The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-21


til dozen fowls were secured. One
farmer endowed 1t with a SOW and her
litter, another donated a pair of goats,
another kid, and DR.. Hubbell promised
the necessary plants and seeds. Thus
was auspictously inaugurated the first
orphanage farm in Cuba, and from it
the very best results are expected-not
only for the children, but for their elders
as we'll.
When the time came to leave Catalina
the entire population turned out en-
masse to escort US to the station; and
amid tears, flowers and blessings we
departed for other fields, promising to
return at no distant day to see how they
were carrying on the good work we had
begun.
SADLY MARRIED.
The fifteen-miIe railway ride from Gaia
lima to Guines made on a May afternoon
is pleasure enough In itself to pay for
journey to Cuba, although the beautiful
landscape has been sadly marred by the
relentless hand Of war and every house
along the line is In ruins. Midway be-
tween the two towns is a startling re-
minder of Spanish methods. From the
car window you see little Of it but a
black hole in the ground; but should you
take the trouble to visit the spot from
either village, as some of our party did,
you would find that the narrow gorge
slopes down into the deep, cave-like ra-
vine, whose recesses are filled with hui
man bones. People living in the vicinity
tell us that during the war Cuban men,
women and children sometimes whole
families together mysteriously disap-
peared and no trace of them could be
found. Finally, guided by the vultures,
1t was discovered that many had been
beguiled to this unfreQuented place, on
one pretext or another, or forced along
the canine doloroso, at the point of the
bayonet to the edge of the ravine, where
they were murdered and tumbled into the
cave. Investigation disclosed a large
number of decayed bodies, many identified
as the missing ones, and the position
OF some indicated that life was not ex-
tinct when they were thrown in, to die
among the dead.
l recall a tale of horror told me in Ha-
vana a mouth before the blockade, con-
corning this very place. The story ran
that Spanish captain, riding at the head
OF his troop from Catalina, heard faint
means issuing from raVine by the road
side. CHANGING over, he could see a heap
OF slain in the darkness below, from which
arose sickening odor made by the val
lures beaks and claws. But again the fee
BILE wall was heard, and the captain sent
down some of his men to investigate
Among the putrefying bodies they found
three living wretches-a woman, who died
while being carried out, a half-grown
boy, who breathed his last few minutes
later, and a beautiful girl baby with ter
r1ble machete cut across the head. A
company Of Spanish cavalry had passed
that way few days before, burned and
sacked farm house, which was suspect
ed or harboring insurgents, macheted its
inmates and cast their bodies into the
rayine. The captain took the unconscious
Child before him in the saddle, half ex-
pecting it to die before Havana was
reached, but promising himself that If 1t
lived he would adopt 1t as his own Ar
rived at the capital, he gave 1t to the
care of the good sisters of the Benefcen-
cia, where, strange to say, it recovered
and thrived, apace.
L went to see it and dimly remember
little girl with big, black eyes. dfsfig-
ured by terrible scar-my attention be-
Ing. absorbed by yet more pitiful case.
The latter was that Of slender girl Of
fifteen, raving crazy, alternately tearing
ner haIr and screaming in terror or glib
bering softly to her dead, whom she be-
lfeVed to be around her. She was the
eldest daughter of rebel officer who was
Killed near the beginning of the war.
lew weeks before she had seen her home
burned and mother, sisters and brother
murdered, while she lay hiden in the long
grass; and afterwards the sight of carrion
and tearing their flesh, though she fought
them with her feeble strength, unbalanc-
eu her mind. Even the hardest-hearted
Spaniard has feeling of pity for the
loco, as an insane person is called:
and the next troop of soldiers that came
along buried her dead and brought the
girl to the Beneficencia.
ONCE THRIVING CITY.
AS mentioned in the previous letter
Gulnes is the largest town in the prov
1nce OF Havana, next to the capital. and
until ruined by the war was very pros
porous. The plain in which it stands Is
the very garden spot of Cuba, having :or
many years had an excellent system of ir-
fisdtlilg canals. Taken on an average
plenty of rain falls in every part of Cuba
from season to season to supply all the
moisture that vegetation requires
great deal too much of it., however de-
scends between May and November. and
not enough during the winter months
which are the best crop season Guines
equalfzes this uneven distribution of the
blessings of Providence by irigxltion. and
with most gratifying results. Before the
war, English and American syndicates
mad their representatives here who were
deep in irrigating enterprises, among
other money coming schemes Their ca
nails and bitches were of course neglect
ed during the long struggle, but have
never fallen into complete disuse, and
when the universal distress that yet pre-
walls has passed away the old irrigating
system will doubtless be enlarged and
improved. When the time comes, no spot
on the face of the earth will be more
fertile.
1t is common saying now in Cuba that
a handful of the red soil of Guines val
ley is as valuable as a handful of gold
dust. They used to say that caballeria
of the land was valuable that nobody
knew its price-because nobody ever
thought of selling. A caballeria equals
thirty-three and a third English acres,
and even in these hard times none can
be bought near Guines for less than Sc, 900.
If one wants to see YER
horseback, or in a carriage, along
the old calzada, or paved highway
which is one of the four good roads in
the entire province. 1t is smooth as
board floor, white as pulverized coral can
make it and shaded most of the way by
Indian laurels of enormous growth Ex-
tending his ride a few miles back to the
hill tops he can look down upon the
Caribbean sea on one side and across one
of the most beautiful valleys in the
world on the other, with it's groves of
royal palms and sweet fields arrayed in
living green From the distance no
hint is disclosed of the desolation and
loneliness wrought by war. Only the
original richness of the soil remains I'M
impaired-and It's possibilities are worth
coming far to study. An American OF
my acquaintance who has been expert
menting some years in Guines valley
says that two crops of almost everything
are an absolute certainty every twelve
he md Of