The Republican journal., 1899-05-18
alton strong within him for So called

|
seen lounging around the railway stations,
most of them wearing the light cotton
uniform and turned up in front straw hats
that distinguish the Cuban soldier.
"Othello's occupations gomez and he
handles his beloved Remington or Mauser
probably stolen from some dead Spaniard
as if longing for another job of the same
nature. Each station is also the residence
of its "Jefe," and affords glimpses of
family life to the passing understanding
chairs and sewing machines and beruff1ed
beds, and senoritas idling behind the win
dow bars. Another odd thing is that the
shabby little depots are provided with the
low, swinging doors of stained glass, set
in patch work patterns, which form such
a distinctive and highly ornamental feat
ure of Cuban easas of the better class
beautiful to look at, but much too frail,
one would think, for every day hard usage
in public places.
Catalina shows the ravages of war more
plainly than the larger cities, having had,
until now, no outside assistance. 1t is
| typical interior town, and one of the
cleanest | ever saw. Its low houses of
unplaned boards, set close together in
Struggling rows, are whitewashed inside
and out, and each is faced by a rude
veranda. The streets with grass and
weeds growing thickly among the stones,
| ha oil ;Io
The verandas come up even with the
bitches, and each house d oor is reached
by large, fiat stone, or plank, which an
swers to the draw bridge across moat.
Streets and verandas are swept scrupul-
ously clean, though chickens wander in and
out at will, and occasionally fat black
mother pig leads her interesting family
across the bridge to pay a social visit.
The terra Gotta colored earth is a brighter
red than even the ''sacred soir' of Vir-
nigga, and the empty, grass grown streets
somehow remind one of down at heel old
Alexandria, near Washington, D. c.
Three years ago Catalina had something
over 5000 inhabitants, and to-day has
barely l,S00. This calculation does not
include the reconcentrado influx, but
reckons only the normal population.
Where are the rest, do you ask? Gone to
glory, my friend by the slow but sure
route of starvation, assisted for time by
smallpox During the latter scourge
the authorities thought to stay its ravages
by compulsory incubation, with the re
suits that hundreds of the poor creatures
died of it, being too feeble to endure
vaccination.
The quaint old village church, with it's
stone stairs outside leading up to a di-
lapidated tower full of rusty bells, is in a
more deplorable state than most of its
neighbors, having longer stabbed the
Spanish horses. The interior is total
wreck, floors entirely gone and affairs
broken into kindling- wood. OF all its
sacred belongings but one thing is left--a
painting of the Virgin and Child, placed
too high upon the wall to be easily
reached; and as we entered the dreary
ruin, a ray of sunlight from the open door
illumined the infant Christ as with halo
an omen, let us hope, of blessings to
come. From among the debris Of human
bones, bits of harness and broken horse
shoes scattered under foot, l picked up a
skull-evidently that of a half grown
youth, one side gone, cut smoothly off by
a sabre OF machete stroke.
Later we walked down the weedy road
to the Campo Santo, at the edge of the
village, 1t is a tiny Gods acre, with
walls of plastered stone and a larger and
later annex fenced with split palm trunks
set upright in the red earth row of
black vultures perched above the arched
gateway, gazed at US with speculative
eyes, but did not tir,-having probably
made too many hearty meals on the HUI
man species not to regard them with favor
The gate to this poor little ''Field of
Saints was tied with a bit of rope. and
its red soil, without blade of grass or
green thing growing, has been rounded
up into regular mounds. 1t was swept as
clean as all the rest of the village-bar-
ring an occasional scattered rib or mar
row bone. There are a few rather pre-
tentious graves each surmounted by a
glass faced box containing the hideous
wreaths of black and " hite beads which
find such favor in the eyes of mourning
Spanish Americans. Other graves were
marked by black painted wooden crosses
but the great majority had only two
sticks, tied together cruciform fashion,
laid on top or stuck in the earth at the
head. Vagrant breezes and passing foot
steps soon disarrange this symbol of the
Christians hope, which some stricken
heart has placed above its beloved dead
and though the emblem means, person
ally, little to me, | have hundreds of
times stopped to replace it and tie the
cross piece more securely.
The Alcaldl, or village Mayor, who ac-
companied us to the cemetery pointed out
two rough boxes-one long, the other
shorter-which stand ON end inside the