Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1905-12-05
FROM JAMAICA.
]. J. Hansaker Writes L. l..
Brooks of Benton,

ter was given us that we might
make public many entertaining
and edifyng features. The dis
cription is realistic and eliminat-
ing matters of personal char
acter we have the following:
We are busy collecting the
necessary information in regard
to our school idea so as to make
a showing to the board such as
shall lead them to see the posi-
bility of such work. Our hearts
are very fullof the matter. To
US it seems the one way in which
the home life may be touched.
Perhaps you would like to see
a street scene and I will try to
show you one. Seventy, Duke
ST., is about eight blocks from
the foot of the street where it
ends in the sea. In the next
block above us, on two sides of
the street, is the imposing Cath
olic church property, ,hool, a d
in course of erection an amuse-
ment hall. Down the street, in
the same block, is the Little
Kirk, an ofshoot from the Scotch
Kirk two blocks farther down.
AS you pass you get view of a
big Wesleyan church a block
away and hear the clock strike
in the parish two blocks farther
off. Altogether, there are about
eight chapels near US, of which
ours is the most humble in di-
mensions.
The people on the street are
not black. You see more whites
than blacks, while a chocolate
color predon1inates. The features
are largely caucasian. Omni--
buses ply back and forth eager to
take you anywhere in the city for
six cents. The street cars run
near Duke street and cross it
near No. 70. The streets are
paved, narrow, dusty, and have
no sidewalks. The houses are,
in the main, surrounded by high
brick fences or wallis. These:
add much to the heat, Of course.
The poorer homes have solid
wooden fences, made Of good.
lumber or barrel slaves, or other
scraps, or the fences are made of
zinc.
Now you meet professional
beggar who perhaps assures YOU
that he is trusting in the Lord
God of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob,
and who is eager to show you a
bad sore. He begs you for
"quattie', 6 cents). Market
women with loads of yans, sweet
potatoes, mangoes, ETC., ''head-
ing'' Carrying head loads) on
their way to market. They GO
swinging along, talking to them
selves, carrying a load which they
cannot lift to their heads without
help "F-e-e-e-s-h, F-e-e-e-s-h h,n
screeches higgler, and a bottle
buyer inquiries for her particular
wares.
You pass tiny tailor and boot
and shoe shop mbined. The
rum shop is omnipresent, while
hawkers are busy selling cigars,
great strings of seeds of native
trees-Job's Tears, Women's S
Tongues, etc. As you go along
the crowded business streets, on
the narrow sidewalks, you may
stumble over old women selling
fruit, candies nuts, ginger beer,
and at this season, BOBBY eggs
t (birb's eggs gathered from some
lneighb0ring quay.
The stores. with few excep-
tions, are untidy, and have small
stocks Of cheap goods sold at high
! prices. The public buildings are
rough piles of brick and the
desks are rough and poor.
Times are ve1y "stif'' now.
When you think Of a country
one thirteenth the size of Oregon
whose governor alone draws
$50, 900 salary you will not
wonder. The island is very rich
and has been developed not a
little by American capital. In
fact, all the development it has
had has been by such. r
Our work at Duke street seems
to be like building on sand.
trust that longer and closer ac.
!. quaintance with the people ma,