Omaha daily bee., 1899-07-23
A Poems HOME.

in streets and plazas and the grounds of
MORO castle and San Cristobel. Another
large part is devoted to stores and other
buildings, so that the people are crowded
into a very small section.
The Human Caves of San Juan.
They live, in fact. in quarters which are
more like caves or catacOmbs than the
homes of human beings. The town is made
up of two-story houses built in blocks close
TO the streets, eadh house having a hall
running through the center. The houses, are
Of vast extent. Their upper stories are the
homes of the rich and well-to-do. who 30
through the common hall to reach them.
The upper stories have large, airy and well
lighted apartments, and the well-to-do live
very comfortably.
The lower stories are made up of little
dens, the homes of the poor. In them are
scores of rooms from ten to twelve feet
square. many of them without any light
except from the door. and with no v%entila-
tion at night except through holes cut out
Of, the tops of the doors. In such rooms
families of six, ten, fifteen and sometimes
twenty live, sleeping on the floor or upon
cot beds, which are taken outside during the
day time.
In going along the streets Of San Juan you
can look through the halls and you see
that every hall ends in a court at the back.
About this court open numerous rooms,
each of which Is the home Of a Porto Rican
family. Most of the rooms are so small
that the people do their cooking out in the
court. 1t is in the court that they wash
their clothes, and 1t also forms their loung-
ing place.
Their water comes from a common els
tvsn, which is usually right next to the
1900. ..l tf,o p,r,a ~ II. for
tho court.
When We took charge of San Juan our
health inspectors found 1900 cesspnols in
the city, the most of them adjoining the
~cisterns. They were nearly all full and all
ifthy. Many of them had not been cleaned
FIR years. The majority were without ce-
mented bottoms. and all were more or less
leaky. 1t was indeed a wonder that the
Whole population was not down with typhoid
fever, and you would think that they
Mould be in this condition today. A great
deal of cleaning has been done, but not
until a thorough system of waterworks is
established and the householders are forced
to put in modern conveniences can the poor
become sanitarily safe.
Inside the Courts.
During my stay here | have visited many
.bf these courts and have taken pictures Of
lHt people WHO NV II lltll' ihcll inmate
are as clearly as could be expected in their
crowded condition. and considering every
thing are remarkably peaceable. Few OF
them have any furniture, with the excep-
tion of perhaps a single table and chair.
Me cooking is done on little iron bowls
filled with charcoal. The bowl is about as
large as a good sized washbasin, 1t has a
hole in the bottom for draught, and 1t is
so small that only one thing can be cooked
at a time. Each family has a cook stove of
this kind, and in some OF the courts in the
evening a dozen little stoves will be going
A once.
The people who inhabit the courts live
upon the work which they get In San Juan.
Few of the men receive more than 80 cents
a day, and many of the women who are
servants get much less, When the Ameri-
zane hnst anne many Of the children in the