The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-22

RANDALL N, DlStflcC RASSe
and at the preliminary meal. Beef is
not a Cuban dish, and the attempts to
cook ii in any form produce results that
spoil the appetite The same is true of
other meats, which are served floating in
olive oil. One must rely at the ho<els on
fish and eggs for substantials and on pre-
serves for deserts. Butter served there
never came from milk. Toast is beyond
the chefs comprehension He may bake
the bread crusts a little harder than
usual and call them toast. but it is an
oven process which does not brown, and
is never tried over live Goals.
Meals are served at small tables in the
hotel lobby. There is no dining room else
where in any hotel Smoking al ia bles at
any part of a meal is permissible. Con-
sequently the pungent odor of stale Gig
arettes permeates everything. An Ameri-
can can get all that is novel in hotel cook
ing in one or two meals Thereafter he
must repeat his orders endlessy, for any
attempt to switch off on home eatables
is full of peril.
It need not be supposed that private
families live so meagerly or put up with
Indifferent cooking. Dishes purely native
and served in great variety may be had
if one may eat around at the houses OF
friends or even if one may enter a good
family to board. Army officers billeted
for a long stay and civilians who expect
to remain some time may and do live as
comfortably as anywhere The markets
are excellent Board and lodging, how
ever. are arranged by the month tour
list intending to remain a fortnight or less
is driven 10 the hotels. They cater 10 his
comfort neither as ledger nor boarder.
FIeas and Mosquitoes.
A visitor is variously reminded that Ha-
vana is a town of fieas, mosquitoes and
flies. On that account 1t is no place for
carpets or upholstery. The hotels nave
figured out that because of the lmpoSsl-
biity of furnishing these things ana Keep
ing them in order visitors ought not TO
expAct the comforts usually associated
with them There are several hotels, eacn
covering a half acre or more OF ground
but not one of them has reading ROOM
a room for writing, a room that may De
5all4d a parlor or any other room in winch
one NAV rest or be pleasantly occuplvu
in leisure time The so-called dining
room when not in use for eaung' IS not
available for anything else. There re-
mains only the cafe where walters attend
strictly to the business of soliciting or
ders for drinks from all who sit at the
tables. Women do not visit the cares anu
their only recourse when they WISH 10 rest
a little is to go to their cherries rooms
loht a candle and think they are happy.
for parties composed of men ana women
except at the eating table, and the pilis
of fare and service soon end it there.
Interesting Hotel Rules.
In the rooms Yankee curiosity impels
one 10 read the rules tackled on the vans.
The hotel people seem to have learned tndt
Americans like terse directions, ana ther
English is to the point. One of the rules
at a prominet hotel is as follows:
persons fond of music VIII please sup
PLAYING at 10 o clock.
Anv one who has heard the piano that
has sauatted in the corridor of the second
door. of the house would be put to STRAITS
TO understand how person found OF music
would consent to play on II at any .houi'
For an explanation of the rule one must
go TO the French, where it appears III t'ilS
language: - ,s;o,,,a
Les pefsonues amateurs de muslque
cont nriees de cesser de jouer 10 heures
du soir. heure convenable pour lie repoS
dee autres Voyageurs. ,,-,.
If is the "Maiden's Prayer" and NV ASH
ngton March" lady that the management
Is after. . A..
Here is A rule presumably conducive to
good morals: 80, ..,..u IN
o'clock p. m After that hour no Visitors
will be admitted"
The French is the same, win tIle 40
djtion of sous ancun pretexte' mus a
French guest. if retired by 10 O'Clock, Is
dead to the world until morning, no mat
ter what happens.
A prudent visitor will not iinger long at
nieht in reading the rules. Tor even tne
feeble flicker OF light permitted MN WIZ
draw MOSQUITOES and that animal IN ma
vana. although having the entire year lor
business is as persistent and as lhuustIl-
aus as is his Hackensack brother In the
shorter time vouchsafed him. since one
day in a Havana hotel Is long enough 10
render one impervious to SURPRISE the
guest discovers quite complacentIy tlaI
mere are holes in the top of the mosquito
net over the bed big enough Tor cannon
hail 10 enter and that the side curtains
viii not .,ome together by az least awo feet
convinced that this is a kind provision by
the management to enable him TO escape
easily in case the mosquitoes or DINER
things becomes TOO attentive. he blows out
his candles and punches oil his adlpose 10
make a soft place on the unyieldins COUCH
sleeping ~ Dinicu't
Before his senses have become quite
composed he learns that Havana is re-
sort for consumptives ana that two OF
them who have trouble a. night are ms
nelghbors: also that some Of me COOK
force, stationed al the bottom OF coui
near his room, Ike wcIk 20 wei ihal
about midnight they began 20 chop &c" ana
klndling wood on the stone haBlng nee
low The carrying power Of stone wnen
wool or ico g. CHOPPED on u has never %.
fore appealed 10 him 20 strongly he
thinks some inventor might make a lot