Show ODD SHOPPING IN QUAINT CITIES Of CUBA Impressions of a Visit To the Dusky WanamakersClerks All Smoke Cigarettes Negro Girl DeliveryCouldnt Buy 100 ShirtsQueer Doings at the Market Increase of PawnshopsAmusing Experience of Americans In the Land Where No Samples Are Given To be caught shopping in the middle I of the day In Cuba is to be considered either loco or an estrallgerocrazy or a strangerterms synonymous to the cynIcal Cuban During the later hours of the afternoon or in the eveninl are the allotted times and it is then the ladles stroll forth to scan the counters and criticIso the latest stYles in lace mantillas There are no large department tores as in America no bewildering steppes of articles dear to feminine hearts no miles of aisles no multitude of doors no swiftmoving elavators in fact there are only three shops in the whole of Cuba containing more than one room devoted to the sale of goods A recent arrival in Havana the iriZo of a major of volunteers sallied oi on her second day to look for the shopping shop-ping district She called a carriage caage but was unable to explain her needs to I the native driver and ate driving I bootlessly through the streets for sev erl hours returned to the hotel There is not a shop il the place she declared half in tears I is something some-thing dreadful There must be stores of some kind replied her husband People surely buy timings But I looked everywhere I saw lots of houses and they had their doors open but they must be like those little cheap places we have home where they sell calico for 5 cents a yard and knitting knit-ting yarn mdand thread Where are the large stores like Vanamakers The major concealed a smile Ve will gO forth and explore my dear he replied Seems to me I saw a ShOD like Yanamakers down near the Pardo I He led her to a corer building which had doors and ironharrel windows and an awnIng over the sidewalk They passed in and discovered a long room containing a counter running paralel to the wall and several ding cases Heaped about were cottons and silks and wearing apparel of various kinds Back of the counter were seated half a dozen young clerks each with a cigarette cig-arette in some stage of combustion in his mouth There were no placards extolling the merits of the goods no glistening metals met-als or glass Near one of the doors there were sevealwas a pile of shoes resting haphazard upon an empt undraped un-draped wooden packing case In the center of the room stood a rack bearing bear-Ing an assortment of gaud shawls The windows were narrow and barred bar-red with iron There was absolutely no pretense oJ decoration 01 window dressing It was simplY a room with shelves a counter and several cases anl Cuban Clerk Smoke Cigarettes The clerks glanced up listlessly and presently one approached still puffing at his cigarette At the same time a little bald man with carefully waxed moustache left an enclosed wicker cage in one corner and came forward rubbing his hands The Cuban 11 Tanamaker I suppose sup-pose suggested the major There was an effort at conversation the volunteers wife discovered a quantity quan-tity of really line linen at marvelously cheap pricps and finally a purchase was mane male I suppose they have aerdeliery system she remarked doubtfully Or do they carry their own bundles The question was answered by the acton of a Cuban lady near by who had bought a number of articles These I were wrapped up by one of the clerks and given to a barefooted negro girt who had entered with time lady The custom of the country stood revealed Each purchaser brings his own delivery de-livery wagon remarked tlmb major a he thrust th lmaenca I of linen hailer his arm Not a bad idea where ve hides arc dear and servants plentiful fuIn Santiago de Cuba a city of some 50000 inhabitants there are not three shops worthy of the name The largest store Is located on Cale Enramadis back of the palace and the entire contents con-tents could be displayed In the parlor of rm onlml y dwelling house All manuI of geeds are on sale however all it is possible to purchase anything fonnd in the general country store of the Unied States but not m any quan thy tty captain of the Fifth immunes a wealthy young southerner with the reputation of looking after his company com-pany interests regardless of personal cost applied at the largest store In Santiago for light linen shirts Ve have them senor replied the clerkMany Many Oh yes plenty Well let me see mused the mi tary philanthropist doing a little fig urIng Send out to the Fifth volunteer volun-teer camp to Captain Blank about 100 shirts assorted sizes and have them there bY Senor senor hastily Interruptep the clerk aghast we have not that i t 1 i many we have not one dozen radr de Dlos One hundred shirts There I are not twentyfve II the province of Santiago One hundred Per Dies The shirts were ordered from New York No Grocer Stores I Cuba The entire abse1e of what we cal green grocery stores early becomes apparent ap-parent to the visitor There are small shops In which can be bought teas and sugar and articles of that class but for fresh vegetables It Is necessary to apply at the market The latter institution really forms the center of industry of each pity I is the 11nancial barometer and the visible proof of the progress of all trade From early morning until late at night it is occupied by tIm petty merchants and the prospective custome The lower middle class and the bottom strata of municipal society frequent the main I street market or one of its branches YTLZAUU ° P1BdLWTc 1 Ii lilt Y q I tV IlI I S W i j INTERIOR OF TEB LGEST ST ORE I SANGO I It is a thriving beehive i that is never empt and the money changing hands lit the course of twentyfoul hours is I nc inconsiderable sum One can pass through the entrance and emerge again fully clothed fed and satisfied There are stalls offering I for sale fish boots canebottomed chairs walking sticks medicine and lottery tickets Cheek by jowl will be I found a jewelry booth carrying a valuable valu-able stock and one displayIng ten ba nanas at cents the lot I Each Cuban market Is a bedlam of noisesthat class 0 roar expected from a horde of shrivoiced negroes negrees and excitable halfwhites There are drunken people shouting servants and babies The conversation of the strange visitor must perforce be carried on through the medium of gesticulations and J is difficult to I make ones meaning plain even then There are policemen about and wardens ward-ens of the market but they mae no effort to quell the constantly arising disturbances except under danger of rio Probably one of the most peculiar customs noticeable in the Cuban markets mar-kets Is the extremely small purchases small in quanttymade by the lower class of natives Small gourd cups holding scarcely more than a tablespoonful table-spoonful are used in measuring rice flour beans and peas Cabbages are cut in wedges time size of a cigar turnips Into eighths squaghes into minute chunks and oJ10n In halve Potatoes Pota-toes are sold by number Buying Two Ounces of Meat H is no uncommon thing to see a woman buy a piece of meat weighing a couple of ounces then pas through the market purchasing a tablespoonful of vegetables here and a piece of garlic there and finally after an hour of gossip depart with food products worth 5 or G cent An odd feature of the market is the temporary restaurants found in ever nook and corner They do not occupy stall hut are conducted wherever a bit of space can he secured As the sole equipments consist of a small charcoal brazier a fryingan and a wicker basket not much room is required basl1 quired The proprietor is generally an ancient I black dameone of the toothles mumblIng kind sometimes found in the south The menu Is not extensive rarely exceeding three articlesfried plantain tortillas or corn pancake and frUole a black bean There arc no dishes no cuter no napkIns The bean and cakes are sold together and the cake acts as a plate far the beans The fred plantains are stnCt in husks and are eaten much asa as-a banana the husk being peeled off by degrees A breakfast of this class consisting of two portions of cakes and beans and three plantains is semi for I 3 cents There are fried fish stands and places where jerked meat is the niece de resistance but they are reserved for those whO earn a daYs wage or who have money left them There Is a tradition In the Santiago market that a man fro Jamaic once started an eating place with real tables and plates but only the oldest frequenters tel i A new business in Cuban mercantile circles I the selling of pledged article to the American soldiers and visitors from the north Shortly after the surrender sur-render some one started the rumor that the pawnshops of Santiago were filled with valuable plate and jewels pledged by tIme Inhabitants during the siege This may have been true to a certain extent but the quantity ot alleged tam Ily heirlooms carried from Cuba during cne the Dast six months would Sand for three periods of Spanish history Last June there were two pawnshops In Santiago Today there are at least six and they are springing up fully equipped all over the city I I quite the thing for the tourist to ask after their location on reaching shore amid his purse must be small If he cannot 1 < L L cary away one or more picre candlestck sliver teapots 01 Inlaid I machetes The painful truth is tat these articles are pouring Into the coast cIttrs from the interim and frm adjacent jact Islands in an Increasing stream A volunter signal officer lately r I I turned fronts ant took get pride In exhibiting to his envious friends a curiouslY worked sord ho had secured at a price from a dealer down there Ho told its history anti how it had been woh by a ancient grandee from Spain until one day a InquisItive acquaintance found a little marl on the lower pat or the hilt which read Made in Gerny 1197HENRY HENRY HARRISON S L8 |