Milford chronicle., 1911-03-17

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city. On every house top can hear tn
beautiful sweet voices of the fair senorita
aud senoras, as they laugh and speak thei
native tongue, the Spanish, the mos
beautiful Of all spoken languages,
tongue that seems to have been create'
for such land and people. The air
balmy and calm, and makes one feel tina
he could always remain right here.
Many Havana houses are of immens
size, and cost great amounts to build
whose incomes were reckoned by thl
hundreds of thousands. They are marble
palaces, most all of the stairs being bull
Of marble and the floors are of tile. Ye
Havana is a city of many places of inter
est, her palaces, her streets and plazas
her colonnades end towers, churches anC
monasteries and fortresses, are all places
Of interest. The Spaniard built in Hav
ana as they built in CASTLE. In the New
/ World they found the white limestone
the same material they had in the old.
| Havana looks like a Castilan City having
been taken up and set down unaltered on
the shores OF the Caribbean Sea. The
Spanish custom OF reserving public
squares in Havana was we'll carried out.
/ Her squares and parks are manv and filled
as they are with flowers. plants and trees
of all shades and cOlors, with a fountain
| here and there, and seats where people
come ont and listen to the bands which
furnish music during the evenings.
Havana was old when the English set
| tied jamestown, Va, she having been
founded in 1919 On the east OF the oldest
square in Havana, stands criba tree, de
scended from the original criba tree under
! which the founders held their first mass.
On the north is the old fortress La FueTza,
well called the "corner stone of Havana."
This old fort, cherished relic of the
city's remote part was begun in 1888 to
protect the city from French pirates. The
history of La Fuerza goes back to the
time of Ferdinand De Soto, when the
Spaniard had but a small foOthold in
Cuba and she was at the mercy of pirates
and sea rovers. In 1886, De Soto, then
governor of Cuba, learned that Havana
had been sacked and the town was in
ashes, by a French pirate, and so came
over from Santiago and had the fort
erected. When completed he with large
fleet and force set sail on that memorable
expedition for the conquest of Florida,
and the discovery OF the Mississippi river.
De Soto left here in La Fuerza as COM
mander in his place, Dona Isabel De Boba-
dillO, his wife. For four weary years she
waited for her husbands return, until at
last returning refugees from America
brought the tiding of his fate, and she
died the next day from grief.
In the years of storm and stress Of Ha
,vana's past La Fuesza has more than once
been called upon to defend her, and share
the fortunes of war. She was used too as
the storage place for the gold and silver
destined for the Spanish treasury, and for
this dignity and importance by royal de
cree all warships coming into the harbOr
were required to salute the old fort She
is with one exception the oldest fOrtfica
ton in the New World. The Cathedral,
in which the remains of Columbus were
buried until Spain had them removed
back to Spain in 1898, is a place of great
interest. 1t is POO years old, and is
built in tine llispand American style, with
two towers and dome She is built Of
limestone and the exterior is dark and
dizzy with age. Two of the bells in the
tower bears the dates 1864 and 1868, be-
ing the bells of an older church which |
occupied the same ground The interior |
is grand The walls are finished in dark |
marbles, the columns are of highly pol |
ished mahogany, with gilt bronze capi !
tails, the choir stalls are of mahogany |
beautiful carved. The high altar is of |
canary marble. The baldachin contains |
a sculptured image OF Our Lady OF the |
Immaculate Conception. The floor in |
front of the altar is a mosaic of cOlOred 1
marble. The fine organ was built in |
Germany There are many paintings on /
the walls and in the dome In the robing |
room may be seen the rich vestements
of the clergy, magnificent examples of
in gold and silver The in
terror of the Cathedrals in Havana are
and shows one the great
wealth and power of the Roman Catholic
Church. ObispO and o. Reilly streets are
two of the principle shopping streets.
They are two of the old narrow streets of
old Havana, in which vehiclas are only
allowed to pass one way. In the sunny
hours of the day awnings are suspended
across from roof to roof covering the street, /
creating yellOw-toned light, which gives
The streets with the open shops and their
varied stocks of goods exposed to view the
iir of an Eastern bazaar The shops here
IS a rule do not bear the names of their
)rOprietOrs, but have some pretty name,
iuch as after the sun, moon and stars, and
rods, goddesses, demigOds and heroes,
lfter fruits, flowers and pretty women.
The lails and hospitals are each known
~ some religious or patriotic name, even
battery of twelve large guns in old Moro
jastle are named after the twelve ApOs-
les. EverytOwn has the name of an apostle
n saint. Havana's full name, in honor of
Columbus, is San CristObal de Ia Habana
Well to return to the stores in Havana
must say that the cities of the States can't {
,egin to compare with them Paris may
ave stores as good but not better than &
las Havana. it is wonderful how the Z
panish in Havana can show his goods :
nd the prices he sells his fine laces and
ilks for quality superior to that In the t
tates at about One-fourth the price. No |
isitOr to Havana can leave before seeing
be two famous forts-El MorrO and La
abanas, across the bay or narrOws. King t
elipe ii seeing how important it was to y
I'D Spain aud New Spain to have a ?
.rOngly fortified harbOr between the two u
ingdoms directed the construction Of an P
nperial fortress at the mouth of HaVana's 6
arbor that would make it impregnable t,
, in 1887 plans we're drawn by the famUns il
allan engineer AntOnete A band of
,nvicts and slaves were sent over and a
Ork begun on the fortress known now b