The Republican journal., 1914-05-28
@cTIlREsoUE HAVANA.
c;tv in Every Sense. With It's Own
fdss' Odd Charm.

,uericans driving " tuen no'..
Alss 'Havana's narrow, noisy streets
through ,r exclaim that it seems to them
mysrlsap,lISo v were abroad" The ques-
"ss Il 'h borrow phrase from the wide
don~V Ia hut Unconditional Mr.. Bae-
II traVei.e. weed not detain them long,"
jecSer ahroai. Havana is not merely
they al fareign town." it is foreign
gike d T, has it's own odd look, its spec
pTi. ,,roso,leness, its own tumultuous
p pIcIlu'asb hounds in unknown dishes and
Gte' 10 fruits. and upon the hot tropic
srsas if yours out half barbaric music
DgOI ,asr melancholy songs.
snq1 9a' long traditions OF the Spanish,
1he +;on of the two Americans still
ioIi''ldb',nt Havana's fortresses and the
cirg cbnrches and mcnasteries Of her
palace. streets. She was proud, rich
nele. ..s sntrepot of the west, when our
city 'u mainland was wilderness.
poriDr 1,, in the Cuban 10th century she
Ana n 'or"ovded, thriving, gay metropolis,
is Wv w. own pride, her own tropic airs
via W g "a her own wholly un-American
indSi' nav be crowded in the brief win
olsn with American tourists, may
tel ' 'sa'I las indeed she always has con-
con'aiD considerable American business
talnsu' and may be refuge for derelicts
'o@..,rahonds straight from the pages
aoa q 4snrv, Richard Harding Davis and
d =, Einjings of Spanish America. Still,
piH'l alTays the old Havana, the Cuban
;De If Cuba. Harrison Rhodes in
Tsisyglrooolitan Magazine.
SOME IMPRESSIONS OF CUBA"
a,. rubans may not have learned
1 ,s from the United States, but they
pul" al Last learned the value of clean
la's All over the island drainage sys-
l.S'' uater-supplies, and the whole ma
ls sinsrr Of public hygiene have been care
I .l9, studied: Havana nowadays is flush
lI fultIessy as Paris or Berlin; and
s,as q frostess land of perpetual June,
.I L5r. fine thermometer rarely falls below
WV, lsgrees or rises ABOVE ninety de-
.A3 where the trade winds play with
s.ss rsfrsshment and where the climate
I-r,,o the winter months is great heal
..ni bronchial troubles, is at last begin
a. realize that its old and sinister
Y .a,-ta. ION as a fever den was due to
- ,g-ura causes, but simply to the
iJy and ignorance of man, and thai
!. ryssert pos ton with the second
ar5st ieath-rate in the world is
~IrS more preventative of its real
-Sri+s 1t has its cathedrals and
Il, m,ngeons, its huddle of darkened
,4ssts. IFS narrow pavements wherein
| ss fs-l'r Of the wall is daily fought out,
| .,csfs, that sometimes turn down>their
| ;grts but never seem to close their
Iolfs. and where at all hours you can be
served with a varied and deectable meal,
mt.ot-loors or on the roof, with the
h.5aeh waters of the bay beneath. 1t
-ss lis central, Indispensable, palm
irrge. venue and its fashionable after
mani r.ytway, skirting the Gulf of
Mexico Il has it's country club and its
cnli Inks. its carnivals and festivals, its
sra,h y suburb of Vedado, its contrasts
# electric street cars, bullock wagons
and sl0nobiles, its shrill peddlers, It's
oDsfs a,use. its shops where chaffering
carrie. to an almost Irish finish, its
DeO1.e1 Auttering balconies. and, above
al. ar1 psrmeatiag all, its high pitched
changing noises. All this the average
VISITORS especially if he is from the
United States and has had few opportu-
rtle- for contact with an alien environ
mem, iads eminently satisfying, But
tt real destiny of Havana, if it means
become one of the permanent winter
resorts of the West Indies, is to develop
@nethng on the lines of another Monte
Carlo Sydney Brooks. in the May num-
tar n The North American Review.