S STREET SCENES IN HAVANA. S
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Picturesque and Unique Views in Out-of-the
||| Way Nooks.
You are taken ashore from the ship
at Havana by rowboats hooded with
canvas against the sun, and the sturdy
boatmen give the visitor the first im
pression of the real Cubans. They
are an admixture of African and In
dian and Spaniard, with the blood of
the African very evidently supreme
among the lower classes. There is a
frowzy crew of hackmen and hotel
runners bawling out an almost unin
telligible Spanish patois at the landing
as your welcome to"the pearl of the
Antilles," and the Cuban cochero im
presses your American nationality
upon you at once. Like other cabmen
the world over he considers the Ameri
can as his legitimate prey, and while
Cubans pay one price, and foreigners
in general a figure one-third higher,
the proverbially wealthy American
uxust pay two-thirds more, as a gen
eral thing. unlesß he be an adept at
parrying an overcharge.
Havana is dilapidated and • pictur
esque, and the traveler will find as
much of the bizarre and unique in a
stroll up the Prado and about the lesser
streets as he has perhaps ever en
countered in a like distance any where.
To me the most interesting hour in
the day in one of those antique towns
is in tiie very early morning, when the
place is just getting awake and the
hucksters are ooming in.
These country people arrive in all
sorts of ways for the daily market.
One group comes afoot, with tremend
ously heavy loads of fruits and vege
tables carelessly balanced on their
heads or swung on their backs. Heie
is a swarthy fellow leading a horse
bearing capacious reeded panniers of
fruits and stalks of sugar-cane, which
latter is a favorite natural confection
NATIVE WATER-CARRIER.
with the masses, for a copper will buy
a long stick of it. The fruits are
mostly new to any oue not tropic
traveled, and the familiar-looking
bananas are tucked in with sapotes,
tnaniayes, aguacates, chabacanos,
mangoes, and a great variety of other
products rarely ever seen outside those
latitudes. This fellow will soon be
shouting out his stock with loud-lunged
persistency about the streets and into
the patios of the houses, and will then
sleep and smoke away the rest of the
day.
Lumbering wains come straining
into town, drawn by heavy-necked
yokes with restraining nose-hitches.
A four-team of these cattle and their
great cart will alone block the average
side-street, so the country ox-carts
rarely get very far into town. When
two of them meet there is an ably
aonducted debate on road rights and
considerable native orofanity. An am
bulating haystack adds a picturesque
touch to the scene and a breath from
the fields. As the diminitive horse
under the load swings down the way
the grass often brushes the houses on
either side and crowds the foot-men
to the extremity of the eighteen-inch
sidewalks. An ox-cart, a load of hay
acd a long-poled volante blankly re
garding each other in a narrow street,
aud each with an eloquent driver, is a
"jam" combination excelled nowhere
on lower Broadway.
The Cubans are like every other
Spanish-tinctured nationality in their
utter indiflerence to time. Theirs is a
land of manana indeed, and almost
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THE CATHEDRAL, HAVANA.
nothing can ever hurry them. Over
in the railroad yards the crews can
sometimes be seen switching the
trains back and forth by yokes of
oxen, while the locomotive engine
stands idly by, and tho engineer and
firemen smoke cigarettes in the cab.
Honrs are consumed by this and like
leisure and primitive pursuits, but no
one is so foolish as to heat his blood
by raving over the delay, as do those
nervous Americanos from the North.
"How many cows there are about
the streets!" somebody exclaims, and
then he is ealmly informed that the
morning's milk is simply being deliv
ered. A bunch of oattle and their
driver stop before a house, and the
portero comes out with a cup for the
morning's supply. It is seen then
that the cows are being milked from
A NATIVE FBUIT-SELLER IX HAVANA.
door to door by the dairymen, for this
is the way the acute Cuban housewives
have taken to assure for their tables a
lacteal supply which is entirely fresh
and absolutely pare. Otherwise the
guile-loving vender might dilute the
milk before delivering it to his cus
tomers, and craftily stir into the
watery fluid the juice of the sweet
potato to color it up to a duly rich and
creamy cast. Even with the cows
milked before the door one must con
tinue to watch the milkman, for I have
even heard of their having a rubber
bag of water ooncealed under their
loose frooks and connected with a rub-
A HAVANA HUCKSTER.
ber tube running down the inside of
the sleeve, its tip being concealed in
the hollow of the milking-hand. Only
a gentle pressure upon the bag of water
within is needed to thus cause both
milk and water to flow into the oup at
the same time. The milk-venders of
Italy and India have also learned their
trade to perfection, for they praotise
this identical triok.
Havana has many quiet nooks and
corners which escape the American
visitors. The walk from the Prado to
the little park of the Punta takes
hardly more than a minute, yet this
spot remains unknown to many.
The Cathedral of Columbus may be
approched from it either by a walk
along the parapets, on the water front,
or by strolling through one of the nar
row streets lined with substantial
warehouses. Following the quay
there is the view of Cabana fortress
aoross the bay, and of the masts and
rigging of the ships in the harbor.
Commerce had not yet spread its
wings, and the shipping is not exten
sive. A pleasanter walk is through
Cnba street, with glimpses into the
barracks of the Spanish soldiers and
ohance views of the home life of the
people who dwell in their stores and
shops. Seeing the soldiers in the
barracks one is tempted to ask if they
are ever clean. And of the dwellers
in Havana houses the question will
recur a thousand times: How can
they help feeling themselves prison
ers behind those massive doors and
grated windows?
It is better to come to the Cathe
dral this way than to take a cab and
drive directly from the hotel. Com
ing in a cab the two towers stand out
just like the towers of innumerable
other cathedrals, and the crumbling
gray stones are as other time-eaten
monuments. But coming upon the
Cathedral out of some bvway unex
pectedly, the whole panorama of its
history may sweep across the mental
vision in a flash. As for the sacred
bones of Columbus, they are by com
mon report gone. They might have
been removed openly with the consent
of the United States Government if
it had been asked. The ceremony
would have been of historic interest,
but the painful reflections to which it
w.ould have given rise may excuse
Captain-General Blanco for the mys
tery with which the removal of those
ashes was accomplished. Santo Do
mingo can henceforth dispute with
Madrid instead of with Havana the
genuineness of the ashes.
The Cathedral will lose none of its
attractiveness if the disputed ashes
are no longer in the urn or under the
slab which was supposed to cover
them. And good poetry and good
epitaph writing will be the gainers
that the tomb of Columbus is no
longer subject to the inscription:
POCLTItr VENDEE.
Ob, rest thou, Image of the great Colon!
Thousand centuries remain, guarded in the
urn,
And in remembrance of our nation!
Don Jose Garcia de Arboleya, a
learned Spaniard who wrote a histori
cal and descriptive manual of Cuba
half a century ago, pathetically asked
where the muses were when these
lines were inscribed. He received no
answer.
Very Likely.
Counsel appointed to defend an
Irishman challenged several of the
jury, who, his client said, had a preju
dice against him. "Are there any
more jurymen who have a prejudice
against you?" whispered the barrister.
"No, sir, the jury's awl roight; but Oi
want you to challenge the Judge. I've
been convicted under him several
times already, and loikely he's be
ginning to have a prejudice against
me."—Tit-Bits.
Politeness.
"Pausing the other day at a push
cart standing by the sidewalk to buy
an apple," said Mr. Nobbleton, "I
dropped a niokel, which fell between
the curb and the wheel of the cart, an
inconvenient place from whioh to re
cover it. As I stooped to pick it up,
the vendor said: 'Don't,' and he
handed me a niokel from his own
pooket. He would pick it up."—New
York Sun.
Japanese air cushions are made of
paper and cotton, take up, when empty,
no more room than a pair of gloves,
and cost only on*- third as much as
rubber ensbiona
SHOOTING KLONDIKE RAPIDS.
Many Dangers Presented Even to tils
Water Traveler.
There are dangers en route to the
Klondike, even when the water route
is followed. The river steamer, in
shooting the dangerous White Horse
rapids and Miles Canyon on its way
SHOOTING THE WHITE HORSE RAPIDS.
froL Lake Bennett to Dawson, goes
through many difficulties. On enter
ing the canyon with its huge wall-like
sides, there is an abrupt turn, and it
is most difficult to prevent the steam
er dashing against the rocks as the
turn is made. The illustration rep
resents the steamer Goddard on her
way to Dawson City. She just grazed
her side against the sheer rugged cliffs
as she entered, but the captain brought
her round in a straight line with the can
yon, and no damage lesulted. The
engines were kept at full speed to
give her steerage way, and as she
tore down the river the excitement
was intense. After fifteen minutes of
suspense, during which five miles of
swift water was traversed, the steam
er took her last leap in the foaming
White Horse, and entered the tpwer
branches of the Sixty Mile. Then on
she went through Lake Lebarge to
the Pelly River. Though the waters
were unknown, and the rocks and
sandbars not shown an any chart, the
captain, with an apparently instinc
tive knowledge and with consummate
judgment, cloared every obstacle, not
ing each treacherous place for use in
future trips.
An Offuct.
"This is Mr. Pneer, is it not?*'
"Yes, sir."
"You have rented a house fronting
on Mulberry square, I believe?"
"I have."
"Well, my name is Ferguson. I
have rented the house next to yours,
and by a queer mistake the man I sent
to clean it up so I could move into it
went to the wrong place and cleaned
up yours. His bill, which I settled,
is quite moderate—only sl.so—and I
thought that if the work proved satis
factory on inspection perhaps you
would not object to assuming the pay
ment of that amount."
"Not at all, sir, but I shall charge
yon $1.50 for one day's occupancy of
my house. That, I think, makes us
even, sir."—Chicago Tribune.
The Value of Exercise.
Any one who does not take time for
exercise will probably have to make
time to be ill.
Exercise gradually increases the
physical powers and gives strength to
resist sickness.
Exercise does lor the body what in
tellectual training does for the mind—
educates and strengthens it.
A sound and healthy body is the
foundation of all that goes to make
life a success. Exercise will enable
you to obtain it.
Next to sleep, light, brisk and
varied exercise will rest the tired
brain more than anything else.
Metal rusts if not used, and the
body becomes diseased if not exer
cised.
Wllheluitna Is to Wed.
Queen Wilhelmina of Holland is to
marry her oousin, Prince William of
Wied. It is a love match, and, while
it does not particularly please the
courtiers and royal match-makers, who
wanted the young Queen td wed some
monarch or heir apparent, the gentle
Wilhelmina is happy.
Prince William of Wied is the
second son of Prince William Adolphue
Maximilian Charles, whose family
domain isatNeuweid, Rhenish Prussia,
WILLIAM OF WIED.
He was born March 26, 1876, and is
therefore in his twenty-third year. As
Prince of Wied he would have attracted
little attention in European court cir
cles; as the consort of Queen Wilhelm
ina he will be the first gentleman in the
kingdom of Holland. Only the Queen
herself will take precedence of him, and
bis place will be beside her at all court
and other offioial ceremonies. He will
share her income, and bis children
will inherit her throne. In a word he
will oooupy in Holland the same posi
tion that Prince Albert occupied in
England as consort to Queen Victoria.
IFOR FARM AMD GARDEN.]
Barreling Apple* and Fears.
In barreling apples it is quite safe
to pile the apples as much as two
inches above where the head will fit
in the chine. If pressed down evenly
there is elasticity enough in the apple
skin to allow such compression with
out, bruising it. If the apples are not
thus pressed down they will shrink so
as to be loose in the barrel, and will
thus bruise in handling the barrels
worse than they would if pressed
down. Pears cannot be thus pressed
down. They are best packed with a
paper around each, which will keep it
from touching its neighbor.
Stabling and Blanketing Horses.
At this time of year horses that are
exposed to damp and bad weather
should be blanketed while out of
doors, and the blanket, or rather a
dry one, should cover the horse after
he is under shelter. Under the blank
et the heat gathers from the internal
heat of the body, and as there is thus
a double protection betweeu the skin
and the outer air the skin does not
chill. Carefulness in blanketing a
horse has at all seasons more to do
with his condition than feeding grain.
If a cold is developed at this season
it is extremely likely to last until
spring, and may then develop into
much worse disease than an ordinary
cold.
Potafth in Fruit-Tree Wood.
The apple tree is a great consumer
of potash in its trunk, leaves and
twigs, as well as in the formation of
seeds. Every housewife who has
used wood ashes for making lye to
make soft soap, knows that apple-tree
wood has a larger proportion of pot
ash than have any trees from the for
est. The stone fruits, peach, plum,
cherry and apricot, all have in the
trees on which they are grown a large
proportion of potash. There is more
in the leaves and twigs than there is
in the trunk or large branches. It is
probably the extra demand for potash
to make the shell of the stone and
also the germ that calls on the roots
to supply potash. Coming into the
sunlight, the moisture of the sap evap
orates, so that only a small amount of
the potash finally goes to making the
seed.
the Cows.
In a drive through a leading dairy
section recently, in the Elgin district,
just at milking time in the evening,
we were surprised to see that about
every one kept a dog to help drive the
cattle up from pasture. Nearly all
these dogs manifested about the same
propensity to make themselves useful
in keeping close to the heels of the
cows, with the result that the cows
would take to rnnniug to get away,
and iu some cases the lively trot of
some of the animals seems to have
afforded the boys some amusement, as
the dogs were not called away until
the whole herd was about getting into
a run.
This over-exertion just before milk
ing could have but oue effect—dimin
ishing the quantity of milk, and thus
creating quite a loss to the pockets of
the owners. But the help on the
farm or the careless sons of the own
ers had apparently no other consider
ation than to get the cows into the
barnyard or stable aud get through
milking as soon as possible. It never
for a moment occurred to the milkmen
that they were diminishing the supply
by such haste,and the owner probably
never figured on the expense attend
ant on keepiuu; n dog in the herd.
While we had no means of knowing,
the chances are that these people do
not subscribe for any dairy paper or
think it necessary to keep posted out
side the experience they may have ac
quired in the business. The dog may
have his uses around a farm, but as
an adjunct to the profitable manage
ment of a dairy he is a detriment and
should be chained up or killed.—ln
diana Farmer.
How to Save the Keen.
How can I save a large swarm of
bees that have been robbed of winter
stores by bee hunters? The old home
being in a state of ruin,a suitable hive
is the first thing to be provided, and
the bees invited to enter it either by
kindness or jarring their temporary
quarters. If the cluster is fully ex
posed to manipulation, arrange the
hive on a broad platform at about tne
same height and within a foot or two
of the cluster. Spread a sheet smooth
ly under the hive aud on the boards,
extending it nearly to the bees. Raise
the front side of the hive one or two
inches. A gentle pufi' or two of smoke
with a very light spray of sweetened
water may be of service in quieting
the bees if they appear turbulent, but
the treatment must not be overdone.
With a long-handled tin dipper
scoop up carefully a quantity of bees
from the cluster and deposit them
under the hive which is raised for the
purpose, and then quickly lower it.
Many of this first dipperful will rush
out and take to wing, but some will be
likely to remain and will set up the
call for the others which are to be
taken up in a similar way aud poured
dowu close up to the open front of
the hive. Qentle agitation with a
soft leafy bush will facilitate their en
trance aud also compel the laggards in
the old home to take flight and join
their companions. After it is certain
that the queen is no longer outside,
the hive may be carefully removed to
a safe position a few feet distant.
They may be moved short distances
without loss by each day changing the
location of the hive a few feet toward
♦he desired spot. Otherwise long
distances should be covered at once.
The feeding consists iu giving the
bees thirty-five or forty pounds ol
honey in as large quantities as they
•will take care of. A substitute can
be maile of sugar and water and a
small preparation of extracted honey.
Under the most favorable circum
stances from one-third to one-half of
their feed will be consumed at once in
building, capping, brood rearing, etc.
When enough food has been given,
cease feeding entirely and just before
winter remove the swarm to a dry,
eveu-tempered cellar and provide good
ventilation to the hive to the exclußioo
of vermin. Under such, perhaps ex
acting,but really necessary conditions,
it is reasonably sure that a swarm of
bees will come out iu prime order in
the spring.—E. W. Mossman in New
England Homestead.
Growing l'otatoeft From Seed.
The growing of new varieties ot
potatoes by planting the seed balls
ought to be more practiced than it is.
It involves some trouble, ns the first
and second years the potatoes grown
from seed will be little larger than
beans or marbles, and with scarcely
any indication of its future character
or value. In most cases the seed
from the same seed ball will produce
varieties that vary widely from each
other, and also from the potato that
grew the seed. Most of the entirely
new varieties will not for one reason
or another be valuable. Most of tha
old-fashioned potatoes have degener
ated in vigor, and cannot produce the
crops they once did. Couse piently
there is good demand from experienced
potato growers for all the new sorts,
as they have learned that each variety
produces more potatoes while new
than it does after the variety has been
long in cultivation.
It is not until the third season from
seed that the character of the new po
tato can be determined. If a hundred
varieties are produced probably not
more than live or ten will be worth
planting the fourth year. But iu the
years when the seasou is unusually
favorable for the potato crop, and when
the vines are most vigorous, the pro
portion of valuable seedlings will be
increased. A seedling from a variety
that still retains its vigor will be liable
to excel iu vigor of growth and pro
ductiveness. Most of tlio valuable
new varieties are originated after sea
sons when the potato crop has been
abundant and productive. This also
applies to the production of new va
rieties of fruit from seed.—Americau
Cultivator.
Succes* With Farm Poultry,
Poultry keeping on the ordinary
farm can be made quite profitable if
intelligently managed, and the farm
er's wife may be abundantly rewarded
by an abundant supply of pin-money
for her many needs in the household,
instea 1 of having to call upon a per
haps already overburdened husband
for everything.
There is also health and pleasure to
be fouud in the poultry yard, for it
taKes one out into the fresh air, and
while not requiring really hard work,
it gives plenty of regular healthful
exercise.
In order to be successful we must
first select a breed best suited to our
requirements.
If egu;s are our aim the single comb
brown Leghorn, Minorca and black
Langshnns are all good layers, but no
breed will give satisfaction unless
properly cared for. They must have
warm, comfortable places to roost,
well ventilated but without draughts,
and kept perfectly clean. They must
be fed a variety of food; when tad ex
clusively on corn as is the practice ol
so many farmers, the hens soon be
come too fat and unhealthy also.
For their breakfast I give them a
warm mash of b:au, corn meal,ground
buckwheat or oats mixed with vegeta
bles of different kinds, such as pota
toes, beets, cabbage and turnips.
At twelve o'clock I throw among the
litter in their scratching shed soma
whole wheat, buckwheat or oats, and
at night give a feed of parched corn.
I find this better than anything else
to keep up the heat of their bodies
during the long winter nights.
To keep them active aud healthy,
compel them to scratch for their grain
by throwing it among a litter made of
leaves, straw or hay. I keep within
their reach plenty of clean water and
milk, provide gravel, charcoal, pieces
of old plaster a little bone meal occa
sionally, and a feed of meat once a
week.
To keep free from lice their
dusting boxes filled with tine road
dust, mixed with pulverized tobacco,
a little sulphur and ashes. It is also
well to smoke out the houses occasion
ally with tobacco stems and sulphur.
For fryers, broilers and inai ket
poultry, I prefer the Plymouth Hock
and Wyandotte; they have plump
bodies, with a rich yellow skin, and
feather out and mature quickly. The
earlier the broilers and fryers can be
gotten into the market the better the
price obtained.
The old hens should be marketed
in the fall.
When first class, pure bred poultry
is kept a nice little sum may often be
realized by selling the eggs aud fowls
for breeding purposes.
Fowls for market purposes should
be treated differently to the laving
stock. Our aim should be to keey
our fowls intended for market confined
as closely as possible aud fed on fat
teniug food, such as corn meal, whoW
corn, some wheat and plenty of drink
ing water and sweet milk.—Mrs. C.
H. Bennett in Farm, Field and Fire
side.
St. Loals Duck Hunter*.
There are a number of men in St.
Louis who go duck hunting withou*
guns. They own Irish setters or
spaniels that retrieve from water, and
they sometimes secure as many as foui
dozen ducks in a day which have been
killed or crippled by hunters wht
failed to find tuem.