Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-10-06
Q5sary County ArrNla.
FRIDAY. OcrnHER q. lNa9.
SUNDAY IN HAVANA.

customed To the strict observance of the
New England sabbath, to the rest from
usual labor, to the later breakfast, TO the .
preparation of SUNDAY School lesson,
10 the special Sabbath devotionS. to the +
repairing to the house of praise and .
Joining in the Worship of song and
PRAYER and silent thought, there to he .
touched by a breath OF inspiration from
Il silent vet potent force, there to feel .
conscience quickened, and hope bright
rned. and life enlarged. and faith up
lifted; to such an one a sunday in lla-
vana recalls wildly to mind the story OF
the Master entering the temple and
driving thercfrom the money changers
and those who had turned the house of
prayer into den OF thieves.
\ little talk by me in the form Of a
personal journal may not b" mintereSt-
ing to my friends. ris, about ESQ and
60 to a near by cafe for milk, or coffee
and bread, to sustain me till the hour
for breakfast comes, at IL. On no day
of the week are there more people on the
streets passing hurriedly to and fro. !
know that many have heard the dull
tones of the cathedral bells and have
FASTENED thither, but the great majority
are in their usual ayocatious. The street
cars are all running and the cab drivers
are busy soliciting the opportunities to
earn prSeta, success at which subjects
the poor tired horses to abuse which
passes here almost unnoticCd. The
stores are all open and every clerk Is
busy waiting on customers, old and
young, white and black, and copper col
ored, and the cafes and saloons are all
doing a rushing business. The streets
in the vicinity of the great market on
Galiano street are filled with all kinds
of teams from the country, oxen. mules
and horses hitched to carts laden with
green grass and corn fodder, with pota-
toes. and squash, and all kinds OF vege-
tables, with bananas, and pine apples,
and other fruits men and women push
over the rough pavementS their little
carts filled high with articles of food
the Cinnamon with baskets of mcrchan
disc suspended on long poles resting oI
the shoulder go from house to house t
trade: the BARRIERS chairs are all filled
dirty and almost naked children ART
everywhere; the beggarS pitiablc oh
jects. why do they have to live OH
curse to themselves and horror to tn
pasSor-byD sit at the cathedral doors
and on the doorsteps OF many house o
luxury. as it We're. only wishing for tn
crumbs to fall from the rich mans table
ladies' we'll dressed, and those endurin
the pangs Of poverty side by side on tn
street. in the store and almost every
where white men of leisure and pos
ton. and black men with no place {
respectable habitation joStling each othc
in the cafe the saloon and beside til
counter; money changers with the
piles of paper currency and gold an
silver coin, changing spanish money
American and vice versa for the con
venicnce OF the purchasing public and ;
Il small eXchange-everyOne seems so il
tent on doing the largest amount
business in the shortest possible space {
time. Boys are crying their papers an
BOYS and men by the hundreds are c
the corners and every place Offering fc
sale cheap cigars and Watches the mn
tnm in para for the great mass of Il
natives. II is almost as common to st
an old grizzled black woman putting
cigar, or boy of 10 summers, as mG
of more mature years but no more di
erection. ! see such as have introduce
watching the streets to see if from Il
dirt and filth they can find choice /
in the shape of a cigar stub some mo
fastidious person has thrown away.
think the beggar at the curhstone Won
take the ccntavoS which toss into h
dirty famine stuntcd hand and Sw;
them for cigar before he would buy
crumb of bread. In fact | have seen o
crippled beggars at the cathedral dool
crippled and almost naked, with OF
stretched hands to the pasSers by,-pi
able objects of want and misery--pufi
away at an old cigar with a countenan
expressing the thought that that was
morsel fit for a king, therefore he was
king. I see this Sabbath morning scor
of men asleep on the sidewalks and
the open doorways, some stretched o
at full length, Others sitting bolt uprig
against the stone wall of palatial re
dencc or place of business, all apparent
too lazy to make the necessary eyeI
movement to indicate condition
wallcfulncss, and these are Cubans he
ing for the opportunities of free &C
ernment! Well, it will come to them
time, think. If they are fitted for
we'll and good if not theirs the 10
theirs the greater burden.
But 10 o'clock has come and unc
law a great change takes place.
stores are closed to customers, the no
and confusion on the streets gradua