Reminiscences of Cuba (concluded) [pp. 593-597]

Reminiscences of Cuba.
i
And she, dear Lady, suffers much;
She only waits for God to claim her,
And oh! her gentleness is such
That not in thought or word I blame her.
While inl hlope's twilight turning grey,
Meekly she strives against dejection,
Her mournfiul, dark eyes turned away
From any dream or retrospection.
Then wonder not that thus I wuite,
Nor that her eves have me enchanted;
For once to meet their tender light
Is ever after to be haunted.
REMINISCENCES OF CUBA.
BY TENELLA.
(Concluded.)
I shall say nothing of the political events
that transpired during our stay; as the ex ecution of Ramon Pinto and Estrampes, and
the imprisonment of Felix and Echeivera are
familiar to all readers of the newspapers.
Though feeling ourselves under constant
espionage, we were fortunate enough to escape suspicion, and none of the members
of our party were either arrested or ordered
to quit the island, circumstances of not uncommon occurrence. We numbered among
our friends, the commandants of the Punta,
and one of General Concha's aids, and a
day seldom passed that we did not appear in
public with one or the other, which doubtless saved us from much annoyance. While
other Americans were vainly applying for
permission to view the forts, which was seldom granted, we, accompanied generally by
Lt. Col. Prejol, sometimes by Col. Arcos of
the Punta, passed unquestioned and without
a permit, through the Morro, Cabanias, Fort
Principe an(l others; entered the military
hospitals and other public buildings, and
saw all that was worthy of note. Prejol
who was in the engineer corps, seldom appeared in uniform; taking out of his pocket
a pair of military cuffs that designated his
rank, he would hook them over the sleeves
of his citizen's coat, and thus pass the sentries who met us at every point unchallenged.
On one occasion I playfully took these cuffs
from him and put them on my own arms, it
was on the walls of fort Principe, and being
much interested in his conversation w ith
Sue, they lingered behind, while the Mi ajofor
and I wandered at our leisure around the
battlements, meeting a sentrv at every tarn.
who drew himself up and presented arm: in
acknowledgement of my war-like accoutre ments. Prejol told me afterwards they took
me for a wife of a Lt. Col.
Our time glided pleasantly by, as we had
many acquaintances who helped us to amuse
ourselves. Except during the time a Nor ther was blowing, I seldom ventured out until
after five o'clock, P. M, as the sun was very
hot. A lady may shop through the city of
Havana without leaving her house, as she has
only to send word to any store that she needs
such and such articles, when a clerk is put
at her disposal, and if what she wishes is not
to be had in the establishment, he will walk
over the city to find it. I once gave one a
piece of ribbon to match, and hearing nothing of him through the day, concluded he
had failed and did not think it necessary to
report himself, but the next day he made his
appearance about dinner-time with the tio
yards I had ordered, saying he was very
sorry to have kept me waiting so long. They
carry about with them books containing samples of every thing in their shops, and will
bring' dozens of fans and fancy articles,
dresses and goods of every description to the
house for their customers to select from.
We had no want of company, as scarcely a
morning passedrl that two or three of th,
English or U.S. Naval officers did not Wit a+
hour or two with us. Every day at t,to'clock, Don Pedro D -a friend of Sue'e —
made his appearance to know what we intetided to do with ourselves, and report wliat
was going on worth our notice. With the
help of cards, chess, backgammon and conversation, we passed the time very pleasantly until dinner. Reginald afforded us
constant amusement by the many perplexities in which he involved himself; I renmember one morning in particular, he enquired of
Don Pedro where he would find a good barber; and rejecting his offer to act as interpreter, sallied out alone, with his dictionary
and phrase book, to get his hair cut. In
about an hour he returned considerably crestfallen, and was greeted with a roar of laughter as soon as he removed his hat. When
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