-
THE PITTSBURG DISPATCH
PAGES' 9 TO .
1 '"
SECOND PART.
NYE BOOMS! G. NEW.
He Writes an Open Letter to the
Erince of Wales and
SPEAKS OP JOHN'S GOOD POIHTS.
-
Handy at Poler or Politics and a Genial
Night Companion.
i. FEAGKAKT BAKCH IS INDIANA
rvnUTTEN TOE TBI PIsrA'rCB.1
HE past week we have
been gaily ricocheting
to and fro over the
State of Indiana. In
diana is keenly alive
to the great possibili
ties in store for our
common country. In
diana .believes that
good men should be at
the helm and she also
has in mind several of those who would he
willing to attend to the helm business if
urged to do so.
Kokomo is the Hoosier headquarters for
natural gas. Those who desire to observe
this phenomenon should not forget to visit
Kokomo. But if they want to see natural
gas in all its glory and with lasting quali
ties, they should goto to dear old smokeless
Pittsburg. Twenty-one years ago an oil
company bored down 900 feet or so in search
of oil in what is now called the gas belt.
Afrthat depth the drill broke oft, and as
no one in the neighborhood was strong
enouglfin the front teeth to pull it out, it
has remained there ever since. The provi
dential feature about it is that had the
drill gone a few feet farther, gas in great
quantities would have been turned loose
and no one would have known what to do
with It Now it is regarded as a blessing,
leat that time it might have scared the
people out of the county.
AN INVENTIVE CENTOS.
Gas was discovered by a dentist at Find
lay. 0., first, I believe. He had a cistern,
through the water ot which he noticedlittle
Jfalural Gas Well Pride of Kokomo.
bubbles percolating from time to time. This
gas had a slight odor resembling the tomb of
the Capulets. The doctor placed a large in
verted sheet iron funnel over the cistern and
to the apei he attached a pipe leading to his
kitchen stove. By changing the grate a
little, he was enabled to utilize this gas for
cooking and heating purposes for many
years before any great notice was taken of
it. Being of an inventive turn of mind, he
arranged a scheme by which be was enabled
to light the fire in the morning without get
ting out of bed.
When a great man comes to Kokomo, in
stead of calling out the band, they take him
to the biggest gas well and touch it oft for
him. So far it has worked very well,
except in the case of the Honorable
Daniel W. "Voorhus, who was think
ing over the late war at the time
the well was blown up, and he
was so startled that he ran all the
way to Indianapolis, it is said, surrendering
to every one he met on .the way. He was
heard to say as he poulticed his immortal
soul with a flagon of Matt Henning's Cele
brated Anodyne for Han and Beast, that he
would rather fill a drunkard's grave any
day than to be scared to death in a foreign
strand.
AK OPEN LETTEB TO NEW.
"Referring to politics in Indiana, I have
taken the precaution to furnish the follow
ing letter of introduction to Colonel John
C. "Sew, so that he will hardly have a
chance to feel lonely while in London:
"Kokomus, Iso., March 20, 1839.
"Mr. A. E. Guelph, Boom 18, Marlborough
House:
"Dear Pbince This will introduce to
your notice my friend, Colonel John C.
New, who goes among you in a kindly
spirit, representing our Government in a
commercial wav. Show him thn town and
introduce him to your mother. Should the ?
yueeu ever piav oia sieage at eventide sue
will find Colonel Kew an excellent partner,
yet always keenly alive to the importance
of turning a jack at the proper time.
"Colonel "New is a scholarly man, yet with
al, simple and unassuming in his manners.
He is the most democratic Republican I
ever knew. I would like to impress on vou
also the importance of cultivating friendly
diplomatic relations with him. He is the
editor of the Indianapolis Journal, a paper
whose friendship means a great deal to a
rising young prince. Do not offend Colonel
"New, tor he can injnre you very much if he
should take a notion, especially in Indiana.
Some day you are liable to be a king, in
stead of the red-faced nine spot that you are
at this time. "When that ""day comes, Bert,
you don't want the Indianapolis Journal
down on you. As King of Great Britain
and Mortgagee of Ireland you should have
the press on your side ere you begin to
reign. If I were in your place I would, on
presentation of this letter at the hands of
Colonel N ew, immediately open up friendly
diplomatic relations with America by sub
scribing for the Journal for a year, includ
ing the Sunday edition. This will do you
no harm, but, on the other hand, it will
show that you take an interest in us. If I
could see you for a few hours I could give
you some points on the policy for you to
pursue on assuming the portfolio of king,
which would make your reign perfectly
solid with the people and give you a steady
job as long as you live.
PAT IN POKES AND POLITICS.
"Colonel Hew can tell you a good many
things about it and how to work vour home
conventions and primaries in the interest of
harmony. He is the greatest man for har
monv you ever saw. If he cannot be har
monious he asks to be excused from the
game. Many years ago he playea a very
good conservative game of poker, but when
he became a newspaper man, he came out
and took higher ground. You might pos
sibly again awaken his interest in the game.
I could not promise.
"Colonel New was the gentleman who,
many years ago, when the country was also
new and iniested with bears, and rattle
snakes were so plentiful that a sober man
took his life in his hand, as you might say,
sat up quite late in the evening playing
draw poker with two of his friends and a
stranger who was short oue eye. The party
played a pretty stiff game up to 13 o'clock,
it is stated, and the gentleman with one eye
had all the stakes. At this moment Colonel
"New arose, and, putting a littlfe machine
-oil on the mechanism of a large, eight
pound revolver which he had in his over
mmvl m 4
coat, laid the toy on the table near him.
Ihen tearing the wrapper from a fresh pack
of cards, he said briefly, but with great
warmth: 'Gentlemen, we will now proceed
with a new pack. I do not wish to charge
any gentleman with cheating, or to call any
names, and I will not do so, but, said he,
taking a pecan from his pocket and crack
ing it with the butt of his revolver, 'if any
gentleman should again undertake to stock
the cards or monkey with the tardy, but
"""ai growin oi siraigms ana nusues, we
will shoot out his other eye.'
HANDT IN EMERGENCIES.
"So yon will see that the Colonel is a cool
man at a trying-time, and though preferring
generally to endure a great wrong rather
than to io one, he would not hesitate
in case of a difference between
rival powers or hot words over the relative
values of crowned heads, to climb over the
table and make you show your hand or go
home with an italicised nose upon you.
"I say all this for your sake, Mr. Guelph,
for yon don't know what morning you may
be called suddenly by the first assistant
custodian of the reigning tools and told to
jerk the scepter over a great nation. Keep
friendly with the American people and do
the square thing by the press. "When you
are called upon to assume the throne, I
honestly think it would do you no harm to
run a double column ad in the the leading
papers for a year or two, until you felt se
cure as king, then you could gradually or
der out these ads and call attention to your
reign by means of announcements on the
fences.
"With these remarks I will close, thank
ing you in advance for any courtesy shown
to Colonel New. and hoping to hear from
you at your earliest convenience."
The letter, of which the above is a copy,
has been forwarded to the New Consul Gen
eral at London, and I sincerely hope may
be of use in opening up more friendly rela
tions with a country which certainly has
had the laugh on us ever since Lord Sack
ville "West was made to contribute himself
to our campaign fund.
INDIANA A SCENTEB.
Indiana, among other distinct features, is
the proud possessor of the only successful
skunk ranch in the world, of which we
know, at least If there are any other skunk
ranches now on a paving basis I have not
yet visited them. The domestication of this
little rhododendron has so far been left to
Mr. Joseph Lininger, near Huntington. He
has a ranch there of this kind, and goes
into society very little indeed I am told.
Few go to see him, and his groceries are
handed over the fence to him by means of a
fishing pole.
Skunks are most prized for their far and
also their oil. The oil is not used on salad,
as many suppose, "but as a remedy for croup.
Skunk s oil is worth 10 cents an ounce, and
the contest between a tablespoonful of it
and a case of croup is said to be entirely
one-sided. Mr. Lininger began with 14 of
these animals. He now has several hun
dred of them, and can buy any of the ad
joining farms at his own price.
Last summer he used to go to church at
Huntington every Sunday morning, but
this year the church is paying him $5 a
week to pray in secret
The stunk is said to possess strong affec
tion for the human beinj,, but in most in
stances it is not returned. The skunk re
sembles the elephant in one respect, viz.,
because he cannot climb a tree.
Mr. Lininger says this little animal does
not require much food, and even that little
is of the plainest kind. And yet he is an
offal eater after all.
A NEW r ANGLED PET.
The sac which supplies the little helio
trope with his all ' pervading scentiments
may be easily removed, says Mr. Lininger,
and then the animal is as harmless, and
even more devoted than the common house
cat Possibly that may lead to the general
adoption of this animal as a house pet some
day, and along withthe stiagless bulldog
our houses will be filled with delight. Then
the Pittsburg landlord who cannot let us
have a house if we are injudicious enough
to be parents and publicly' admit it can let
his high stoop brown stone front to a poodle
dog infirmary or a skunk aquarium, and
thank heaven that he is not encouraging
American children in our great industrial
center.
Here in Indiana there lives at Fairmont
an honest and deserving green grocer and
tradesman, whose name I did notlucceed in
getting. He deserves to do well. He does
not prevaricate. He does not try to mis
represent Banged along the front of the
store he exhibits vegetables of all kinds,
fruit in season, butter and eggs. All look
sweet and clean. Everything is neatly ar
ranged. Hung over these articles are the
price marks. Coming alone the egg coun
ter you discover a shingle on which is
painted with shoe blacking: "Eggs, 8 cts;
good, IS cts."
Noticing the large number of 8-cent eees
sold during the day. we have cancelled our
lecture date here and will go away on the
afternoon train. ' Bill Nye.
AHC1EN!T EGYPTIAN EACES.
Prof. VIrchow Dispell a. Generally BelleTed
Illation In Regard to These People.
Prof. Virchow has recently given us in
the proceedings of th Boyal Geographical
Society an important memoir on the ancient
races of Egypt His inquiries are of great
value, as they serve to show in what appears
to be a conclusive manner something con
cerning the racial characters of the people
who constructed the marvelous civilization
of the ancient empire. He has overthrown
the old view that the Egyptians in tha time
of Menes were identical in race with the
people of the present day. It was long sup
posed by those who followed Lepsius that
the southern part of the Egyptian folk, a
people who evidently had a large share in
the development of that civilization, were
negroes of the ordinary African type.
Virchow has show this not to be the case.
The Nubians or Berbers are by the char
acter ot their skin, the nature of their hair
and the form of the skull akin to the north
ern people of the Bedouin, race, and not to
the Southern Africans. The Interesting
part ofVirchrow's work relates to thechauge
of color which comes over the Northern peo
ple from a long residence -fh Southern
climate. He asserts that Greeks whose
grandparents were born in the North acquire
the same general look as the people in the
biblical land of Kush. The Egyptians of
to-day appear to be closely related to the
natives of Morocco and the Canary isles.
Peculiarities of Wall Street.
Joe Howard In if. Y. Press.
Wall street is fall of pools, and the
pools are full of fools, and the fools are full
of law, and the law is full of cricks and
cracks known only to the wary intelligence
of expert students, to whom neavy retainers
must be paid and liberal fees conveyed from
time to time, if their services .are to be
brought into play for either one side or the
other.
zmmwn
AN IMMORAL. STAGE.
Three Noted Divines Talk on the In
fluence of the Theater.
TALSIAQE SCOKES THE SHOW BILLS
Dr. Cuyler Thinks the Drama's Fascina
tion is Unwholesome.
HOWARD OfiOSBY. ATTACKS THE BALLET
rwEixrEN ros ran dispatch. 2
You ask me about theaters. Ihave been
many times in theaters during the last ten
years, but only to preach and lecture. I
never was more than three times in a thea
ter to witness a play, and that was when
aboutl9 years of age. I am told the thea
ter is mightily improved, and that now it is
a very useful institution. I will not in this
article make wholesale attack upon trage
dians and comedians. 'There are 100
questions in regard to the theater that
might bcasked, which I shall not answer
now, the most of them having been an
swered at some other time. Ton say that
Henry Irving and Edwin Booth and Joseph
Jefferson are great actors and honorable
men. I believe it
The question that I want to discuss is:
"Are the theaters advancing in high moral
tone?" There are three or four reasons for
answering this question in the negative.
And the first is the combined and universal
testimony of all the secular newspapers of
the land that are worth anything. 'There is
not any secular newspaper of any power in
the United States which has not within the
past few years, both in the editorial and
reportorial column, reprehended the styles
of spectacular most frequent It is con
trary to the financial interests of the secular
newspapers to criticise the playhouse, be
cause from it comes the largest patronage,
larger than that from any other source,
thousands and tens of thousands of dollars
a year. When, therefore, the secular news
papers of the land, contrary to their finan
cial interests, severely criticise the play
house for imbecile and impure drama, their
testimony is to me conclusive.
in the negative.
On the negative side of this question I
roll up all the respectable printing presses
of America Another reason for answering
this question in the negative is the de
praved advertisements on the board fences
and in the show windows from ocean to
ocean. I take it lor granted that those ad
vertisements are honest, and that night by
night are depicted scenes there advertised!.
Are those the scenes to which parents take
their sons and daughters, and young men
their affianced? Would -you allow in your
parlor such brazen indecency enacted as is
produced every night in some of the thea
ters of America unless their advertisements
are a libel? If the pictures are genuine the
scenes are damnable. That which is wrong
in a parlor is wrong on a stage. It
ought to require just as much completeness
of apparel to be honorable in one place as to
be honorable in another. If fathers and
mothers accustom their sons and daughters
to such lack of robe, and then in after time
the plow-share of libertinism and profligacy
should fro through their own household,
-they will get what they deserve. It seems
as if, having obtained a surplus of sanctity
during the Lenten services, right after
Easter, all through the United States, the
streets become a picture gallery which
rival 8 the museums of Pompeii, which are
kept under lock and key. Where are the
mayors of the cities and the judges of the
courts and the police, that they allow such
things?
I declare what every man and woman
knows to be true. When our cities are
blotched with these depraved advertise
ments, is there not some reason why we
should think that the theaters of this coun
try are not very rapidly advancing toward
millennial excellence?
T. DeWitt Talmage.
PERILS OF TEE PLAYHOUSE.
Rev. Or, Cnjler Points Oat the Dangers of
the Modern Theater.
I have often been asked, "Would it be
right for me to go to the theater? If not,
then why not?" , Those who propound these
questions are not of the dissipated and dis
solute class, but clean young men and
maidens too clean to be smirched by need
less exposure to impure influences. That
such questions are raised constantly is not
surprising, for the. playhouse is increasing
persistently in its demands on popular at-,
tention and patronage. It fills a constantly
enlarging place in the daily journals. Thea
ters multiply more rapidly than churches,
in some of our great cities. Theater-going
increases more than church-going. The
dead-walls are covered with pictorial repre
sentations'of scenes and actors in full dress
(or of no dress at all); and many of these
axe of such disgusting indecency that they
deserve suppression by the public authori
ties. If the pictures be so shameless, what
must the originals be?
We do not affirm that every popular play
is immoral, or that every performer is im
pure, or that every theater-goer is on the
scent for sensual excitements. But the
stage is to be estimated as a totality, and
the whole trend of the average American
stage is hostile to heart purity. The excep
tions do not alter the rule. Nor have honest
attempts to bring the stage up to a high
standard of moral purity been successful.
AN UNSUCCESSFUL EXPEBIMENT.
The experiment pnee made in Boston of
so managing a theater as to exclude every
indelicacy from the stage, and every notori
ously improper person from the audience,
ended in pecuniary failure. The Puritanic
playhouse soon went into bankruptcy. The
chief object of the manager is to make
money, and if he can spice his evening's en
tertainment with a plot that turns on a se
duction, or a scene of sexual passion, or
with a sagacious exposure of physical
beauty, the temptation is too strong to be
often resisted.
You must take the average stage as it is,
and not as you would like to have it It is
an institution which, if you patronize, you
become morally responsible for, as much as
if you were to patronize a public library, or
a public drinking saloon. As an institu
tionHt habitually unsexes woman by parad
ing her before a mixed audience in man's
attire. Too often it exposes her in such a
pitiable scantiness of any attire at all. that
if you saw your own sister in snch a plight,
you would turn away your eyes in horror.
Yet you propose to pay your money (through
the box office) to somebody else's sisters and
daughters to violate womanly delicacy lor
your entertainment. "It the daughter of
Berodius" dances to please you, then you
are responsible for the dance, both in its in
fluence on the dancer and your own moral
sense. There is no evading, before God, of
your accountability for the theater if you
habitually support jt
A DANOEBOUS FASCINATION.
Another peril of the theater arises from
the fascination which it too often engenders.
Like wine-drinking, it becomes an appetite.
To gratify this growing passion for the play
house, tens of thousands of young people
squander their money and their time. Other
and purer recreations become tame and in
sipid. Wholesome pleasures cease to please,
just as a brandy drinker ceases to be satis-
4mA wltl. nlr! wfttjki- Tt la nnf M.pa4tl.M
.but stimulation, .and a very dangerous sort
PITTSBT3RG, StJNDAT, APETJG T, 1889. .
of stimulation, too, that you will be after,
when vou become enslaved by the fascina
tion of the stagey.
My young friends, be assured that no
sagacious employer ever chooses a clerk or
accountant, or any other employe, the sooner
because he is a theater-goer. No sensible
man is apt to select the companion of his
heart and home because she is a frequenter
of a playhouse. No good woman wants her
sons and daughters there. No pastor ex
pects' that his youthful church members
can go into that impure atmosphere without
a terrible damage to their piety. I don't
believe that the theater has ever up
held manj souls toward heaven. I
know that it has sent thousands to perdi
tion. Now that I have, in a kind and can
did plainness of speech, pointed out some
of the inevitable perils of the playhouse, do
vou feel like taking the risk?
Theo. L. COTLEB.
ATTACKING THE BALLET.
Br. Howard Crosby Says VVomen Matt be
Banished From the Stage.
The difficulty thai occurs in treating of
the theater arises1 from the confounding of
the theoretical theater, and the actual the
ater. We can readily imagine a chaste and in
structive play, performed by actors of high
moral character, but in fact we do not find
this article. We find almost every play an
attack on purity, suggestive of lascivious
thought or exhibiting breaches of the mari
tal relation. And we find the mass of actors
and actresses to be of bad repute in this very
department of sin. The few who are not are
so few as to make the fact only more con
spicuous. The pictures that are placed
around the streets inviting the people to the
theater are disgusting in their licentious
semi-nudity The ballet is a disgraceful
adjunct to the theater, tending to the same
fostering of impurity. In short the stage
of to-day is a nursery of lewdness, and the
idea of moral or intellectual improvement
from it is a burlesque. Prominent actors
muu ..j.tBv.j, .rcu wjr ,uic UUU ouu -,
mitted into .the theater-going society, are
iouna living in open aauitery, ana tne tne
ater people think nothing of these fearful
sins. This feature of the theater is not ex
ceptional. vIt is the feature of the theater
everywhere to-day. Impurity is its.stamp.
The olass of low houses and low characters
that always cluster around a theater is a
clear sign of its immoral atmosphere.
A LAMENTABLE PAILUBE.
The attempts to purify the theater have
been lamentable failures, and the reason is
that the theater must depend for its support
on the patronage of the multitude, and their
demand is for pabulum to the evil passions.
The managers' must .yield to this demand.
If the object was to do good (the object
which an institution of morals would have)
then this necessity would be done away, but
the object is not to do good, but to make
money by delighting the people.
The only time the stage was pure was in
Athens before Aristophanes disgraced it
For half a century iEschylus, Sophocles
and Euripides wrote for a pure stage, not to
make money, but to educate the people.
In that pure period no woman was allowed
to act But when the stage became lascivi
ous, then women appeared upon it, and
every form 91 lewdness was propagated by
this teacher of morals.
The very first action toward a pure theater
must be the banishment of women from the
stage, and that would drive nine-tenths of
the tbeater-goers from the theater, and to
render the business unprofitable, pecuni
arily. The theater, in my estimation, is an in
curable ulcer. Howabd Cbosbt.
WELL DISCIPLINED INSECTS.
Ingenuity nn& G'eneraHhlp Displayed In
Wars Among Ants.
Ants are well-disciplined insects. Like
the bees, to which they are allied, theyare
industrious, but, unlike the bees, they di
vide more methodically and equally the
work to be done. In the case of bees some
act as sentinels, some attend on the queen,
others collect honey, and so on, but whether
each bee is kept to the same duty through
out life, or whether they are promoted from
one post to another, naturalists have not
yet been able to -Jell us. With ants, how
ever, the workersre specially divided into
several classes. The civil portion and the
military sections each do their work with
rfut interfering with each other in the least
The militaryvants are again subdivided
into officers and' rank and file, and when
they march out the officers place themselves
at the side of the column and not in the"
ranks. In this way the officers are able to
stop stragglers, and by means of commu
nication one with the other to know the
commands ofthe general officer all through
the line.
Tropical ants are even superior to Amer
ican ants in their modeof warfare, and have
reached a point of military perfection that
is absolutely startling. Hen are obliged to
depend upon varieties oi uniform to distin
guish their officers, but the ants have a
much more natural method of recognition.
The higher the rank in the army the big
ger the head of the ant the heads of some
of the highest officers being bigger than the
whole body of a private. It is, however,
only the femaleswho do the fighting for
the ants are a natidU of Amazons, and the
males are of no more account in the com
munity than the bridegroom at a wedding.
War among ants are chiefly conducted for
the pujpose of capturing slaves, and the
ingenuny and generalship displayed in
slave-stealing forays are truly remarkable.
SWINDLING GUEEN FARMERS.
A Sharp Trick Tbat is BcIng'PJayed
In
Backs County.
PbllaaelpMa Eccord.l-
Many.uususpecting farmers in Bucks and
Huntingdon counties have been swindled
out of hundreds of dollars recently by a
clever scheme, worked by a gang of gentle
manly appearing sharpers. One of the
gang drives up to a farmer's house and re
quests permission to store in the barn a
number of pitchforks of an inferior quali
ty. Permission being granted, the farmer
is told tbat the forks comprise the last of a
large consignment, and will be sold at very
low figures in order to close a transaction.
A tempting offer is then made of 60 per
cent commission to the farmer upon any
sales made while tie forks are temporarily
in his charge, and a long agreement, most
of whichis in fine print, and alleged to be
only a stipulation as to commission, is in
most cases then signed by the tempted tiller
of the soil, who neglects to read "the paper
carefully, and learns, when too late, that
he has contracted to buy the worthless forks
at an exorbitant figure,
She Breamed It.
Chicago Ledger. ,
He (about to ask for a kiss) I have an
important question to ask you.
She (playfully) I know what it is,
Charlie. You want me to be your wife; I
dreamed it Well, take me.
He (rather taken aback) You dreamed
it?
She Yes. I dreamed, it last night, and I
answered you as I am answering you now,
and you took me in your arms and kissed
me.
What could Charlie do?
A Mark of Intelligence.
Boston Courier. 3
Jones You said that dog of yours was a
good one, Smith.
Smith I did.
J He isn't then. He snarls at me every
time I approach your door.
S I said he was a remarkably intelligent
uog. ?
EURAL LIFE ffl CUBA.
The Colored Popn.ation Slowly but
Barely Gaining Supremacy
IN THE PEAKL OP THE ANTILLES,
Dirt and Laziness Weakening the Power of
the Cuban Whites.
THE TOMB OP COLUMBUS AT HAVANA
rCO&BESrONSEXCE Of THX DISPATCH.
AVANA, Cuba,
March 6. Of Cuban
rural life, little has
been written. The
traveler thinks he
knows how itought to
be, and never loses his
amusement because it
is not. You have heard
of the wealth of the
Cuban planners. Yott
have seen them in New
and noticed the size
York and Paris,
of the diamonds
suspended from the
ears of their wives. The reeeut dispute
over the property and the will of the lale
Mr. Terry, has revived social interest in the
subject, and the wealth and profits of the
sugar planters have been the theme of much
conversation. But the first and instantan
eous impression one receives from a visit to
the agricultural districts, is that farming in
Cuba does not pay. At least, if there is
any money in it, none is ever expended In
keeping up appearances, or providing the
comforts and luxuries one expects to see.
The rule of life is to accept what nature
has provided, with no endeavor to improve
or adapt it to the wants of men. The fruits
ofthe garden are eaten raw, and everything
that adds an atom to the cares or toils of
life is dispensed with. There is not a sus
picion of home or a symptom of comfort on'
Cuban plantations. The farm house, with
its palm leaf roof and earthen floor, is not so
good or so comfortable as the dugout, which
preceded the shanty and the tent upon the
plains of Kansas, but it has been occupied
Eavana Harbor.
by generations past as it will be by genera
tions to come, without a murmur or a sug
gestion that existence could' be improved.
It is like the towel at the country hotel,
of which the traveler complained. Five
hundred people had used it before him,
and he was the first to complain.
IDLENESS AND POVEETT.
I never saw a building in process'of erec
tion at any ef these places, or undergoing
repairs. A tew shovels of earth are added
to the roof in the rainy season, but the
rapidly accumulating filth on the walls
afford sufficient shelter in their direction.
These houses were made .and finished cen
turies ago, when the capacity of the soil
the richest in all the world was first dis
covered, and it has never occurred to those
who have succeeded to the inheritance that
they might be replaced o improved. They
answer aJ well now as they did then; for the
Cuban's wants are few. He is rich with a
.pair bf linen trousers and a speckled shirt;
rich in the sun-scorched filth that abides
with him forever. But he seems happy
enough. He has all he wants, all he thinks
he needs,and upon his floor of earth the pigs
and poultry share his food and his slumbers.
This drowsiness, idleness, poverty and
content has pervaded the air and possessed
the people since the Spanish finished slay
ing the natives, and brought negroes from
Africa for the work the sun's glare and
their own indolence forbade them to do.
The condition is permanent changelessuess.
A Cuban Bip Van Winkle would have no
difficulty in recognizing the place if he
should sleep, no matter how -many years.
He would see the same- half naked negro
slumbering peacefully in a sun that will
roast beef; the same dirty Senora in the
same filthy calico gown, and the same heel
trodden slippers upon her stockingless feet,
leaning listlessly against the same mud
walls; the same, old man in the same
speckled shirt, worn outside the same pan
taloons, howling in a hoarse, discordant
voice the virtues of the wares he is vending;
the same pigs wallowing with the same
naked children, and the same drowsy, per
spiring crowd of loafers hanging around the
corner "bodega," orgroceryin the eternal
noon,
ABSENTEE LANDLORDS.
This is the Cuba the stranger finds in the
"place ofthe beautiful thatched cottage with
far reaching eaves, surrounded by brilliant
plants, filled with gorgeous birds, and spicy
fragrance, which has had its place in the
pictured geographies ot his childhood, and
the dreams that haunted sleep when he was
planning his tour. He is charmed with no
lovely landscapes, and his senses have been
regaled with no pungent perfumes, which
the poets say can be caught far out at sea.
He finds there are more flowers on any
woodland hill in New York than in the
"Paradise of the Tropics," and more com
fort in the poorest farm-house of New En
gland than on the best and richest of the
plantations of the "Pearl of the Antilles."
Every energy the climate leaves in man or
beast is concentrated and absorbed in the
production of as many pounds of sugar as
possible to the acre, a production which has
paid to the owner who lives in Havana,
Paris or New York, a profit greater than
soil has ever yielded elsewhere, but at the
loss of the manhood, the morals, the health.
I and the happiness of those who labor here.
When Hpain releases ner despotic hold
upon Cuba, the negro population, as is the
case in Hayti, will reach out for genuine
freedom and become the owners and the
rulers of the island. The manliest destiny
of Cuba is to be governed by those who
labor the rule civilization has followed
everywhere. The Spaniard now only holds
tne place Dy tne vigorous use ot an army
that costs Cuba 525,000,000 a year, and by
the terrors Morro Castle inspires. The
Cuban is in a state of perpetual revolt in
his mind; and occasionally the eternal fire
of patriotism burns so fiercely that he yells
"Cuba Libre!" and breaks out in insurrec
tion, bpt he has not the fiber of which he
roes are made, and will never resist to suc
cess. THE TOMB OF COLUMBUS.
-Havana claims to hold in her keeping the
dust of the man who had the daring to cross
an unknown sea with 70 sailors thaf believed
they were in danger of getting.too near the
edge of things and sliding" off. Although.
he discovered a world, Colnmbus died in
poverty and disgrace, as did all the Spanish
explorers. Another man stole the glory
and gave his name to the hemisphere; but
two of the islands Columbus found are dis-k
pnting the honor of possessing his bones.
Historians think that' San Domingo has the
best title to the honor, but in the chief
cathedral of Havana, in the walls that sur;
rounded the altar, and just above the Bish-
fT M llhsl fa a laa.AnlAraJ ntnvhlA atak
Jupou whicirir written in gilt characters' and
amyy.-.-
1L'($ jJ
pretentious Latin the announcement that
the precious dust is in the vault below.
In another part of the city, near the boat
landing and the palace of the Captain
General, is a miniature chapel, not more
than 12 or IS feet square, which is said to
be the spot where mass was first offered by
Columbus after the discovery ot Cuba. The
place is inclosed in a high iron railing, and
the gate, which swings under & marble bust
ofthe explorer, is never opened but once a
year, and then on the anniversary, when
mass is celebrated by the Archbishop with
great eeremony.
Cuba has a splendid system of railroads
1,200 miles of track, penetrating nearly all
the fertile valleys and giving the sugar
planters easy and cheap transportation to
the sea but of wagon roads she has none.
Boad-making is a lost art among the Span
iards. There isn't a highway in all Cuba
outside the cities that will permit the pass
age bf anything wider than a mule. She
has the finest harbors in the world, yet at
the great port of 'Havana, the center and
focus of West India navigation, there is not
a quay or a dock or a pier at which a ves
sel can land. All the steamers are anchored
in the harbor .and every pound of freight as
well as every passenger is sent aboard and
ashore in small boats.
i FAMOUS MOEEO CASTLE.
At the entrance of the Havana harbor,
guarding a narrow gateway not more than
200 yards across, stands a" massive rock,
rising perpendicularly 165 feet' from the
sea, against which the waters of the gulf
cast their incessant spray. Upon this rock
stands the famous Morro Castle, the scene
of horrors as barbarous as those ofthe in
quisition, and if rumor may be accepted as
truth its dungeons to-day cover acts as cruel
as those of Caligula.
This castle is not so ancient as one of a
similar name and character that guards the
entrance to the harbor of Santiago de Cuba,
on the south side of the island, from which
Cortez sailed when he went to conquer
Mexico. The Havana castle was originally
built in the sixteenth century, but the En
glish blew it up 100 yean ago, and made its
re-erection necessary. But it is even grander
and gloomier than the original struct
ure, the deep crevices in the rock which
were widened out by the explosions being
utilized for dungeons from whch it is said
no one who enters ever escapes. The castle
is full of political prisoners, Cuban
"patriots" as they are called, who have
taken part in revolutions or have been
heard to breath treasonable sentiments
against the Spanish power. How nany
men are confined in those damp walls no
one can discover. It is tradition that those
are there whose existence has even been for
gotten, for the records of the prison are as
mysterious as the hook of Fate. The Span
ish officials claim that such records exist, 1
but l could nnd no one who ever seen them,
or would venture to say where they are.
Some say the books are kept in Spain, and
that when a prisoner is sent to Morro Castle
a record of nis crime, conviction and sen
tence is forwarded to the Minister of Justice
at Madrid, whose silence is "accepted as
assent, and whose edict alone can open the
prison doors. '
A LIVING TOMB.
There are people in Havana who claim to
have had friends sent to Morro Castle for al
leged conspiracy or kindred crimes,of whom
'no trace has ever been discovered, either
here or in Spain, and they cannot say
whether the victim of Spanish tyranny are
still in the dungeons, or have been released
by the hand of death. All agree, however,
that when one enters the castle under a
military guard for whatever crime, he
leaves all hope behind. Men have been re
leased in rare cases, but they tell of their
experience in whispers only to their nearest
friends, One man who was imprisoned for
treasonable talk, was a foreigner, and the
oonsul of his government interceding se
cured an order for his release. The com
mandant and his lieutenants afterward
made oathtbat the order was executed, that
the man was released and was last.seen bar
gaining with, a boatman to carry him
across the bay to the city, but his friends
never saw him again. They firmly believe
he was shot before the pardon reached the
castle, and that the affidavits of the officers
were the rankest perjury. A long corres
pondence was conducted oyer the case, but
it was finally dismissed.
"Visitors are shown the parade grounds
where military executions take place, but
no one dares -guess the number of bodies
that have been taken ' from the turf and
The Plaza at JfigM.
cast over the castle walls into the sea. The
commandant and the soldiers on guard ap
pear to know nothing about the number of
prisoners in their custody, or the disposition
that is made of them, and have only one
and an uniform answer to all inquiries on
the subject.
"How many men are in these dungeon?"
was asked of the escort who accompanied
our party. ,
"Dios Sabel" (God knows) was the
reply.
"What becomes of them?"
"Dios Sabe!"
"Are they ever released, or do they die
here?"
'Dios Sabe!"
"What becomes of their bodies in case
they are shot or die?"
NOTHING BUT SOLDIERS.
"Dios Sabel" and this monotonous but
significant echo to all questions was prob
ably the solemn truth, for the officers and
soldiers doinc guard dnty are often changed,
and their, experience and observation of
Spanish military discipline encourages
them to be extremely silent about what they
do know. Heaven alone holds the full
knowledge of the iniquities tbat have taken
Slace in Morro Castle, of the fate of the
undreds of unfortunates who encountered
A law directed only through the agents of a
military despotism.
There are more soldiers than anything
else in Cuba. You cannot walk a block
without meeting a man in uniform, and
the crows at the cafes, and the theaters are
sprinkled profusely with the curious but
cool blue iinen suits the soldiers , wear.
They swarm in all the pnblic places and
although they receive very little pay, and
often none, the most of them appear to
have enough mdney to buy the' cooling
drinks which taste so well in this climate.
Every stranger is regarded with the utmost
suspicion until his character and the object
of his visit are made known. No vessel is
to land a passenger until the purser pro
duces a passport for every man on board,
and the passport must bear the indorsement
ot the Spanisli Consul at the port from
which the vessel sailed. These documents
are taken in charge by the police authori
ties, and when one wants to leave the
island he must go to the Superintendent, re
cover his passport and secure a release be
fore he can purchase a ticket from any of
the steamboat companies.
. 'Beveblt Cbtjmp.
Unison Not Their Residence.
Yonkers Gazette.
Oircnit Eider (to wayside boy) Ah, my
little man, does peace reign with you at
home?
Boy It often rains pieces of furniture,
yes, sir.
C. E. Indeedl I infer, then, that your
parents do not live in unison?
Boy iTo, sir. They lire in Skinner's
Holler.
...4
EAST, AND WEST.
, A
A Tale of a Century Ago.
WEHTES "TOE THE DISPATCH ,
' ' BY "EITVAJaX EVEBETT XTftTiTI.
CHAPTEE L
SALEM OIBL3 X CBXTUET AGO.
"Good-by," said Jane, ai she opened the
front door.
"Good-by," said Sarah, as she stood in
the hall. VShall I see you to-morrow?"
"Why, yes," said Jane, "I shall see yott
to-morrow at Ipswich, if not before.",
"Ipswich?" said Sarah, "what is Ips
wich?" "I mean sleigh ride, you goose. You do
not mean that you are so interested in your
Cowperand your Adam Smith and your
Mother stuff, that you have forgotten the
Blelgh ride? Be sure yott wear your best
bib and tucker. Good-by."
"Good-by," said Sarah, and Jane closed
the door and went on her way. Sarah re
turned into the house.
No. she bad sot forgotten the sleigh ride,
for the simple reason that she had never
heard of it. And now it seemed that all
the girls in Salem knew that there was to
be a sleigh ride, and she did not know.
That was not very satisfactory to a girl who
had a right to consider herself one of the
best loved and most esteemed of the Salem
girls the general favorite, who had no
enemy. At the very bottom of her. heart,
of course, Sarah Parris knew why she had
not heard of the sleigh ride. She knew
perfectly well, at the very bottom of her
heart, that the young men had had a talk
after the party at the Norrises, and had
agreed that, if the sleighing lasted, there
should be a ride to Ipswich and a dance
there. This she knew "of native impulse,
elemental force;" she constructed It from
the law of the instrument, the moment she
knew that there was to be a sleigh ride. In
the same way she also knew, at the very
bottom qf her heart, that Harry Curwen
had saicfto the other young men, "in his off
hand, dictatorial way, "I shall ask Sarah
Paris, and you can ask whom you like."
A SALEM DIALOGUE A
Then she knew that Harry Curwen had
gone to Boston the next morning with his
father, and that he had taken it for granted
that she would go with him, and so had not
so much as taken the pains to write her a
note to tell her to hold herself engaged to
him. And so it was that she had the mor
tification of being the only girl in Salem
who was worth asking, who had not been
asked to the sleighing party.
All this, I say, she knew from native im-
E' ulse; but it was not very satisfactory to
ave to construct for herself the picture ot
what was going on in the town. Least of
all was it satisfactory that the news should
have been given her by Jane Endicott.
Sarah did not ask herself in what way she
would have liked to have the news "come,
but she did know that it could not have
come to tier in a more disagreeable way.
And at the very bottom of her heart
she had a provoked feeling that it was
not the first time that Harry Curwen
had treated her in this off-hand and take-for-granted
way.
Here was nice, sweet, pretty Sarah Parris
left in the lurch and yet not left in the
V lurch. She must have all her things ready
for a long sleigh ride, and yet she must
pretend that she did not know that there
was any sleigh ride. She must meet her
aunt and her cousins and talk of the party
or not talk ofthe party, as she thought best,
while she knew at the bottom of her heart
that as surely as 3 o'clock came around the
next day Harry Curwen would arrive, with
his elegant horses and beautiful sleigh, and
would take it for granted that she would be
capped and coated and ready to go with
him,
Now, it is perfectly true that, in a regu
lation story, Sarah Parris would have ad
ministered to the young man a proper re
buke. She would not have made ready to
go, she would not have been ready to go,
and when he came with his span of horses
and his sleigh, he would have been told to
go about his business, and would have lost
the party to Ipswich. But that was not
what Sarah Parris determined, and this
was not what Sarah Parris did. When, on
the afternoon of Thursday, he did come
around, just before 3, Sarah ran down the
steps to meet him, exactly as if he had
written'the note to her. She had her hands
in her muff, she had her pretty fur hood
upon her head, she had her heavy shawls
and the rest of her wraps, and her pretty
little feet were in the carpet moccasins,
which were also even pretty, because every
thing she had was pretty. And -Harry
Curwen lifted her into the sleigh with the
expression, to which she was not unaccus
tomed, ot perfect satisfaction with her ap
pearance. They bade good-by to the party
on the steps and drove away, " They were
among the first at the place of rendezvous,
but the last were not two minutes behind
them, and then with great shouting, cheer
ing and calling back and forth, the long
procession took up the line of march, if
march it may be called, and swept out over
the Danvers road toward Ipswich.
So soon as the long line was well under
way, Harry Curwen, having "made sure for
the tenth time that the bearskin was well
tucked in on the weather side of the lay,
said to her with real feeling: "Sarah, you
are good not to scold me; if ever a fellow
deserved to be scolded, it is I; bnt really,
my dear Sarah, it was not till I gave
Brewer the order for the horses to-day that
I remembered that I had not told you about
the party. And I drove up to the house
mortified well, mortified is no word
ashamed and frightened. You know very
well that there are 20 other men in this
i party who would have been glad enough to
j&uucJt iuu uiu, aau uow suouiu j. &aow uiafc'
you had not engaged yourself to one of
them?"
Sarah would not laugh, as perhapshe had
hoped she would; she said to him very seri
ously that he would have been served quite
rightly if he had not found her ready, and
Lthat the thought of leaving him ia the ,
. . i v -
lurch, as ha deserTO" had passed tirougi
her mind. . ,
"To tell vou the truth," said she, "if X
could have mortified ycru withoutmortifyinz
myself I should have dona "so, and", would,
have dona so- gladly. Bat. in the. first; place
I wanted to dance-,'!, wanted to see the girla
and wanted, to- be ire Ipswich. X did. not
choose to give trp therparty because- my man.
at the stable was. lata m sending; around my
horses. That was the way in which, i
finally put it in my mind. But. you have
no right to expose me or any other girl to
such mortification. Yon hive, been carelesc
enough before, and somehow, in some wavy
we will see that you ara rightly punished.
Yon must not expect to find ma with, my
muff on my hands-whenever you. choose-to
whistle."
Theyounz fellew deserved a great deal,
worse scolding than this. And to-tell the
truth, bit by bit, hehad his share thatnfghfc
of scoldings much, worse than, this- Buttha
foundation was thus laid fbc the whole
evening; in which, he was. taught a. hundred
times that h was on his good behavior,
that he must repent and reform. Tha
truth was that he was the spoiled child, cf
Salem, everybody knew him. an4 everybody
liked him; and he went and cam, as a sort
of Alcibiades, doing: very much, aahe chose,
and supposing that his omissions would be
atoned on the ground of his general. publXo.
spirit and infallible good nature.
Among other good things which-he had
picked out for his own had been the com
panionship of Sarah Parris on any such, oc
casion as this sleighing party. She was tha
favorite of everybody, and well deserved to
be. She was pretfjv graceful, good-natured
and sufficiently well-informed In the sim
ple society of Salem at that time she kos a
leader as he was a leader. If Sarah. Parris
and Harry Curweu determined .that thus
and so should be done, in the range of
things which came into the life ofthe young
people of Salem, that thing was- done. This
was as sure as: the rising of the sun.
Naturally he conferred with her and she.
with him; naturally she called him Hairy
and he called her Sarah; naturally he
waited for her whea the dance was over, at
HUNDRED TEAKS AGO.
Mrs. Pickering's or Col. Lee's, and walked
home with her. He would do so without
asking leave beforehand, or with asking
leave, as might happen. Indeed, this illus
tration was the only one he used, in tha
lame attempt he made to excuse himself to
Sarah as they rode together. "Why, of
course you were to go with me, from the
first moment we talked it orer at Madanx
Endicott's. I should as soon ask Parson
Bentley to come and preach next Sunday.
I no more thought of asking yon to coma
with me than I thought of asking you to
walk home with me from my mother's."
The young people of 100 years ago cer
tainly knew how to enjoy themselves. Hera
were more than 50 gay couples, each lad and
each maid dressed and well dressed for win
ter; here were more than 0 gay horses, or
spans of horses, wio enjoyed tha frolic
as much as those who drove them. Here
was an innocent earth white with "inno
nocent snow," and oyer it a heaven of un
spotted and unclouded blue. The country
rolls a little, just enough to vary frost.
There was forest enough, and not too much,
enough for the cheerful suggestion of life
and strength and shelter which invariably
belongs to the grave, good-natured, hospit
able evergreen, while through open fields
and with long afternoon shadows the merry
party could scamper on. Sometimes they
shouted to each other. Sometimes one sleigh
party struck up a song, and the neighbors
before and behind, took it up, and
in a long trailing fugue it rao
on the voices of half a mile of
singers. More often, what Lady Delocour
called propinquity did its perfect work, and
the two partners said aloud to each other
what they need not whisper, and talked of
one or another trifle or of one another of the
eternities. More easily than they could
have talked were they looking into each
other's faces, or were there any possibility
of another listener.
And so, in an hour and a half of the
liveliest life which can be conceived, the
gay young party, driving always north in
the bright afternoon, came to the hill on
which Ipswich stands, and almost for the
first time the drivers drew rein a little as
the horses walked up to 'Squire Beers
tavern. The sun jras just setting in the
unclouded west, and as one after another of
the ladies was'almost lifted from the sleigh
by her cavalier, the party grouped together
to watch the daily wonder as the red boll
sunk down behind the hills. For a moment
only, and then they all rushed into the open
halls of the great tavern, and welcomed
the preparations which had been made for
them.
No one had forgotten to send word to Mr.
Beers. Belles might have been forgotten,
but not the entertainment for the evening.
A messenger had informed him the day be- .
fore that a party of the gayest and bright
est and best of Salem would be there, and
half Ipswich had been at work to make tha
proper preparation. There was a fire of oak
in every fireplace of every room. In the
hall there stood great pitchers of flip, which
only needed to be heated; and in the great
fireplace of the corner room, which was a
sort of room of entrance, were a dozen
pokers at white heat, waiting to be used at
the moment of arrival. As one girl after
another was led in by her attendant, he took
her to one or another of the tables on which'
these great pitchers of sweetened cider, per
haps with a little spirit, stood, and one or
another laughing attendant brought the
heated poker and plunged it in. No girl
thought that she did anything wrong as she
sipped from the hot cup which her attend- v
ant poured out for her. There would ba
some joking about a little ashes, more or
less, which stuck, perhaps, to her red nose v
or lingered on her lip; but it was
a generation before the time whin
anyone would have said to herthat she wm
violating any law, human or divin. ashe
py the ready Mldesa of tka tayera, awy
,. ,,., wucre inev wereii -
3
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