Putnam patriot., 1924-05-02

noise was a staceato din. But the food was excellent and our Cuban breakfast of which the feature was plantens or tiny bananas cooked in various ways. vas 8 complete success.
 There is something about the noon- dav meal in the tropics that invites a mood of complete ease and laXity and for the visitor from the temperate zones the afternoon siesta g a necss- sity rather than a luxury. We rested in our high cool room at inRlatefra until the late afternoon when the sun was at a new angle and a breeze had come in from the sea.
 Then we placed our lives once more into the care of a mad chauffeur. He was a lean brown lad with gleaming white teeth who laid extraVaRant claims to a knowledge of English and throughout a fifteen mile drive made ample display of his learning, driy- ing his ear with one finger and in the most crowded portions of the streets turning to act as informer at just the moment when we were certain that he was inviting instant death.
 In New Havana
 We motored out along the Malecen with the sea calm and bluer than any picture at our right and the newer city on our left. We saw the promon- tory on which the Cubans will build their great monument to the sailors of the Maine" and then turned into the gorgeous newness of the Nedado. In this luxurious residential section the Cubans are building themselves homes which are frequently palaces and often, to Northern eyes, unneces sarily ornate. Most of the houses Of pinkish cream stone are one story m height, built around a patio planted with gorgeous tropical flowers ane palms. There are French houses that would be more at home in Passy and there are American houses more suit able Co Engleweod. N. J., but there are enough in the Spanish style to give the city it's unique quality
 Beyond the Nedado We swung into still newer faubourg of bunleVards and parks with here and there a glimpse out to the sea. We passed the Yacht club. veritable Alladin's palace with it's marble-enclrcled la goon, the Tennis club with hundreds of young Cubans hard at tennis and track work. the Casino with it's gar dens and fountain Of dancing nYmphs in glistening white marble; the rocky bathing beaches at Marianne. the truly beautiful country club with its greens and tees Tn a mass of tropical foh- age, the great wide drill field of the Army barracks surrounded by the comfortable homes af the officers. ana coming baek into town the templed cemetery around whose greHt gate has grown up a miniature 6oney ls= Igud ' AsaHwhiie we Waaa going at a prnhihitive rate of speed Chr driver was chatterinr and giving crutehes to his English by taking both hands from the wheel Al once. HuHe racine rar#. arsuaring for Sunday much advertised races. snorte3 mast aH5
 faurd ns. children ran under the wheels 70 a maneled close of life's hfi f uan. oniv tn appear safe on the other side af the road. ' were seeing fhe sights of Havana at a sneed that at home would be considered hamicidal and criminal Swiftly and surely we were gaining a panoramic idea of Ilavana's $ exterior pictures and sounds and when We were safely back once more within the cool patio of the Inglaterra we felt that we had seen most Of the tourists Havana The job was finished. complete We set tied back to the braeing joy of that Cuban beverage that is national nectar. known as "El Presidente. " and reflected that now we could en- joy Havana in our own way. We had seen "the sights"
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