The times., 1899-03-05
DOMESTIC WORK
In CUBAN HOMES
Daily Routine in the Tropic
Household.
Picture of Scenes and Incidents in
a Typical Case.
Sleeping Apartments, Gorgeous Gar
dens and Kitchens In the AntiI-
les-Seryant Maids.

WIFI me III tne typlcdl casa IN Wnicn am
myself a guest. Be it understood, how
ever, that we are not going to misuse the
hospitality of our kind entertainers by
unseemly prying, or inyidious compari
sons. We will note only those things
which lie SO near the surface that he who
runs may read them, remembering that
every country under the sun has some
peculiar customs of its own. While the
ways of our Cuban neighbors appear
strange to us, from the angle OF vision TO
which we were educated, our ways may
seem equally queer from their point of
view, and perhaps judicious mingling of
both might be of mutual benefit.
One frequently hears in Cuba a Spanish
proverb which runs:
Musca, miel, Ia ventana
No es buena por In manana.
Meaning in effect, that music honey, and
gazing out of the window are pleasures
which should not be INDUCED in in the early
part of the day. Disregarding the o,d saw,
let us take a look from my easement this
sunny mid winter morning, while the
thermometer is already climbing high in
the eighties. The window itself, forever
guiltless OF glass, is no small curiosity.
Deep as the house-walls tabout four feeD
and wide as the double doors OF Penn
sylvania barn. IRON barred outside and
shuttered within-it affords the cosiest
kind OF work den" with plenty of room
for my easy chair. table, typewriter, cam
era and big bowl of roses. The inner view
is of the typical Cuban sleeping apart
ment-foor of square marble tiles lo.d as
tOmbstones to the undressed feet, spindle
legged washstand and claw footed cor
ner tables; and brass bed-stead, with a
folded quilt on its bare springs in lieu of a
mattress; yellow satin hangings, crimson
damask counterpane. and long. lean pill
lows, hard as paving Stones. Its enor-
nous double door, extending from floor 10
ceiling and faced with second door,
breast high, of lattice work, opens upon
the marble paved. vine-wreathed corridor
which surrounds the patio.
Chances mt Gorgeous Gardens.
The outlook from the window into a
quaint old garden is never ending de-
light There are rows upon rows OF banana
trees, arching their green. umbrellas above
flowers and shrubs of countless variety: a
labyrinth of pansy- bordered walks out
lined by rosevines on trellisss of japanese
cane; occasional clumps of cabbages or
other homely vegetables flourish here and
there among strange cacti and rarest
blooms; tobacco plants scattered thickly
everywhere; and over all the royal palms
faunt their magnificent plumes against the
azure sky. Set in a lettuce bed are a tow
ering group of these monarches of tropical
vegetation, with smooth. round trunks,
like colossal columns chlseled by art The
widowed mistress OF the casa says she
planted them there with her own hand
when she came here on her wedding day,
more than forty years ago. Then they
were knee-high baby palms, and now they
tower fully eighty feet above the house
top. Madame tells me that during the
darkest days of war, when the once
wealthy residents were threatened with
starvation, she eked out a living, not only
for herself and several old-time servants
who could not be discharged because they
had nowhere else to go-but also for sew
eral reconcentrado families whom she shell
tered, from the proceeds of the tobacco
plants scattered about the flower garden.
Though the tax on tobacco was so high
under the Spanish regime that 1t ruined
the plantations. there was never any tax
on the little that could be grown in gar
dens. So her surreptitious plants were
clear gain and brought in from $500
$1,000 year. 1t happened that among her
reconcentrados was an expert cigarette
maker, and he dried the tobacco leaves.
made them up on shares. and disposed of
them as madame could not have done
An artificial river rushing with con-
tinual muTmur through the garden, not
only furnishes necessary irrigation, but
runs the great fountain in the patio and
supplies the bath in the middle of the gar
den. This bath is quaint enough. and
Enthusiastically Cuban, TO demand a par
agraph. Built in fanciful, circular shape,
like Moorish temple, with latticed win
dows on all sides, topped with stained
glass and extending from floor to ceiling
it is screened from public view by rose
trellises and clumps of tall bananas
flight of marble steps leads up to the
elevated marble floor. AT one side of the
round space is a deep tank of clear cold
water, Into which the bather descends by
another flight of marble stairs There is
a showerbath and all modern accessories
except hot water, which, in Cuba. is
never used for the bath: and the water
can be changed at VIII, the refuse being
distributed over the garden.
i have not yet been able to make up
my mind which is the most beautiful part
of this ideal Cuban home-the garden.
the patio or the house itself The latter
Is an enormous, story affair its su-
perb facing of pillared and marble-pavsd
portico set flush with the street, and its
wilderness of marble-iloored rooms which
somehow remind you of the AIhambra
ranged around central courtyard The
multitudinous windows. opening from floor
to ceiling, are iron barred and wooden
shuttered. but without glass, except
beautifully -colored strip at the top of each
of mingled blues. greens, reds. and yell
lows in Oriental tones which shed Il soft
lustre through the bare apartments.
Dim Lights in Inner Courts
The main sala. large enough for town
hall, has three splendid crystal chande-
liers which are every bit as fine as those
that illumne the East Room in the White
House at Washington, but alas, so poor is
the gas Of Matanzas that we are fain to be
lighted by tallOw dips fnd the one Ameri-
can kerosene lamp which the casa boasts
is at a high premium among those who
wish to improve their evenings. The Gu
bans seldom do, however. beyond prone
nading in the plaza or sitting idly in the
moonlight chatting with friends; there
fore artificial light, or the lack of it, is
to them matter of small concern. The
house is furnished with rare magniicence
in the Cuban style. Happily, there are
neither carpets nor curtains to harbor YER
min and exclude the air. Cane-seated
chairs and couches, epongh to accommo-
date an army, are ranged in prim rows
against every wall, and here and there in
the vast expanse of each bare sala
small square rug is spread. with two rows
of American rocking chairs set vis-a-vis
upon it. Every corner is religiously occu-
pied by triangular claw footed table
laden with little wooden saints, glass balls,
china vases, and other bric-a-brac. Splen-
did paintings-mostly Scriptural subjects,
suitable for churches-adorn the walls,