The Republican journal., 1899-06-22

| Pleasant Pellets. ~
maiden meeting, so to speak, was to elect
Clara Barton and General Gomez honor
airy presidents of the Beneficencia and to
inform them by telegram of the greatness
thrust upon them. And then, as women
sometimes will, they proceeded, With
the best intentions, to get into an extri
cable snarl with each other, the orphans,
the government, and all concerned. 1t
was to straighten this tangled web that
Miss Barton kind offices were so earnest
| ly solicited. Arrived at Sagua, after a
long days railway ride, we were met at
the station by rousing delegation of cit
liens, headed by the committee of TWEEN
| ty, and escorted to the best house in the
city-that of the wealthy young banker,
Larrondo. l wish | had time to tell you
of that beautiful Cuban casa, it's airy,
marble t1oored rooms and splendid fur
nishings brought from France and Spain;
but we must hurry on to other things.
! Senior Lartondo aud his wife have lived
| much in New York, Philadelphia and
| Washington, as well as in Europe, and
know how to dispense the most elegant
and gracious hospitality.
| Next morning we drove out to the Asilo.
del Patria, as the reconstructed Benef-
cenca is called-passing, by the way,
| through wide and handsome street
named "Clara Barton,' as lamp posts
and corner signboards show. The orphan
age occupies the top of a breezy hill in
the outskirts of Sagua, its several low,
blue painted wooden buildings ranged
around three sides of garden, its en-
trance decorated by sky-blue signboard
lettered in black, which informs the be-
holder that the inmates are orphans de la
Patria, sustained by private charity.
| There are SIG of them, all told, but the
larger ones are domiciled in a separate
dwelling, some blocks away. All who
are old enough to work are kept religious
| ly at it, rolling cigarettes, manufacturing
shirts and under garments for sale, EN-
broidering making paper flowers to
adorn the churches, and in other ways
demonstrating that in this case charity,
so-called "begins at home.' The larger
| boys and girls are farmed out to who
ever will employ them, and in the sewing
room a dozen machines are constantly
| busy. A Cuban woman is in charge,
with her cousin for assistant, and the
older orphans do all the Homework for
the big family of SIG, while the cousin in
structs in sewing and holds school three
hours day. She is not a very compe-
tent teacher, and the children create a
small bedlam, all studying aloud at once,
laboriously learning to mis- read simple
| lessons.
This asylum was first established by
Senior Francisco Machado, then the
| Autonomist governor of Sagua, most
excellent man and personal friend of Miss
Barton. Now days it unfortunately hap
pens in most of the asylums of Cuba that
another and have well-nigh superseded
| the cardinal virtue which ''suffereth long
and is kind The result is about as bad
as can well be imagined. The present
Alcalde is very different man from Senior
Machado, and the sleepy old town has
rung with scandals concerning himself
and the good-looking grown-up orphans.
For some time the institution has been
assisted by U. S. army rations, and when
the Catholic sisters left in body, it was
alleged (untruthfully) that the reason of
their departure was because they could
not eat the rations but pinned for the pep
perry tlesh-pots of Cuba. l noticed in the
store rooms more oat- meal and cereal
foods than anything else When will
things to these. people? Oat-m meal is not
only bad for the climate, producing rash
and hives, but is extremely distasteful to
all Cubans, big and little, and nothing but
the pangs of starvation will induce them
to eat it. Certainly it is palatable to no.
body without milk and sugar, and as the
asylum furnishes neither of these "trim-
mngs," the cereals are wasted. Rice is
what is wanted everywhere in Cuba, and
condensed milk-rice always, with some
corn meal, and beans galore. If one
tenth of the money that is put into oat-
meal and other useless things were judi
ciously expended for foods suited to the
climate and the taste of the people, the
cost would be less and the result infinite
ly better. So, too, with canned tomatoes.
lot on hand. which he is determined to
work off on the Cubans. While tomatoes
are undoubtedly good in their place, they
cannot be recommended for small chill