Show OUR CUBAN LETTER havana cuba march 15 could you step into our new orphanage this bright morning you would see something thing to bring tears to your eyes forty little aalfs lately rescued from starvation and not yet out of danger of death from suffering buffering undergone are aliso tully fully happy over a few toys the first they ever owned in their lives it came about in this way by dr jessers leasers Lea Les sers order each child who is able to sit up is put out on the broad marble veranda which faces the whole eastern side of the house for an hours sunning after its bath and breakfast being in charge a few hours the other morning I 1 was sitting out with the c hildren children almost baked in the sunbath myself while holding in my lap small girl skeleton whose protruding bones bone could hardly bear the wooden chair chab when a stalwart young american sauntered up the path he proved to be an angel in disguise said he 1 I came ua up to say goodbye good bye to miss mies barton as I 1 am leaving habana this evening and finding her out of town I 1 thought I 1 would come over and take a look at toe the new orphanage it happened that I 1 was boiling over with indignation at the recent action of the spanish government in refusing to pass through the custom house a box of childrens chil dreas toys which some kind soul in the north had sent with the more substantial supplies from the united stat states therefore when the young man expressed a desire to do something for the hospital I 1 told him the story and suggested that he make his donation tn in the form of playthings tor for the patient little children who had to sit or lie sal all day long on their beds the idea pleased him and he rushed away in true american fashion saying that he would hunt the town and send up toys right away sure enc enough agh that very afternoon a big box arrived which contained more downright t solid comfort for the small folk in tb the e form of dolls and tin carts acet etcetera ec etera era than was wa evar ever packed in equal space before the name of the sender to is mr butler duncan of no I 1 fifth ave N Y and I 1 hope this paper may meet his ey eye so 00 that he may know how much good his generous gift has accomplished it was a sight to se those wan faces wh when en the look of incredulous toys were distributed the wonder gradually merging follow followed ed by into one of delight slowly an expression of fathomless contentment when they realized that the tore pre clous articles their very own even the tiny five year old boy with the big head and pipestem pipe stem legs and fe face as laughed when SL a small wooly dog with black bead eyes came into his hii goeb sion the lit little tle lad was found one morning in los fossos lying on a 11 dead womans comans breast although I 1 hare watched him closely during the several days he has been in the asylum I 1 new never before saw him smile or cry or exhibit the sit slightest latow of dislike oy de al ire hour r after lie he sat motionless on ht hh bed apparently indifferent to sub lunary things but with great solemn ayea black as an sloes aloes taking note of everything going on and the ble expression on the sphinx on his old old face the first human emotion he has haa been known to evince was over that wooly dog and last night he slept with 7 ii tightly clasped in his arms this i morning when I 1 stepped into the dormitory instead of the usual rows ofa ilent pathetic figures with listless hands lying idly icily before them walting waiting fo for they knew not what I 1 was greeted wath a chorus of shouts mira senora mira senora look lady from happy children eager to show their treasures to a 0 sympathizing friend my skeleton girl of the day before who seldom replied to any question however kindly put and never spoke vol harily except to beg a penny from past pas ang ng visitors the begging instinct bred in the bone now lay smiling on her pillow with three small dolls brave in red blue and yellow ranged in a row beside her transfigured trans figured face even the swarthy baby brigand a son of a ruffian if signs of heredi hereditary count for anything who erstwhile issued his fre quent orders with an air on one used to commando command and who disdained disdain ed to obey any regulations of the institution until reduced to a sort of armed traced by a season of solitary confinement in an up r per chamber had temporarily lost sight of his own consequence in the superior merits of a red tin cart one touch of nature lature makes the whole world kin child nature to Is very much alike i in wace palace or in hovel prom from genera tion to generation among the richest and the poorest children make their i dandelion curls in the sunshine the girls choose miniature babies and the boys boyo noisy playthings by instinct as young birds build their nests without instruction the first as aa perfect as the last laet but do not send any more toys to the asyl asylum tim dear friends thanks to mr duncan it is now well supplied in that line and the everlasting wrestle with the custom house may for the present be averted let youit generosity take some other form just now condensed milk is the thing lp in the greatest rea test demand it costs 40 cents a cian can in habana and besides the baias babies there rae thousands of adults who whose stomachs weakened from long starvation can digest nothing else I 1 am told by a cuban lady whose whole family have been devoted to the care ol of the poor ever since this time of suffering began that at least a hundred bables babies within her knowledge have died this week for want of milk it is im pos elble to send too many boxes of it bales car carloads lods shiploads ship loads of it it if there were plenty of condensed milk nw in cuba and people to feed it judiciously to the sick and starving the death rate would be lessened fully 80 por pec cent t saturday I 1 accompanied the senatorial comm commission llon and the red cross family to matanzas to investigate condit condition ibin of affa affairs tirs in that once city of veras perhaps ap pp inhabitants first the three car ir a P ride from our suburb the cerro to the ferry on the other side of Haba habana pit then a hasty almu almi terzo erzo of bread asid and chocolate in the waterside water side cate la jur auz then across the bay in the crawled crow led boat mixed up with chat spaniards and cubans soldiers awat and donkey carts past the n wanig oly wreck of the maine and the OW montgomery lately arrived and war vessel Alpho alphonsa alphonos nob XIII to thea lose looe rows of now empty sugar etere houses on the R regla I 1 a aide arid t two a three hours ate railway ride to anias capital of thie the adib nir probo ater it j et lit h a tafe 6 name dy V WB at bog N tinaa 1 not and wi with aw colw r reason n were rife of insurgents near by and the a accompaniment ofa carload car load of soldiers fresh from spain going to some station in the interior increased the danger tar far more than it gave protection tec tion accidents are frequent along this line obstructions placed on the track bombs thrown upon the train shots fired through the cars my M previous journey over the same road when bound tor for a sugar plantation 40 miles beyond cardenas led me to believe the assertion of my cuban friends that I 1 am a mascotte the day before an exploding bomb killed one passenger and injured several on the day of my return a train on another branch of the road was wrecked and the day after three passenger cars were pitched down into an arroyo every train that passes this way has haa its strong guard of soldiers in an ironclad iron clad car attached a cattle cat covered with iron plates in which are loopholes loop holes for guns each soldier standing at his gun ready for instant action on the day of our journey to matanzas burning cane fields on I 1 elther either side told that the insurgents were not inactive nor far away at one time we counted seven fires within the range of vision but we are also assure assured d that the rebels whose secret sympathizers are in every houss house throughout the land are all posted in all that is going on and that the presence of so many americans their supposed friends rendered the train safe from attack on the other hand it was vaa asserted that the greatest danger would come from spanish treachery that soldiers in the forts might have orders to firmat the hat airi ans especially as outspoken senator gallinger was of the party and the action afterwards attributed to the insurgents as so many spanish atrocities have been but nothing happened in perfect safety we pursued the even tenor of our way and arrived in due time at matanzas the ladles ladle of the congressional party did not venture to make the trip there were senators money gallinger and smith representatives senta tives amos G cummings Cum minga editor klopsch of the christian herald he who has agreed to furnish the magnificent ent surn sum of a month tor for six months to the red cross society from the christian or of the me ed states besides several secretaries two photographers and the usual contingent of reporters the red cross party including miss barton five members of her staff and her humble friend your correspondent matanzas is one of the oldest and quaintest quain test cities of cuba and before the wax war was one of the wealthiest but to la now most woefully down at the heel four centuries ago a populous indian village named yuwayo occupied the same delightful situation between two rivers with a broad bay in front as aa blue as the sky above it environed by green hills in the form of an amphitheater history tells us de how in 1693 don manzaneda Mane aneda purchased acres of land from king carlos II 11 including the then deserted yuwayo whose original inhabitants had long since been killed or enslave ed by the thrifty Sparil spaniards ards the new owner abely settled thereon a colony of canary islanders which perhaps accounts for the peculiar yellowish brown complexion of the inhabitants of today the founding of matanzas was completed with an expedition unique in cuban affairs and worthy worth of the builders of chicago the binary canary colonists arrived on saturday aften irmon I 1 in oc tober the next morning bishop com pompilla po spilla assembled them and with mass and ceremony solemnly changed the I 1 heat heathen lien name of the alace to san bain carlos y sato bab Severt beverino no on monday monda y j the third day the corner stone atone of the cath cathedral dral was laid and abd the aate marked out for a baw oatle and abe ruing of which still remain the colonists were afterwards aads given a considerable space in the adjacent vailey va valley iley for a cattle range and tor mahy Y years devoted themselves to the ra raising asting of cattle for beef hence in time the place became known as el saso de san carlos y san severino 1 ma banzas meaning slaughter pen but the tha name being too long tor for every day use for lazy people seven eights of jt it was soon omitted the growing city eventually climbed up the hillside and stepped over the rivers san juan and which are supposed to bound it on the north and south that portion of the city now lying south of san juan known as pueblo nuevo new town is connected by several handsome stone bridges among thern them the notable puente belem and con bains the railway depots and many handsome villas in the outskirts it has also one orf of the handsomest streets in all cuba the calzada avenue de san eatedal Eat edan lined with imposing resl t dences all of which have pillared fronts I 1 and porticos and flower filled gardens surrounded oy by iron with talf stone pillars topped by urns portico and terraces terr acee are paved with mosaic of black and white marble or blue and yellow tiles and t colors and com bl nations styles of architecture and ornamentations that in our country would be pronounced gaudy here tone in perfect harmony with the bright sun SUIT and blue sky Matan central square the plaza darmas is laid out with the usual walks and shrubbery benches and gas posts and has a fine statue of ferdinand VIL VII in the center in this plaza in times past many patriots have met death by order of the government here gabriel concepcion Concepc iott de la valdez the celebrated mulatto poet and one of the noblest men cubar cuba ever produced was shot by soldiers ot the linee he was accused of complicity with the slave insurrection ot of 1844 when the blacks made a desperate effort to gain their freedom Grouped 1 around the plaza darmas are the several government ofil offices ces the resi re dences of the bishop the commandants comm andante and others high in authority also the finest shops and cafes the northern portion portio n of Mat mamansag Matan ansag aaa that lying beyond the river to is called versailles arm nair way war up the cumbre hills from the summit of the cumbre or rather from ibex top of Mount serrat chapel one may mar get an incomparable view of the yu murt murl valley a stretch of emerald emeral cl gorge with a river running through giu enclosed within green hills once dotted with gardens and orange groves with stately palms and villas now all blackened desolate and empty to one familiar with old spain the prospect recalls the vega of grenada it Is believed that this narrow valley valler was once a lake walled across its ital present seaward opening and that some convulsion of nature rent the bowl and precipitated the lake into tue ocean leaving the river in its dourm course on the hills nearest the bay at ate are e the barracks of santa isabella now nw garrisoned the military hospital and two or three similar eions and directly below them for mile and a half along the waters front of versailles runs the paseo maseo or fash conable drive laid out with gravelled travelled gravel led walks androws and rows of trees a para pet and tron iron gates at either end beau yond the paseo maseo proper an excellent road extends two miles further out to the flie old fort and castle of san sever ino on gardo pat point before the war this charming was wail crowded every everly morning and eitt trig irig with handsome elul equIp pAye bJes fined with the beauty and I 1 fashion of ite but now not a domen dom carriages carria carritt geB kes are a re let left in thep dit district griat tk grandeas grandees gran dees of other days day arc pw MI W church mice A aa diers and hungry we are T eln 16 the pasia had been ordered for ow our dodty at the I which hiplito hid lito 18 perhaps als beut smallest emal lest and cleanest of tho eight elg ht or ithie leading hotels with which jathas Is blessed it Is built arvind round a sunny patio in which pal mottos and bananas flowering vines and alid Ir fragrant agrant shrubs flourish to perfection fec tion directly in front of the main entrance a beautiful marble basin set in the wall looks like the holy water fountain foUnt aln in a cathedral while above it a tainted painted placard warns the populace fn an choice castilian that only guests of the hotel are expected to wash therein A flight of stone steps leads to parlors and bedrooms on the second floor the rooms are marble floored alts dadoes daddes of blue and yellow tiles asti all Is as picturesque and stanisa ag aa anything out of spain directly opposite is a small plaza with cia daal trees banked by a moldy old hurch church in which a lot of rusty bells sleep for weary travelers wore before the many course midday mid day breakfast was over word was brought the governor was waiting to re elve j us ua in his palace and presently bones somewhat tim w y trusted our to rickety carriages and were timbered elwe with ceremony into the pres sam of his excellency the governor br matanzas is certainly a raza raia avis avie among spaniards in cuba being an amicable gentleman and a friend of americana in his case a beautiful maew of rooms had already been pre paid for miss barton and |