Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-07

sent for his family A brother officer, or
dered home. sold him his furniture, and
the moving was placed in the hands of a
native hanger-on about the palace The
following morning the staff officer went to
his new abode to receive the furniture. It
arrived as he reached the house. Coming
down the narrow street he saw a strange
procession consisting of twelve or more
men The first six We're carrying a piano
perched upon their heads, and each of the
others 'tOted' a chair or a washstand. A
moment later another procession came in
sight. There were two heavy iron beds.
each borne by thee men an immense dress
ef. under which tottered two natives, and
finally several boys bearing sundry culn
AIRY articles ana few odds and ends.
Heavens and earth. man." exclaimed the
officer. aEnaSt. you have engaged 4 bat
talon For geo incss' sake. what's the
bll?"
''Doce reaIes. sercv." was the calm reply.
One dollar, twenty cents iii American
money"
Bakers' only Accomplishment
The Americans living in Cuba. at least
hat part embraced in the province of San
l1go d" Cuba, claim that only one thing
worth eating is cooked there. 1t is the
bread. Cuban taI,era excel in making rolls
There is little variety but what they bake
i firSt-ctop. Bakers work at night and
icnG before the sun appears the bread ven
der = crying his wares in the street lie
does not travel in 4 IouT-Wheeled wagon,
em5laZoned With the name of his employer,
but carries the rolls. each neatly wrapped
in leaf or husk, in baskets suspended
from the sides az & burro. The vendors
meloGiaus cry, Pan fresc-a-at'' is the
alarm clock that wakens half the city.
There are two new and rather peculiar
trades in Santiago de cuba at present.
trades which are the direct outcome of the
American occupation. They are the selling
of alleged cuTiOs and paWned articles, and
the shining of shoes.
An American cannot walk three blocks
in the ancient capital without being ac-
costed by some native who has d wonder
full cUrio for sale. They approach you
with a mysterious air and after q few
commonplace remarks about the weather
and the mortality OF the city, hint that
you may be able in return for ridculOusly
small sum. to obtain possession of the
most remarkable article ever discovered in
the province If you are new and ineXper
fenced you confess your interest. You are
conducted down some narrow, unpayed
street to an adobe shack and invited to
enter. Your Yankee contempt of the
tive fOrbids fear, and You are soon looking
al the wonderful curio 1t may be a bit
of an American shell a splinter of wood
from the Merrimac IS fOrctOp mast, a stone
from Moro Castle, or a bone from the Viz
cayas collection of human remains, but
you can rest assured that in nine times
out of ten. it is a fake and snare.
Shortly after my arrival in Santiago ]
was shown a dried. wrinkled object, which
the curio sharp insisted was a human ear
1t certainly resembled that aDDendage in
way and ] FASTENED to ask whose par
ticuiar ear it was.
TT once was part of illustrious
American general" the man replied solemn
ly.
AN American generate" 1 gasped
"Who?"
General Sampson. senior. 1t very cheap
| sell it for $25.''
BootbIacl>s in Barefoot City.
The evolution of the bootblack in Santi-
ago de Cuba is rather Interesting. The
genus did not exist prior to the war the
Spanish military officers and the citizens
wore white canvas shoes. which Were az
tended to by the house servants 1t was
not long after the occupation of the city
by the Americans. however, that several of
the street Arabs-as shreWd in their way as
their Yankee prototype-began TO discover
that the newcomers liked to have their
shoes polished
\ "o0h-ratUrcd soldier constructed a GoX