The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1899-09-07
GASTRONOMY In CUBA.
What to Eat in the Isle of To-
morrow.
CHOCOLATE A LA GUIANA.
The Wonderful Pescaderia or Fish Market
-Four-Score Ways of Cooking Rice
The Art of Omelets.

| SANTA CLARA DE CUBA, August l.
This city of the good Santa Clara,
capital of the rich province of the
same name, with population of over
$4,000. is altogether the quaintest
town of its size / have seen in Cuba.
Somewhat outside the usual lines of
foreign travel, though on the compar-
atively little-used central railway, it
has managed to retain much of the
SAVIOR of antiquity through nearly
| three slow-going centuries. Two
| hundred and sixteen miles southeast
| from Habana and midway between
Sagua la Grande and Trinidad, it lies
in the very heart of the island, and
| the centre of the richest sugar-p
ducing district. Its narrow, stony
| streets, lined with one-story houses
painted pink, purple, gray and blue,
radiate from central plaza after the
fashion of Spanish American and
ranble half way up the low hills that
Civ nun VIC Go"H' CuT party was
met at the station by Captain Bean
| and his lieutenants. and escorted up
town with 1.-The honors of war; in an
ambulance drawn by mules. OF all
the humping, Earring, joint-dislocat-
ing modes of transit invented by man
surely the army ambulance deserves
| the palm, and how the sick and
wounded ever endure it passes civil
ian comprehension.
Rattle his bones over the stones
shouted iolly.dark-eved Captain Bean
at the top of his voice, to be heard
above the clatter of hoofs and wheels,
as Miss Barton and her bevy of Red
Cross followers bumped heads togeth-
er, all holding on for dear life and
striving with braced heels and stiff
ened backs to retain the perpendicu-
lar
Really" continued he, squaring
his broad shoulders, this is healthy
exercise, though rather rough on be-
ginners. At any rate it is the best
cure in the world for dyspepsia Just
look at me, ! have ratified off thirty
pounds of superfluous flesh since
leaving Wisconsin, and never felt so
well in my life"
The great, rambling, one-storied
Hotel de Santa Clara, kept by a dark
proved gentleman, late of Seville, is
charmingly picturesque, with its sew
eral tiower-filled porticos surrounded
by sleeping rooms, its furnishing taafs
manner as Spanish as anything in
Spain. The beautiful brass bed
steads with their elaborate draperies
of satin and lace, are innocent of
mattresses, the most being a thin
quilt spread upon woven wire springs,
and oftener only the sheet, for Gu
bans believe that the less you have
under you while sleeping in their
climate the better for health. Car
pets, of course, there are none The
tiny stand at the head of the bed up
holds the inevitable candle in a quaint
stick" the wardrobe is big enough
to sleep in, and the clay water Jars, of
similar pattern to those designated
in the story of the Forty Thieves"
excite the sin of covetousness in the
most religious heart. The great win
dows, bullying over the street and
extending from floor to ceiling, have
neither glass nor curtains, but the
heavy wooden shutters inside the
bars are provided with little hinged
doors for admitting a modicum of air
when privacy is essential
Cafe sofa, con leche?'' Coffee
clear or with milkO is the first thing
you will hear very early in the morn
ing, as the chamberlain presents
himself for orders. Be advised. what
ever may be your custom at home.
and answer, ''con leche," because
Cuban coffee, made according to the
national rule C'black as night, bitter
as death and hot as hell'') is palatable
only when served with boiled milk, in
the proportions of nine-tenths milk.
Then it is beverage fit for the gods,
if those mythical personages merit
better things than other folk. In
truth, nowhere can more excellent
coffee be found, even in Paris OF the
German cities; and as for the United
States-the world knows that Ameri-
cans, with all their conceit, have not
yet learned the b of coffee making.
Most of the coffee used in Cuba is
grown on the island, and sometimes
the housewife goes out into her own
back yard and picks the beans, as we
pick peas for dinner. She browns it
good ideal blacker than we roast
coffee, never more than the days
supply at once, and grinds it only
when required for cooking. She also
uses a great deal more of it than we
do-never less than full teacup of
ground coffee for each pint of water
not boiled or soaked, but slowly fill
tered through, and the milk to ac-