The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1922-03-03

and some went to the top of the
lighthouse, built from the upper
floors of the old fort. This fort was
built in 1887 and this was the key to
the old Spanish castle of secrecy.
The Cubans were never able to tel
how many troops there were in the
island for they were never seen to
land and never seen to leave. 1t was
found that Moro had underground
passages leading to the waters edge
and here the troop ships from Spain
came in the night discharging troops
or taking onreturning troops Like all
Spanish affairs, secrecy. is the lode
stone of their success. These forts
were a grim reminder of the cruel
days of Spanish reign in various
parts of the world, but today all to-
gether they would not engage our
modern navies a half hour to destroy
them utterly. They were giants in
the good old days but they are
pygmies in these decadent times
Saturday afternoon, we had a won
derful fifty-mile ride into the coun-
try. We went to the largest brewery
in the island and sampled their beer,
which is.free as water. It's great
place for the Cubans to take their
lunches being assured of all the beer
they can drink free. The gardens
are fascinating and are filled with
much cement work which looks
exactly like forest growth. Here is
the castle of the owner and when
they play chess, the populace can
stand around huge chess board in
the pavement and watch the game by
means of this electrically lighted and
electrically operated out door chess
board. Climbing many and much
winding stairs, a fine view. of the
plain and the distant Cuban noun
tains is seen. From the beer gardens,
we went to the Toledo sugar mill and
saw the process of making brown
sugar from the moment when the
sugar cane stocks entered the crush
ing machine until it was dropped on
to a bounching machine which dried
it out so as to look like our ordinary
brown sugar. 1t was then put in
bags ready for the refineries.
We then rode out into the country
and saw the sugar cane and tobacco
growing, saw the wonderful growths
and avenues of Royal Palms and other
tropical trees. Saw the very rich
soil of this section of Cuba, the
waste lands, the homes of Cuban
patriots and politicians, got wonder
full views of the valleys and noun
tains and then returned by way OF
the Havana water system, which is
one of the best in the world, being
fed by over three hundred springs.
A word should be spoken OF the
Colon cemetery where, indeed, much
of the history of Cuba could be re-
constructed. We heard weird tales
of sacrifice and death, saw tombs and
monuments, as fine as any in the
world and then saw the pitiful rent
ed graves, where so many occupants
rest for five years and then depart
for the boneyard.
Sunday, we visited the race track
at Oriental Park. Here was staged
a typical Continental Sunday. The
running races were fairly interesting
but the real interest conferred in the
betting pools, where thousands OF
dollars passed hands on every race.
AS is quite often the case, the
favorite horse was quite unlikely to
be the winner. With band playing,
and dancing, the Cubans did not lack
for entertainment. Here we saw
wonderful jewels and fine gowns, for
it is also more or less of fashion
show as horse shows are likely to be.
Monday morning saw us on our way
to Key West. We had thunder
storm thrown in for an extra but
most of the party were too sick to
notice the interruption. Some say
that their next trip will be by air.
plane. Just as we went into customs
party of ten came in on a big
plane and said the trip was a marvel,
took seventy-five minutes against our
seven hours and cost fifty dollars a
passenger. Midnight saw US in Miami,