The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-05-29
WITH THE RED CROSS In CUBA
.BENEFICENT YORK ACCOMPLISH-
ED LIN GUINES AED CATALINE.
The First Orphanage Farm Established
The Canaan of the Western Hemis-

phere.
Especial Correspondence of the Joufha
and Courier)
Guines, Cuba, May 81 wish my read
ers could see with their own eyes the
great change which a fortnights Wort
has wrought in Catalina. The poor III
tie town--of now about eighteen hun
bred souls, where four years ago were
upwards of eight thousand-Was The
saddest place / ever saw. Half the
houses were empty, their late tenants
having gone to swell the gruesome col
lection of unburied bones in the Campo
Santo no traffic in the grown
streets, no business of any kind going on
the remnant of a once happy and pros
porous population sitting idly in thell
desolate homes, mourning for their deao
and too stunned by repeated blows oil
adverse fortune to entertain either nope
or ambition. Destitute children, WITH
out any living relatives, were huddled
in abandoned houses, sometimes singly
oftener in groups of three or four togeth'
3 er, subsisting on whatever they could
forage and grown shy as the burroWlns
creatures of the field. l told you in the
previous letter how branch of the Red
Cross society, under Miss Barton's held
agent DR.. Hubbell, came to Catalina
some two weeks ago and gathered all
these orphans into a comfortable home.
K The task of collecting them was no easy
matter, for young as they are, previous
hard experiences had taught them the
fear of man and nothing but the pangs
of hunger induced them to come in.
After this folsom and jetsam of war
had been fed, washed and clothed in de-
cent garn1ents-their vermin-infested
rags burned, itch and ulcers anointed,
heads partially cleared of lice and gene
raj suffering alleviated-they seemed al
together different mortals. 1t was re-
ward enough for our unpleasant toll to
watch the dawn of hope in the little
faces and see the expression of AFFECT
misery displaced by heavenly content
When the few who were first gathered in
found that no fresh calamities awaited
them. but only food and kindness, one
and another stole away to bring back
their more timid friends who had hither-
ITO eluded our search. In some cases the
sick had dragged themselves off, like
wounded animals, to secret hiding
places and others fled like frightened
mares at our approach. In one filthy hut
two young girls were found. one of them
dying of consumption. In another were
five small brothers and sisters, the oldest
a girl of perhaps thirteen years, who,
with brute-mother instinct stood ready
to defend the little brood with her life if
need be. An older girl, delicate and re-
fined the daughter of once we'll TODD
family, every member of which but her
self and one small brother had died of
smallpox, was literally shelterless and
with no protection whatever. Another
very pretty girl of twenty was disabled
by a great ulcer in the leg, primarily
caused by impoverished blood which
had eaten to the bone and grown large
as the palm of a hand. But why multi
ply cases? The above are only samples
of many equally narrowing.
With their own willing hands our Ia
dies scrubbed the vacant house given for
our use by the village alcalde or mayor,
after which it was thoroughly disinfect-
ed of all possible disease germs and fit
ted with clean cots and other conven-
fences. Meanwhile the young ladies of
the town, aroused by good example from
'LHGlT APATHY I'll SIltl, DilluGti llltlIlStlN to
into club to carry on the work begun
by los Americans. They brought two
or three sickly sewing achines owned
In the neighborhood and came every day
to work under intelligent direction
They made clothes for the children, as~
sisted in the simple cooking, gave the
little ones their daily bath and under
took the task of teaching them to read
and sew. DR.. Aurelio de Flores young
physician Of Catalina, took charge of the
medical department and came every day
to treat the sick, cleanse the sores and
anoint the eruptive diseases; and in due
course the clean, well-appointed orphan
age was turned over to native hands,
equipped with stores and medicines for
some time to come and the Red Cross
went on to other fields I give you this
perhaps too-lengthy description of the
Catalina work, because it is typical. |
with slight variations of what is done |
In every other place. AS to the future of |
these children, who cannot always be |
kept in an asylum DR.. Hubbell's idea IS |
to fit them for useful lives by having |
each taught some trade or Occupa ton. |
To this end a meeting of citizens was |
called one evening in the alcalde's |
house. The bare but clean parlor of |
boards was filled with
but earnest-loolSing men, most |
of them gray-bearded and many still |
wearing the dangling machete and cot
ton uniforms of the Cuban soldier. The
English language is not spoken in Cata-
lima and DR.. Hubbell is no Spanish
but he manages to make him
self clearly understood. Through his in
eloquent young Cuban,
DR.. Carbonell--he assured the people
hat the purpose of the Red Cross is
lever to offer demeaning charity, and
hat it's representatives had come to |
Catalina merely as neighbors, to lend
helping hand in time of trouble, as all
good neighbors should, whether nations
5r individuals. He explained the folly of
bringing destitute children upNto pau
)erage in idle city asylums, and the wis
Iom of training them to useful occupa-
ions particularly farming, so that they
nay become self-supporting, soon as ar
lived at suitable age, and called upon
yatalinans for help in this direction.
they responded gladly and with extreme
iberalty considering their impover-
shed condition. DR.. Flores rendered the
Use of an untitled tract of land: one Of {
cred to fence it, another to lend the '
mule and pillow for its cultivation. A I