The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-05-26
PORTO RICAN KITES.
Men and Women Fly Them as Well
as Children.
"A Common sight Is n F1otilla of Big
Kites Flying over the Heads
of Crowds of Old and
Young.

On the long slopes of brilliant green
grass that stretch away from the walls
of Cristobal Colon and dwindle down
into the city of San Juan, great crowd
of curious and noisy men, women and
children stand every morning, gesticu!
lating half madly at one anothers
talking very fast and occasionally
breaking up into little groups, more
excited than the rest. Above their
heads there is always a fotilla of big
kites, ducking, diving, floating upward,
and performing queer tricks as they
firt and play with the ocean wind bill,
lowing inward from the southern sea-
One great red paper monster darted
swiftly upward above the others on
one occasion. Then shout went up
from the crowd. 1t seemed to be hav-
ing a race with blue one sailing dam
gerously near. A hundred trembling
arms with outstretched fingers were
raised frantically in the air, shaking
five and ten peso notes, Offering bets
on the red. The champions of the blue
made verbal pools, and so the betting
went on, amid tremendous excitement,
more noticeable than a public demons
straHon in honor of the governor gem
eral.
Suddenly the flyer of the blue, dirty
little Catanian, unwound several yards
of string that guided his airship. Its
tail was long, striped like the hide of
a zebra, and loaded with strips of card
board all along it's graceful length,
Little American flags foated from the
edges of the kite and the end of the
tail, for this Porto Rican was q dipI
lomat, like his brothers. And when
he unwound the guiding lever, at once
the blue shot up, huddled close beside
the red for a moment, and then at once,
with an incomprehensible movement,
1t darted across the face of it's antag-
onist and in a moment the latter was
floating downward uncontrollably to-
ward the ground. The sharp, curved
knife with which the blue was bur-
dened had severed the string of the
red, and the latter had lost and the
victorious kite few upward like newly
liberated bird. 4
The knife IL a necessary and legiti!
mate burden of every kite that enters
the betting ring, and this seems to en-
hance the uncertainty of the sport, and
1T requires magnificent display of skill
to avoid the blades or to attack an an.
tagonist. The skill which men and even
boys display in this respect is some
times almost astounding.
In q country where cocktighting is q
national sport, and where bullfghting
would be in vogue If the American au-
thorities would permit, where gam
bling is the chief pastime of both men
and women, it Is somewhat surprising
that so mild practice as kitehying
should hold the attention with the
power that 1t does. The element of
chance, however, and the right to un-
limited and unrestricted betting, has
carried 1t swiftly into popular favor,
and so 1t remains to-day. Il
I In Porto Rico Laurie, now moved to
Havana, was for years the potentata
of kites. He used to sit in the sun there
under the soft blue sky, way up on
hill near old Cristobal Colon, and he
had his colored paper spread about him,
with little heaps of long, slender sticks
carved from the big redwood tree. His |
paste pot stood beside him, as he whit,
tied with long, keen blade like a ma
chete. Il
From the hands of the old Cuban
there has come many prizewinner.
One was five feet in height and three
feet in width, and it was covered over
with the flag of Cuba, and it bore itself
haughtily in the wind. Its flyer tossed
it up from one of the fat roofs of the
Cerro, and 1t drew a chattering crowd
bigger than Gomez parade, and it felt
its Importance, for it tugged hatef1lly
at the string and struggled with emo
tional jerks to be free. 1t was so SYM
holic of the spirit of Havana that the
mob went wild with cheering, and lit
tie Cuban police officer, in the brand
new regulation blue uniform, with sill
yer decorations, tried to assert his au-
fhOritv m " Sup