Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-07-27

over you. It is always summer, get
never hot, on account of the breeze
that prevails.
Keep clean and observe the same
rules o. health and care of yourself
that you do at home and you will get
along all right.
''The improvements in the cleanli-
] ness and dress OF these people since We
! took possession OF the country is very
great and remarked on every hand in
every city.
Travelling on the trains you will
meet many queer customs. At the
various stations where the train stops,
men and boys board the train with
most everything to sell. Many offer
you cocoanuts, and Will open them on
! the end for you to drink the milk.
| They bring in chickens, quails, doves,
bananas, oranges, guava jelly AMI
many kinds o. fruits to sell the pass
| engers. On the hotel bills of fare
| they say passengers will be charged
| extra for fruit carried from the table
or for meals served in passengers
rooms in the house. Queer name for
guests in a hotel.
The banditti stories are largely i'm
aglnative or fakes. At CardenaS, a
short time ago, l noticed quite a crowd
rush out Of the hotel to the street, and
joined it, and saw two rural police
men on their ponies, and in front Of
| them, marching together, were two
| negroes handcuffed together, / asked a
Spaniard who could speak English
what or who they were. OH! says he,
they are banditti.' They had been ar
rested and brought to be placed in con-
finement for trial. l inquired further
as to what they had been doing, and
was told that they had been stealing
chickens. l laughed and saiu, In our
country we never arrest a negro for
stealing chickens or watermellons
Those poor, half-starved fellows
caught stealing chickens are fair ex-
ample of the 'banditti' of Cuba l do
not mean to convey the idea that the
men there are saints, or the women
angels, yet neither they nor their coun-
try deserve the continual misrepresen-
tation they receive at the hands of
nearly all the papers.
AT the railway stations, when the
train stops, passengers make a rush
for the door to get out. Outside they
find always a stand where they get
coffee, milk and wild drinks of all
kinds, but none of them ever get
drunk. Sundays churches and cafes
are all open. The people go to the
church and the cafes, and all seem to
drink, and they never get drunk.
was on the island about six months
and over it every way, and have kept a
look upon things as l passed, and /
saw but one solitary native drunk,
and he was Cuban. Drinking is
national habit, but drunkenness is al
most unknown. The people who go as
representatives of our government
and those that so for pleasure and stop
a few days in Havana, then run down
to Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Cienfuegos
and Santiago, and return home are we'll
paid for their troubles by what they
see, but they learn but little of Cuba,
its people, or their condition and hab-
it's. It is lonesome country to one
who does not speak the Spanish lam
guage, but to one who does, | cannot
see how they can fail to enjoy them
selves in an innocent way with the
greatest satisfaction.
'To sum up, Cuba, is to use the good
old Methodist song my father used to
sing, a land where every prospect
pleases, and only man is vile.
81 want to say in conclusion that the
American methods of doing things
in Cuba. The sanitation, or cleaning
of the cities and towns, and the post
Office department there. The work OF
cleaning the cities and towns under
the direction of American authority
has accomplished very great results
already. The deaths from yellow fever
in Havana in April, 1898, were about
eighty. In April, 1899, only two. The
greatest exhibit and change to our
methods is shown by the improve
ment in the mail service throughout
the island.
81 saw the first postoffice (American(
opened in Havana, and apon leaving
the city on the 2Sth Of May / was in
the present office-looking at what it
was and what it is-and, seeing the
great improvement in the service in
Havana and throughout the island, too
much credit cannot be given General
Rathbone, Mr.. Briston Of Havana,
and all the force connected with the
department t-ere and also at home
1t is a great illustration Of the Ameri-
can way Of doing something. Wash
ington Post.