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BTJGGY TILL A K
We believe are better ab le tosell you a good Buggy than any other
& dealer we in believe this section we we are belief is based on the fact that we carry only the
. &
P a^Sf EisKoOMi-ORT. and look line Ourpnces
% tto OaU cmr over.
are right.
THE ALMAND HARDWARE COMPANY c t
file Rockdale fianner.
SUBSCRIPTION |1.00 PE U YEAR
EDGAB P. QUINN.
EDITOR.
Entered at the poet-ollice as eecoud-clasi
mail matter. Price, fl.OO per annum
Advertising Rates Reasonable
made known on application
Conyers, Ga., Junk 6th, 1000.
THE PEARL OF
THE ANTILLES,
Cuba as was saen by a
II. S. U, during the re
cent war with Spain.
"Reminisces which may and
may not interest you.
HV THE B13ITOW.
On Friday night January 18th
189D. the 8rd Ga., U. 8. V. Infan
try who were stationed in Savan
nab at that time, hoarded the
transport ltoamuinun, bound for
the seat »f war—(Juba. W;
remained at anchor that night and
proceeded down the river on the
following duy with the rising tide.
After a voyage of nearly live days
wo arrived in the beautiful bar
hor of Nue vitas, Cuba. Owning to
r.ho shadowness of the bay, we had
to cast anchor about 8 mile# out
and from there proceeded to Juud
our stores and men by little ves¬
sels ouiled lighters, which came
out to us when signaled. Those
vessels were so small that it took
us nearly three days to get fho
regiment and equipments on land.
Our trip over was n very pleas¬
ant- out, the weather was line, the
tea calm arid little sea-sickness
made the voyage an ideal one. It
was very interesting to note the
change of tlie weather as we went
across. We left Favamiali wrap¬
ped in our hea\ y per coats and
ere we reached our destination we
longed for linen garments. When
we arrived, every tiling there in
dicated tbo middle of August in
stead of January. From ten o’
clock a. in. to 6 p. m. it is excess
ively hot even in January the tiler
mometer registers Win the shade.
but alter three o’clock it begins to
get cooler ami by night time it is
perfect I v cool and pleasant.
The climate in Cuba is a great
deal better than I anticipated, as
we had very little sickle's in
the regiment during our entire
stay on the island. About one
mile from the city of Nnavitas, on
a very bight lull was our camp
hjhI it was certainly a beautiful
epot. having as a back-ground a
forest of tall palms un i olive trees
and over looking one of the lovli
eet bays that nature ever produced,
Axter we had got ihe camp
straightened out l went into Xuevi
tas, having dm obtained tlie nee
ossary pass to do so. It is aquaint.
old city, about as large as Con
vers but has a much larger popu
latron. 1 had heard so much a
bout the dirt and tilth of tin* Cu¬
ban cities that 1 was prepared for
almost any tiling, but l was agree-
ably surprised to find this on< , in a I
v<! ry good condition. Asa rule the
streets of this city are very nar
row , the side-walks are not half as i
wide as the walks of Center street.
In more than two-thirds of the city
of Nuevitas the inhabitants live in
a very crowded condition the
houses being built right on the
streets and in contact with each
other. There is no glass in the
windows, which, in every ease are
protected by iron bare or fancy
iron-work screens; inside of these
are wooden shutters, which serve
to keep out both light and air.
The windows run liom floor to ceil
ing, and as the ceilings are very
high you can readily see that when
tlio shutters are open the rooms
would be almost out of doors. The
flooie of these houses are made
mostly of brick or rock, and con¬
structed with no yontilizat ion un¬
derneath, so that although they
serve to keep the houses cool they
are not conducive to oxcessive dry¬
ness, and in consequence in some
of the more poorly .constructed
houses the dampness would to, »ji
noying to us here. Most of these
houses have in the center a square
room or court into which tho»le.ep
ing rooms open, and sometimes in
tho case of liner residences this
court is very beautiful, being dec¬
orated with fountains, palms, etc.
The natives were kindly dispos¬
ed toward the soldiers; l imy aie a
gentle and courteous race and live
largely on courtesies and compli¬
ments.
The young women of Cuba are
very pretty, but the older women
are not good representatives in
beauty of what they must h.avo
been when younger—that is if they
are or rather were once like their
While we were stationed at
vitas several of our officers
invited to attend a ball on a Sun¬
day night, (by the way the sabbath
is not observed there as the lords
day but ns a kind of a holiday) but
on account of some misunderstan¬
ding led to it being called off, so
there was no dancing with the to
live “Senorita” that night,
The Cuban girls are not halt as
pretty and bright, as those here; I
was not impressed with them much
and when four or live would get
around you and all talking at once,
I would soon have tried translat
ing monkey-talk into English as to
try their language,
\\ o had not been in Xuovit-as no
longer than a week when we re
eoived orders to mov ' into the in
terior of the island to a little town
called Los Minas when* wo were
sent to protecta large sugar estate,
There was nothing in that town of
importance, it being a small vil
Inge of 1000inhabitants, Jlieon
lv point of interest there, was the
large sugar estate belonging to a
Major Sanches, he was a clever
gentleman, a man of Hue inlelii
genes, speaks English like au
American, is very wealthy and has
a daughter, who is beyond a doubt
the prettiest girl ou the entire Is¬
land. She was so pretty, that 1
was almost tempted to bring her
back to the states with me as Mrs.
Guinn.
To visit Cuba and not see a
estate is like reading a book
skipping the most mteiesting
hi company with several other
officers 1 visited this large ° 8 e
littie .
of which 1 will here give a,
discription. As we approached the
mill wo paused to notice the pro¬
cession of large light cars, each
drawn by three oxen, which travel
on a tram-way laid to the cane
fields, brought thence the juicy
stalks trimmed and cut to the pro
per length and first passing over a
scale where each log.d is weighed
and carried to the foot of an end¬
less revolving belt, upon which the
cane is piled by the drivers of the
oxen, while numerous )ialf-naked
boys and girls stand ready to toss
back any of the stalks which chance
to full of}’. Defeated of escape,
the unfortunate stalks find them¬
selves carried stowdj gpd relent¬
lessly upward until they fall ifito
the jaws of three great iron rollers,
which revolving upon each other,
crush the ogee so completely that
the fragments fall #f- titP other
side, more dry, sapless chips,
which are carried away by another
belt gild shot into the ox iarts
which stand waijbjpg below—each
as it is fiiiled starting on to toaJto
room tor another. The rich juice
meantime falls ffQjR behind the
rollers into a conducting trough
which takes it first into copper
vesseli pierced with holes, where
the bits of cane and refuse floating
through it a; e strained out. It is
then tome,a by ;i steam pump to
the highest part of the budding;
where, in a eort of an upper galle¬
ry, it runs into vats and is
treated with a certain amount of
lime to help the clarifying process
immediately, instantly as if this juice fer
uumts lefP to ite se te>
Thc amount of correction to the
acidity of the jUiun is deternjined
by a test proper, called in Spanish
“ToraSel,’ it is a chemical pro
pared of a blue color, which turns
to red more or less vivid according j
to the acidity of the liquid m j
which it is Inuneread. ATter elar- J
efyiug, the syrup is filtered*
through vats nearly filled with
burned and powdered bone, called
animal carbon, 1V0 were told
that 111 thing is more fatal to the
imnty of the ugar than careless- !
s
ness in regald lo changing tliis
burnt, bone, which in eight or ten
liours becomes so impregnated
\i it-li the impurifics ot tlie sap
to In 1 110 longer efficient.
We were then taken to another
building where su di. bone cliareonl
is made ou the estate and
that which lias already been used
goes through a burning again.
Tlie sugar season lasts about
four or five months, beginning
just after Christmas ; and while it
continues the <500 slaves of the es¬
tate as well as the Cuban laborers
are kept very closely at work: la¬
bel beginning at 5 o’clock in the
morning anil lasting until 9 at
night, with intervals for food and
rest during tlie hoteet part of
day. -
Cuba i, nuleej a pmfect p» r n
<!,«. Ihe lovely paJms of ...hoy
varieties that lift their heads
above the green coat of the island.
the vines that- wrap
the trees, the wild flowers
every hand, the cool gray grass
of the natives, the paraquets
other gay plumage birds, the
sunsets and the soft
southern moon, all together made
Cuba a sort of wonder land to me.
One Saturday myself and seve¬
ral others were allowed the privi¬
lege of going to Puerto Principe,
the capitol of the province we
were'in. It is a very old town of
about 60,000 inhabitants. It pos
sesses many points of interest
winch I cannot describe this time
on account of the space I have al¬
ready consumed. This town has an
electric light plgpt and an ice fac¬
tory. The country around Hto
city i3 level and is the home of
thousands of cattle which stay
sleek gnd fy t iiOjS ‘round op
the rich gxe/en grass yvhipli cfofhe
tlm soil of Cllbg.
We stopped df tofp d e
.
Hotol” where we nipt seyergl ofch:
Uf offiaeps of the jbfh fnfantry and
their wives, It was indeed a treat
to see and converse, with Ameri
can ladies again. That night we
gto.nito.4 & dance on the plaza,
which was the prettiest thing l
saw while there. We danced and
promenaded around the plaza un¬
til the “wee small hours.” I met
r • • ladies,
spyeral pretty pjfpg or
‘senorita.s- as'they are polled .tfiere
pile of them could speak english
fairly well touch ?wlp It very411
tevestipg for me,
The American soldier was look.
ed upon with a great deal of- re¬
spect, and for an officer to reeog
njye the ‘seuoritas’ by lifting
Uimr Sint- and m ‘‘fipp&s peis
gteuoritft,” which means in epgr
Hall, (load morning lady—they
feel highly complimented.
.While at Puerto Principe 1 saw
for my first time a woman stager
j n g 4,0^1 i-Jp? street half dressed
, U id as drupk'as a‘‘biied owlJ’ £y
the way you might be interested
in the drinks of that country. It
strange fact that the people
j ovo ] 10 t liquors more than we do
j ler& —of cour.e a few
Holland gin and Jamaca rum are
tha favorites, Tlie latter is the vil
eat- stuff the devil ever brewed—
t iri,«k it-and go crazy. I havP
seen the natives pome staggering
alopg the streets, their hair dis
hevoled, their eyes like the eyes of
a Maniac—pitablecreatures, with
9n tirely dethroned, The
effects of this rum on the Amer
i C£in jg even more dreadful than
the cgso of the native.
In my opinjop Quba is a de
lightful siiot, the nights and morn?
and afternoons are cool and
the breezes that blow are refresh¬
ing—Fruits are plentiful there,
but we was advised by our surgeons
to let them alone except the lime,
the orange and the cocoa-nuts on¬
ly the milk of the latter being us¬
ed and it is said to bp most valua¬
ble a preventative of fever. The
nut is pulled before the shell hard
enes and the juice does not taste
like that in the matured cocoanut
we g3t . ^re, it is delicious howev
er and is very refreshing,
So emls the flrst chapter of my
ia Cub#,
(To be continued.)
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A Ian Shot
■
o
down the street. He had forgotten to bring home any
groceries with him, hence his hot run '
Through The Heart
city in W of a grocery st o re. He tided
CP Q irice too high, a nd it is possi
bje that he }m migljt direoteef stjU be looking for tjpegrqcejm >
find not
By A Woman
tp fl)e Cheap Cash Store, where he found the nicest
line q f 0roperip3 in town him qt the lowest prices, He
liepds no ppe to direct now— He juste follows tlie
cto wet, bound
$
irocery Store ;
3
8
ion dou> mmmsm
Wto you a Cool, Healthful, Refresjii^
Invigorating Boda-Water, Lemonade, MilK-SluRe,
etc., goto Dr. Lee's Fountain.- Le uses the purest and
best rnaterial; consequently his drinks are IjealtHfUi
and delicious?.
11 , W. IX, lit
CAPITAL MONUMENT CO,
UAVIES & KEBI, J|ANAQJtRg.
014 TEMI*I.E COUBT. BELL’PHONE 2839.
ATLANTA, GA.
MONUMENTS.
Granite and garble Work of Every Pescription.
Mail orders given prompt attention,
KEFEESH YOURSELF
WijenyoU feel dull and stupid, noi’niUd will do
you rr|o r s good than a visit- to our Soda Fountain
Call and let Roy Elliott, Wbo Iras cbaGJ e of our
refreshing drink ° r
Ice-crearn parlor, ipaKe you a
dish you out a delicious plate of cream.
1 ^ 1 , fiaikir ^