The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-04-06
NOW
Havana Clues
Moneys Worth
TO TOURISTS
By HELEN ESSARY


HAVANA, Cuba.-The American
tourist is a hardy perennial. He
3lourishes at different, seasons in
all parts of both hemiSpheres,
During the chilly days OF win
ter and early spring he thrives
best in Southern sunshine, where
he is easily distinguishable from
native plants by the violence OF
his color and the length OF his
runners.
Thus transplanted the American
tourist is found in active and in
creaSing clusters near old ruins
and new bars.
Native fauna and flora of gar.
dens, preferred by the American
tourist, sometimes wilt and shrivel
as his strong tendrils wind around
their own roots and stems. How
ever this blight Is Of short dura-
ton. When the American tourist
has returned to his own habitat It
Is. seen that he has greatly en-
riched whatever foreign soil he has
touched.
Knowing botanists realize that
the American tourist is worthy OF
sympathetic cultivation. His lush
responsiveness to foreign airs COW
erS timidity that makes him an
easy prey for carnivorous native
growthS.
Child-like, indeed, is the Amer
lean tourist. And of a credulity
amazing. He always thinks he is
unrecognized as an American by
the inhabitants of the country in
which he is spending his centavoS.
Nor does the American tourist
think he looks like a tourist. He
thinks he looks like a citizen Of
the world. He feels little sorry
for the others of his breed whom
he meets away from home.
I know, because when I first
came here I felt I was just little
different from the other American
tourists in Cuba "a little more
soignee, a little more poised.
I kept saying to myself and to
anybody nearby who could under
stand English:
"Where do such strange peO-
pie come from? I never see any
like THOSE at home"
Smoothly. I looked about me
until ! went to the Casino Ma
cional. Then, my dearS, I saw
myself in one of those magnificent
gold and marble plate-glass mir.
rors Of the gambling room (game
room, they call it,. I saw the
droopy hang of my skirt and the
way my hat was Skidding off my
head. saw myself in the midst
Of four char.a-banc loads Of excur-
sionists in Havana for a days
leave from Miami, and I said:
Dear heaven, forgive me my
pride. / can't tell which is the
scared Sheep"
still don't know. I didn't have
the heart to survey us again-not
in any of the Casino mirrors.
said with determined dignity
to the croupier, Five dollars
worth more, please" Then has
tily covered six numbers when I'd
only been covering one for each
turn of the wheel.
My game was labeled 1.-THE Ia
BILE for Ladies; Minimum, Is
Cents" I stayed there quite a
while covering numbers and watch
ing my chips raked in the oppo-
site direction.
My gallery included about 20
Spinster school teachers, middle
aged mammaS, fat business men
and girls in wallpaper dresses
you know those terrible figured
clothes you and I wear.
All of us were pale faced. Run
ming the gantlet OF roulette, bird
cage, faro and craps, managed by
exquisite, sharp-eyed Latins, shiny
fellows, as flawlesS and relentless
as a dragons tooth.
That Casino is a gorgeous place.
Guaranteed to take the heart and
the pocketbook out Of any Ameri-
cano who lives in a country that
does it gambling in dark alleys
and back rooms Of bars.
AS den Of iniquity it is Holly.
wood back drop. Before the door
is a heroic group Of graceful
"come-hither' goddesses playing
ring-a-round-a-roSy.
At the end of a garden drive
Is a large white building, like a
palazza. A dozen pages open the
door of your car. Other flunkieS
bow you hither and yon over tiled
floors into dining room as big
as the Easter egg-rolling gardens
of the White House and much
tidier.
Brilliant blooming plants watt
q fragrance like heaven ought to
cwn toward your Sinus-weakened
olfactory organs. In addition there
are mirrors and music and dane