Arizona Republican

HAVANA AS IT IS TODAY

The one predominating element in Havana at the present time is the soldiery. The streets are literally filled with uniformed men and youth. The average Spanish officers or soldiers would not impress an American favorably. As a rule they are not well set up and they are generally undersized. They all lack the West Point cut which is so much admired by Americans. They may understand the theory and practice of war, but the true martial ardor does not seem to reach down into their backbone and legs. None of the officers would ever be accused of wearing corsets, as some of our fledglings in the military service are. The uniform of officers and men seems to be of the same material-a fine green and white stripe gingham or some similar fabric for both coat and trousers.

The officers wear a few gilt stars on their coat sleeves and a white canvas cap; the enlisted men a Panama straw hat, with one side folded up and fastened with a rosette.

The volunteers, corresponding to our National Guard, are doing duty in the city as an adjunct to the police. They have an inspection and guard mount every morning on the Prado. I twice saw this ceremony performed and never saw anything so slovenly done before. There was no sizing up of the men; a body of five feet two inches would be between men six or eight inches taller. Talking in the ranks seemed to be allowed at all times. At the inspection the man became immovable only when the officer approached him and relaxed into sociability immediately after the officer had passed. Some had leggings, many had not. They were a job lot of misfits, assorted sizes and colors, from 15 to 40. The regulars are having a hard time of it. In summer about 50 per cent sicken and die. At the present time some of them are begging on the streets, not having received their pay for more than six months. This refers to the enlisted men. The officers are paid and apparently enjoy themselves. They seemed to have just war enough on their hands and no desire to increase the volume of that kind of business. Although their bullets might have as much penetration, they are no match for the American soldier in intelligence.

One might imagine that everybody in Havana was rich, as there is an utter absence of dogs, which cannot be accounted for by lack of poverty. Without asking for an explanation one may conclude that they have gone with the reconcentrados. The bicycle fad doesn't seem to have taken hold of the Havanese. I saw but two bicycles on the streets and those were on the outskirts of the city, where there was a little patch of concrete pavement. There are very few streets in Havana where it would be a pleasure to ride a wheel. The business portion is paved with block granite in very good condition. The roads in the suburbs are execrable. The favorite drive is on the beach road, but there is very little pleasure in driving the road is so full of ruts and depressions that carriage springs are severely tested. The condition of the streets and the almost entire absence of country roads is probably the excuse for not indulging in bicycling.

There are a few lines of street cars with mules for motive power. The charge is 10 cents, and travel by this method is naturally somewhat restricted. When the war is over there ought to be a grand opportunity for enterprising Americans to put in a first class trolley system with 5-cent fares. The favorite means of transportation in the city is by their one-horse victorias, of which there are thousands, and they will carry two persons from one point to another within the city limits for a pesata, or 20 cents of their money, equal in value to 14 cents United States currency. This is about the only cheap article in Havana.

A casual observer would say there was very little difference between the gowns and costumes of the Havanese ladies and those seen in the large cities of the United States or Europe. They catch on to the prevailing fashions without much delay and adopt them to the extent of their purses. One does not see seal cloaks or other furs on the streets, even in the winter months, when the temperature is between 70 and 80 degrees, although I saw one fur cape for sale in one of the shops. If a sale of them ever occurs the purchaser is undoubtedly one who contemplates a trip north. Most of the women who appear on the streets in the daytime hood their faces with black lace scarfs and use fans to protect their faces from the sun. Frequently you see young women walking together dressed exactly alike. This is so frequent as to be noticeable to strangers. On a Sunday afternoon I noticed in front of a fashionable residence five women, probably members of the same family, all gowned alike in heliotrope colored fabric. It was suggested that the head of the family was pleased with the goods and bought a whole piece. Very few of the women are pretty, according to the American standard of beauty. They age early and rapidly, and resort to cosmetics and powders to continue their youthful looks long after their beauty, if they ever had any, has passed away.

The Hotel Inglaterra is considered a fine hotel for Cuba. You would not be satisfied with the cooking and general conduct of the dining room if in the United States. There is scarcely any variation of the menu from meal to meal and day to day. It is printed in both Spanish and English, but as the waiters cannot understand the English part of it, you are hopelessly lost if you undertake to give them an order. But I started to tell you about the bedroom. It is very roomy and at least twenty feet high. Broad wooden blinds open out on an iron balcony. Iron bars perpendicularly placed make access to your room from the outside impossible. The floor is marble and the walls are covered with a heavy dark paper of Moorish design. A half circle of colored glasses over your window makes a very beautiful rainbow effect on the marble floor when the sun shines into the room.

The beds are a pretty picture to look at. The bedsteads are brass, with a symmetrically curved mosquito canopy tastefully draped to protect the sleeper from those musical pests, which do business every month in the year. The picture is somewhat dispelled when you discover there is nothing between you and a very flexible wire mattress except one thin quilt and a sheet. The effect is something like getting into a hammock. Another peculiarity of the room is that the partition which separates you from the adjoining room reaches only eight or nine feet from the floor, and by standing on a chair, if inclined, you can look in on your neighbors. We distinctly heard the voice of two feminines in liquid Spanish from the other side of the partition, but, having an insurance policy insuring against all accidents, we went soundly to sleep without fear.

It seems to a stranger in Havana that one-half of the population are engaged in selling lottery tickets. They are offered you by all classes, ages and sexes. They are hung on hooks in elevators, and the boy or man in charge of the lift suggests that you invest. Almost every store can supply you if you want them. Half-clad men, women and children importune you in Spanish to help them out. The wonder is where all these wretched people get the money to start in business. Probably they sell on commission, but it must take a great deal of confidence to trust them on the streets with so much valuable (?) property.

There is a considerable absence of drunkenness in Havana. I saw but one person intoxicated and he was hanging around the American consulate asking assistance. He was an American, I am ashamed to say. His story was that he had been stranded here, and being an American sailor, had been abused by the Spanish, to prove which he showed me the cuts on his head. He apparently deserved all he got.

The cemetery is an interesting place to visit and one is repaid for the trouble of a two or three mile drive to see some of the fine monuments there, especially one erected by the city to the memory of thirty-six firemen who perished in a conflagration several years ago. It is of Italian marble, grand in proportions and elaborate in workmanship. Medallions in life size of the dead firemen are cut in relief on one of the supporting blocks of marble, nine on each side. The main shaft is surmounted with a figure of an angel holding the dead body of a fireman in its arms, and on each side and angle is some beautifully worked designs commemorating the occasion.

The whole structure must be about seventy-five feet high and possibly thirty feet square at the base. It was made in Italy, and must have cost several hundred thousand dollars. The Havana funerals all occur at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and soon after that time you see processions coming into the cemetery from all directions. The carriages remain at the entrance, while the bearers carry the casket to the grave, followed by the mourners. I saw several funeral processions wending their way slowly up the hill without hearse or carriages. These were of families too poor to have anything but a plain coffin. This was being carried on the shoulders of men, and as the distance is sometimes several miles, it requires quite a number of able bodied men, who relieve one another frequently. Nearly all the lots in the cemetery are inclosed with iron fences, and almost every grave mark has a wreath of metallic flowers attached to it. There is an appearance of neglect noticeable throughout the cemetery, but that seems to be characteristic of the people.-St. Louis Globe-Democrat