The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-12-25


bright. Morning sacns to, come early!
In that land of flowers and sunshine,
and exquisite and indefnablc Ia the
charm of the early morning light In
the tropics. We had bsen the guests on
the evening before, OF o Cuban and his
family. at his Christmas eve dinner,
which Is a national feast, and Is served
from III O'clock, with many: courses and
much ceremony. up to hoihour OF 2.
andiso It seemed as thought had but
Just touched my head to the long. mar
row. hard, and odoriferous. pillow. so
we'll femembered by all travellers in
Cuba! when tho brilliant sunshine
streaming through tho .fret-work of my
window, ions the Gale consulado. woke.
me, to the realization that l was again
to hnyeSa novel experience, and spend
my first Xmas in an old Spanish castle.
u, An Old spanish Castle.
The castle was of the pest and the
J, most antique. Its walls were stained
by the, passing. years, asilts history by
patriclans gore. It's ofty,harched en-
trance, which was doorway and drive
way In one, had opened Its massive
5 doots fur, many time to princes of the
!, blood-royal.! in the past OF opulence
and splendor,a when 1t was the domicile,
tSof the naughty Marquis de 10 More.
! and this, our own country. was still q
bowling wilderness. ,propled for the.
most PARTLY ~ otard his brother, the
coyote. ~
But those were the hulcyon, days,
when poor Cuba was atone and the
Same time. the butt of his derislon, and
the garden spot Of his, idelicacies--tho.
blopdy battle ground ofshis sons and
I. the, golden Colorado OF his riches, to
the Spanish grandec. Now the glory o.
those days, had departed. Now. be:
hold great. sleeping nation, had tnex-
pectedtS lifted 5itsShead, Sand most un-
expectedly its strorg right arm, and
the struttins little gold trimmed ar
mies and the busy little toy hattleshIps
we're crushed before the average cap
tain had time to, say Caranha!
Z =, american, Men and Women:
And now Big, fearlesstArnerican men,
and more marvellous. still. equally fear
less American women, were swarming
all over the gilded palaces Of Spanish
z leasure5 and! the dark and loathsome
. torture chambers OF Spanish hate, and
this big and splendid gmonument to
7 Spanish luxury, with Its lofty ceilings
and Imposing marble stairway. It's beau
' tful beds, very much hand-painted and
:lace-trimmed without, and very much
4 alive within-its marble floors and gild-
( ed pauels-and palm adorned patio. was
:. now a boarding house. presided over by
d Mexican. who. with an eye coveteous
to the. denomination OF many pesos, d.
"idcd the stately saia, b. partitions Of
varied heisfths anu here, iae5 ed
rooms for her Spanish officers and
trained her game chickens under the
PAINS in the patio. Us
The Spanish Perplexed.
THIS morning of which i wrote, Was
the Christmas of 1895. and the average
Spanish officer, mlndrulSot the advice
about crying over spilled milk, was d.
vided between curiosity: .Concernirtg the
newly discovered Americans, and the
! hurried packing OF htss"loot" to take
back to~"Old Madrid" Patriotism is a
CURIOUS thing. a Spanlard may live In
) Cuba for years--he msYlive there from
youth, TO old age-he4 may even have
been born there--he may be mnrrled to
o Cuban. and. he may. owe to Cuba all
his wealth and the luxury OF his envir-
-onments, but. to the! end, he will speak
of Cuba as q stopping place. in passing.
s"rI am here with o shrug Of his Shout
! ders) but for the moment. Mauana re-
!, turn; to; Espana."' IN
!. opened my shutters to the bright,
soft air. I found senoras and senori-
tas. but chiefly. sen6ras,s vending their
!, way to{aud from mass,
I, Senoritas Dressed Like Americans.
The senoras for the most part We're
draped with the soft silken relozo about
!. the shoulders, as the Spanish lace man
'tilla upon the hair, but can yet re-
member my surprise. to find the Cuban
. scnorita,- dressed like an American girl,
I and often like Partisan, and this. too.
at;the close OF bloody war of starva-
lion. We had coffee atN7, In the Cuban
style not for money, and certainly not
I. for love- could we persuade our Mexi-
''rcan to.giye us an egg, or an orange. or
even a roll.
: I'd our opportunities she would shrug
her shoulders to the point of touching
!, her ears, ask. "Yo. quIvco buevo. pan.
.,naranga?" Then squattIng down on
|. the floor in front of unfolding her
hands across her Notwithstanding her
I nose. and half closing here eyes, in that
2 peculiar manner which gives TO the
Mexican the appearance of having look
: ed at the sun for centuries. reply. Car
amba! 1t is not the custom OF the coun-
try!-. That settled 1t. We drank our
thick coffee and hot swcetened milk.
with the sad silence and chastencd
spirit, of one wno,,ts conscious OF hav-
!. ing committed ahgdavc breach of et-
!. quettes LIZ
,iSt Unlike ON, Christmas.
si chflsttnas- In Havana ms tho fiesta
was. observed before the infusion Of
: American bloodnhd American tastes,
and American energy. bore scarcely one
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