The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-07
GENERAL WOOD AND
THE BOYS OF CUBA.

If there is one popular man III CuDa7
that man is General Leonard Wood,
who has just been appointed governor
of the island There are not many
boys and girls in the city of Santiago
who do not know General Wood when
ehey see him on his big gray horse as
he rides about the town. remember
seeing three little half-clad, olive
skinned bows stop in the middle CT che
street on seeing the general, pull off
their tattered caps and salute him
with military precision, all three show
ing their white teeth as they smiled.
And the general saluted in return g.
If they had been soldiers.
The 10th Of last October was a IA
nous anniversary day for the CUbans-
a sort OF Cuban Fourth Of July-but
curiOusly enough, the Inhabitants Of
Santiago had decided to celebrate it in
silence, TO have DO meTTy-making. no
music, no professions. OF course this
disappointed thousands of Cuban chill
dren quite as Eeenly as the boys Of an
American city would have been disap-
pointed If they had been deprived Of
frscrackers on the Fourth OF July.
General Wood heard of the trouble, and
having boy Of his own. he knew just
what TO do He sent an invitation to
all the children of the city to take a
ride on the harbOr in the government
vessels. Bright and early on the great
day All the tugs and other haFUOr craft
belonging to che Americans appeared at
the wharf side footing their whistles,
and hundreds of children who had
gathered ali in their best attire, tum-
Died aboard Boat after boat was
loaded and set out down the bay with
a band playing The Star Spangled
Banner" and the Cuban national air.
an each Of the boats there was a barrel
filled with lemonade, and the voyage
which followed was such as only a
crowd Of children who had never be-
fore made such an excursion, could en-
joy. The SDaniarda had been in com
mand at Santiago for nearly 400 years,
but there was never a governor VINO
took any interest in the boys until the
Americans came.
Since then General Wood is known
in Santiago as Our Friend" by the
boys. Net many weeks after the picnic
on the harbOr, q great delegation Of
children appeared at the palace and
asked 10 see the governor General
Wood is a. tail, powerfully man,
and he wears a brown khaki suit and
epurs. The average Cuban man reach
"a hardly above mis- shoulder, and 50
when he appeared among the boys
and girls he looked like q very giant.
The spokesman presented the petition.
He said that the boys and girls Of San
tiagO had heard that the boys and girls
OF America were only required to so TO
school I'VE days a week, whereas every
Cuban school holds a session on Satur-
day the same as any other day. Now,
were not the Cubans free2 And
shouldn't they be entitled to the same
privileges as their friends. the Ameri-
can boys and girls? And thus they
made a strong plea for a Saturday
holiday plea with which every Amer
lean boy and girl Will sympathize. The
governor heard them through. and then
he explained to theIa that the time
had not yet come for making such
changes in the school system Of Cuba,
but that some time they might expect
TO enjoy the same privileges as the
American boys and girls. And they
left him with a cheer.
There are, indeed, no stronger friends
Of the Americans in Cuba than the boys
and girls. They want to know just
what is done in American schools, how
the American children act, what they
play and everything else about them.
And then they want to do exactly the
same things. What is more, they are
anxious 10 learn English, and they are
learning il much faster than the grown
people. Frequently, when You go into
store in Cuba. the clerks cannot under
stand what you say but they VIII bring
some boy who is able TO talk with YOU