The Newtown bee., 1899-03-17
A Letter From Cuba.

CONTINUED FROM PA GE ONE.
ia a shame the way they treat the animals
here. We have orders now when we re
on post to stop them IL we see them
beating any animals. One good thing
the government has given US, those light
b own canvas suits. They are much
CO ,ler than the blue and better for this
climate. They are called the Ksikee uni
form. The bows have got great craze
for getting relics of different kinds. l
have some relics myself which [ got off
of the Maine wreck, and think a good
deal of them.
The city of Havana itself is very
pretty place, and you can buy almost
anything you want here but you have to
pay dear for it, prices being awfully high
on everything. They use both Spanish
and American money here. We can get
Sl.30 in Spanish for 81 in American
money, but it is about the same as getting
two 50-cent pieces for dollar. We can
get just as much for six cents in Spanish
money as we can for five cents in Amer
| lean. They have horse cars here and
steam cars in the city. The buildings
are only one story high, built of lime
stone, aud are all fl 1t roof, with no Chin
| neys. There are no brick or stone build
| ings outside of lime stone.
There is an American woman here who
| has lived on the island for 20 years. She
does my washing, and was telling me
about the rainy season. She said that
| it starts in April and continues until Oc-
tober, raining for 10 or 20 days st time.
She said that during the rainy season
is the time when all the sickness begins.
They have queer way of selling milk.
The man that owns the cows comes
around early in the morning with the
cows and whatever you want, a pint or
quart, he will milk it for you. That is
the way they do it here. A man in the
dry goods business will have several
horses, each carrying a big box on his
back, with glass doors in it, full of dry
goods. II is the same way with all the
merchants here. They 60 from door to
door ringing bell or blowing a horn.
They have about six funerals a day
here. A rich man will have hearse, a
back of a horse, but if man is too poor
to buy coffi1 he will rent one, and when
they get to the graveyard they put the
body in the grave and bring the coffin
back and use it again.
The Cubsns dress very light. All of
their clothing Is made of linen, and when
we empty our Fl our and salt bags we give
them to the Cubans and they make coats
and pants out of them. l saw one the
other day and on one pants leg it said,
"crystal SALT" and three big Y X on
his back. 1t is fun to see the way they
dress. Their shoes are made of cloth
and the soles are made of rope. We had
quite parade the other day. They
brought Gen Garcis's body and buried
it here. All the Cuban soldiers, the
firemen and the the United States
soldiers that are in Havana turned out.
It was quite a parade and big march.
That makes the third big parade have
been in; two in Savannah, Ca, and one |
here in Havana. One was before Gen
Lee and the other before President Nc
Kinley. They we're all long marches.
We get good food here and have plenty |
of it, so we can't complain. Our duty |
Ia very light, SO think it is easy here.
There is a large pond about nalf mile |
from camp where we go IN bathing. |
We have good drinking water. The only |
thing l don't like Is the heat ard !