Chinese consul realized that something hat
happened, and hastened to the wrong side
of the ship to gaze anxiously over the water.
with a huge telescope capped to his eye
Perhaps he remembered the Maine.
In the meanwhile foreign naval officers
| were making funny little bows to Captain
| Sigsbee with murmured congratulations
| In return he toasted their emperors ant
presidents with a glass of red punch tina
| was brought him for the purpose. The for
eign officers responded with toast to th
American navy Then, having reached th
zenith of popularity, they bowed yer.
| formal farewell and, descending the gang
plank, settled down in the gorgeously col
ored sternsheets of their captains gigs an
we're off, with sixteen oars flashing upwar,
as salute to Captain Sigsbee and the Amer
| ican navy.
1t was the beginning of the end, for dusl
soon fell with tropical abruptness. Witt
the night the great fortnight's fiesta cam
to close.