invitation from Captain
General Callejas to call upon him. We did so, Mr. Williams
accompanying us as interpreter. We were very courteously received
and hospitably entertained. The captain general introduced us to
his family and invited us to a reception in the evening, at which
dancing was indulged in by the younger members of the party. We
spent four very pleasant days in the old city, visiting several of
the large cigar factories, a sugar plantation in the neighborhood
and other scenes strange to our northern eyes. The ladies supplied
themselves with fans gaily decorated with pictures of bull fights,
and the men with Panama hats, these being products peculiar to the
island.

Among the gentlemen of the party, as already stated, was Frank G.
Carpenter, a bright young man born at Mansfield, Ohio, who has
since made an enviable reputation as a copious and interesting
letter writer for the press. His description of Havana is so true
that I insert a few paragraphs of it here:

"Havana has about 300,000 inhabitants. It was a city when New York
was still a village, and it is now 100 years behind any American
town of its size. It is Spanish and tropical. The houses are low
stucco buildings put together in block, and resting close up to
narrow sidewalks. Most of them are of one or two stories, and
their roofs are of red tile which look like red clay drain pipes
cut in two and so laid that they overlap each other. The residences
are usually built around a narrow court, and their floors are of
marble, tile or stone. This court often contains plants and flowers,
and it forms the loafing place of the family in the cool of the
evening.

"These streets of Havana are so narrow that in some of them the
carriages are compelled to go in one direction only. When they
return they must go back by another street. The sidewalks are not
over three feet wide, and it is not possible for two persons to
walk abreast upon them. The better class of Cubans seldom walk,
and the cabbys are freely called upon. The cab of Havana is a
low Victoria holding two or three persons. Their tops come down
so as to shade the eyes, and they have springs which keep every
molecule of your body in motion while you ride in them. The horses
use are hardy mongrel little ponylike animals, who look as though
they were seldom fed and never cleaned.

"The traffic of Havana is largely done by oxen, and the two-wheeled
cart is used exclusively. This