The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-06
WITH CLARA BARTON IN CUBA

Port by Rail.
 Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier.)
 Cienfuegos, May 25.--OVer seven hun dred hungry, homeless and helpless little ones gathered into permanent homes and rescued from beggary, is the Red Cross record of the last eight days. Within the month, two thousand more will be equally well provided for; and if the good work keeps on through the summer-that is, if the friends at home continue to uphold it by their generous contributions-the day is not far distant when of the fifteen thousand parentless and destitute children left by the war in Cuba, not one will roam the streets un- cared for.
 Let me give you partial account of the eventful week. From Guines, near the northern coast, we made our way by rail to the interior town of Madruga, stopping at many stations en route, and everywhere hailed with demonstrations of joy. Miss Bartons good work of last year is gratefully remembered and the people welcome her as an angel from heaven. Word has flown before that she is coming, and wherever the train stops CTOWu5 are WdlllHS, Ilell, WUlleu anu children invade the car, and often with streaming tears pour their tales of woe into her sympathizing ears. The other day, at a desolate junction where only two straw-thatched huts gave sign of human habitation, a whole family fell upon and embraced her-or rather the remnant of what was once a numerous household. Miss Barton was acquaint- ed with this family before the blockade, when the head of it counted thirty-sev- en sons, daughters and grand children. Now only sixteen remain in the land of the living, the rest having died of "the misery" induced by hunger; and how the rest managed to sustain life, only He who feeds the ravens knows. With tears rolling down his face the old man related how he had buried his loved ones, one by one, along the railroad track, where he has some slight employ ment as a switchman.
 Sad as these are, there are lights as well as shadows in the picture. Inci- dents are common like that of the Yan- kee lirle-man, who, with smutty face and coil of wire over his shoulder, rushed through the moving train to grasp Miss Barton's hand and tell her, with overfiowing eyes, that twice she had saved his life-irst in field hospit al of our civil war, thirty years ago, and again at Santiago; and of the Gu ban telegraph operator who dared not send private Red Cross message over the railway wire but managed some- how to dispatch it from an inland sta- ton, declaring that he would walk for ty miles any day to serve Clara Bar ton" Whenever we change cars-and that happens very frequently on these roads which were originally constructed to accommodate the sugar. -planters--it is speedily whispered through the train that the Red Cross president is on board; and then young and old natives and foreigners, press to greet the plain Addressed and retiring little old woman who is the heart and soul of this great work, fruits and flowers from unknown donors find their way to her seat, and every step of the journey is continu- ~ous ovation.
 At Madruga station an enormous crowd was waiting, headed, as usual, by the alcalde the judge and other digni- taries of the town. Then, after the in- evitable hand-shaking and speech making, escorted by the entire popula- ton, we visited the points of interest" including the pitiful apology for an or phanage, with it's hundred wretched waifs, and the pleasant sasa which the good citizens had set apart for our resi- dence while in the city. At dark the procession rounded up at the hotel door, where dinner awaited our weary party; but the much-needed meal had to wait yet longer while these kindly verbose people relieved themselves of more congratulatory speeches. Then, after another seance at hand-shaking, like unto a Washington presidential re- ception, the better part of the throng dispersed to their homes--al but the rabbIe, black and white, several hun dred strong numerically and of uncom- putable strength olfactorily, who. hav- ing no homes and nowhere in particular to go, constituted themselves our per- petual guard of honor. With all their rags and infirmities they swarmed the hotel doors and windows, watching eve ry movement with curious eyes; they 1 followed us later to headquarters and camped round about, and continued to stick closer than the tropical brother till the very last minute of our stay.
 Quaint old Madruga reminds one of Santiago it's architecture being of the same antique pattern brought from Spain, at an early day, and its narrow streets rambling. hap-hazard, up hill | and down Its low casas were once 1 painted in all the colors of the rain | bow, sky blues and rose-pinks predomi | mating, but now mostly melowed by | time to indistingushable tints Its cen tral plaza is queerly elevated, whether | on natural or artificial hill, or because | the adjacent streets have been cut l down. do not know. At any rate the | flower-filled space in the center of tho town, enclosed within a bright-blue | wall and environed by the most preten- tious edifices of church and state, is | reached by four flights of bue-painted | steps, which call to mind the Navajo | pueblo in Arizona, where the Indians climb up seven ladders and down seven | ladders whenever they wish to take stroll in the plaza. Being beyond the usual route of Cuban travel, the outer world has heard little of Madruga, not withstanding it's extraordinary charms of quaintness and genial climate, it's g- ant cdiba trees and Indian-laurel groves and it's fine mineral springs, which the -,oo,,Jo of Inc repiOn heliaVe to he a l