The age-herald., 1902-03-09

hurried. He must mop the tiled floor be- fore you can have your room. He smokes as he works. Two-thirds of his attention is upon his cigar-the remaining third upon his work. In the meantime you stand out on the little stone veranda with an iron rail about 1t and watch the goings-on in the street. You see hum dreds of little victoria-cabs passing with their twenty-eent fares-it is twenty cents in Spanish, or about fifteen cents in our money, for one or two people to go any where in Havana in a cab. you see men driving goat herds about and stopping them to milk and sell the milk in front of doorways. Then you see herds of jennets,or female asses, being driven about and milked in like manner. The jennet's milk is considered the best of food for young children in Havana You see newsboys on muleback delivering their papers, and other boys selling papers on the streets. Negro women walk about smoking great cigars. and policemen on horseback and afoot are everywhere. You observe all this and much more before you get your room. It was exactly seven hours before got mine after being prom ised 1t in twenty minutes. Then I wanted a hot bath. The response was in Spanish, but I thought it was all right. After waiting an hour I sought an interpreter. He interviewed the male chambermaid and informed me that it took an hour to heat water. l requested him to start the heating process and have it ready at o'clock the following morning. I got it, and it was the only thing I had on time while in Havana-perhaps because l gave full eighteen hours for the preparation.
 After the bad start in the hotel l got along quite well. I learned to give ample notice of wha, I wanted and in the Gu ban way found them willing and really anxious to please. though they have caught gracefully the American habit of charging for everything.
 Though Americans be on every hand In Havana little English is spoken. You must struggle with pidgeon Spanish, so to speak, to get along. To get soft-boiled eggs you must go through the motion of breaking an egg in a glass to get 1t, un- less you know how to ask for it in Span ish Then you wait until you get it. To the average Cuban tomorrow is sufficient ly early to deliver anything. It is just as convenient as today.
 There are electric street cars in Ha- vana-many miles of track and hundreds of good cars. They were built by Ameri cans. But they make no money. They have paid no dividends. The fare Is five cents, There are old-fashioned mule are as slow as cold molasses. The fare in them is three cents. They get the busi- ness. A Cuban would as soon take one hour as ten minutes to get to his office. The taking of an hour saves him two cents and gives him time to smoke two cigars and dream bit. It suits him and the bus takes him.
 
 In all Havana there Is not fireplace There are few chimneys. Not one resi- dence in every one thousand has a chim- ney. All the year Is summer. Heat Is never necessary. To cook, charcoal is used, and the cooking is done in the court
 The houses are built flush with the streets. Iron bars and gratings protect the windows. Heavy doors bar the en- trance-way. The yards are courts. The houses open upon and are aired from a hollow square. The carriages are rolled in the front doorway of the residence and stand in the hall. The horses are kept in the rear of the court The flower gardens are in the interior and the verandas over look these courts. The public on the streets see nothing of Cuban home life. The houses are of stone, two stories high and show but bare walls and iron grat- ings to the passer-by. The business houses are likewise of stone, finished with marble inside and with marble stair cases. Indeed, everything in Havana is of marble, stone and tile. The commonest house has tiled floors.
 Many of the business streets are lined on either side for miles with houses of colonial style. the second story extending across the pavement and supported by great round stone and cement columns. Thus the sidewalks are ever shaded and the shops cool and inviting. The shops are all small affairs. Havana knows noth-