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oi ge that ahi sixteen hour sail arriving at Havana : 'we came on deck that morning was most attractive. Within a few hundred feet of the shore the deep blue of the ocean changes to a ; , which makes an effective forground for the city with its houses in tints of pink, yellow and brown and blue-and green and white, red of the Spanish tiled roofs. Beyond tise the gigen hills, and blue. gE 2 Bs Fae Entering the harbour, at our left is Morro Castle which is a fortress 'and is set high on a rocky headland. The Spanish word "Morro" means headland or promontory. On the highest point stands a light-house, from which the light can be seen for 18 miles at sea. - On our right is the city of Havana, » The entrance to the harbour is narrow, only 860 yards wide, and long 8g0 when Cuba was a target for the Maranders of the sea, a chain was nightly fastened acrdss to keep the pirates from slipping in in the darkness and taking advantage of the natives, REIN 3 Cuba, as we all know is a Republic, and is divided into 7 provinces. The island is governed by a President whose term is four years, a governor over each provincé and Mayor and Couneil in the cities, It is sphrsely populated, only about sixty-six persons to the square mile. Havana is a large city of nearly 600,000 persons. . The Sunday we ar- rived was the final day of their annual carnival, which lasts five weeks. Saturday and Sunday being the important days. Saturday night wonderful balls are held all about the city, and on Sunday they decorate their cars and in costume tear all about the streets throwing confetti and paper strips, singing and tooting horns. The crowds were immense on the sidewalks that #| day, and many of the pedestrians' were in costume, even the little child #| There was-no organized: procession, just a mad tearing about of cars, The | Cubans are courteous, kind and beautiful. is now being taught in the school as well as Spanish, and policemen speaking both langnages, are on Ba higher salary. One third of the cars of Havana are taxis, and some have onthe windshield a placard with the words "English Spoken" printed on. The cars are all open and usually have the tops down, which is great for sight-seeing, The fare is very reasonable, just 20c to nearly ny point in the city. One feature which cannot fail to impress the visitor, is the heavy style of the architecture. Most of the houses are one and two Stories, but the single story is often so lofty that it seems as high as two story houses 'elsewhere, and the effect is enhanced by the immense doors and windows, the. 200s and-by.the colonnades which: line the front. Phe House are built of limestone flush with the street, close together, and there are no front yards, 2 As The doors are a'study. They are often double, about 10 to 15 feet high, and may be made of solid mahogany or some other richly colored native wood. 'Sometimes they are caved and heavily studded and furnished with orna. mental bolts and knockers. A wicket door set in the larger one is common. s The windows are closed by iron grills, which project into the street a few inches. Inside of the grills are swinging slat blinds without any glass, or sometimes solid shutters with a single pane of glass. 'Although the island of Cuba is in the torrid zone excessive heat is not felt, due to the narrowness of the island to the prevailing trade winds. The thermometer ranges from 70° to 80° the year round, but thére must be || be exceptions for when we were there in February it was often 88°, but the 'humidity was not great, so while you might blister, you were not worn-out. In a country of such continual heat, one would expect a great many flies, but there is not a screen on the island for there ore no insects, *Sanitary conditions are good. The streets are kept very clean, and when an animal is killed for food, it must be sold or buried within 24 hours. ~~ The streets of old Havana are very narrow, | walks included, and on many of the sidewalks we had to walk sngle file, If & bus happened along, it bulged over the sidewalk §o much that often we stepped into a store doer. The shops are very numerous, and are called by fanciful names as Faith, Truth, Hope, ete,, some often girls names and even after the sun, moon and stars. The best departmental store is known hy the name of "El Encanto" meaning "The Delight." Some of the stores are open to the street. We.noticed a good many restaurants situated on a corner and open to both streets, They have huge iron shutters which are pulled down and fastened at night, making the street look very ugly. Being So very narrow it is a great place to window shop. Yon don't buy--things are too expensive, ET. NE Se ae ETE " 'Wehave spoken of the narrow Sivels, and I would like now to mention oné-especially wide ome. This is" called" the "Pra "probably taken from the word parade for it is a walk down the centre of a street. The "Prado" is about 30 feet wide and half a mile long running from Central Park to the Gulf. It is for pedestrians 'only, and the floor is mosiac marble with a balustrade down either side and marble seats every twenty feet. There are | Gecasional openings in the balustrade in case you wish to cross the street 'before coming to the end of the Prado. Shady laurel trees add to the beauty of the walk, which was put there at a.cost of $300,000. 5 There 'many trips one can take in and about Havana and I thought . The trees are very different a Im and other palms being the. e districts was beautiful--a rich red color, at 8 am. on a Sunday not more than 14 féet, side- "| beautiful home. He told us to go and look in at the window. rope of 2 yards length which en- and tree. It seemed no effort whatever. y back to the city our guide stopped to let us look at a very The family 'Was away so we did, and saw that the floors were made of mother of pearl, - We also passed Bento Springs from which Havana gets her water supply. The springs rise from the Almendares Range and there are 400 of them in the group enclosed by a heavy wall of masonry, The water ig carried in large iron pipes to the city. The daily supply being 40,000,000 gallons. Before this construction, the water was brough down the 8 miles in an open ditch, Back in the city once more our guide took us down a narrow street and stopped the car asking us to get out for a moment. In the wall rising just beside the si was a small two foot square door. This door hé opened and disclosed a-rbund box with a white cushion in it, and explained that this was the side wall of an orphanage, and that anyone having a baby which she could not look "after or did not want could put it in this box, turn the box, which rang a bell, shut the door and walk away. The sisters hearing the bell would take the child look after it. If in seven years the mother found she wanted her child, she could come and claim it (by a tag which she had fastened to its clothing before leaving it at the orphanage.) If the little thing had lived and had not been adopted she could have it--but, if either of these things had happened the sisters would not say which, and the mother would have to go away in ignorance of her child's fate. When Havana was founded in 1519 the priests said mass under a ceiba tree standing near the shore. The inhabitants marked this historic spot and a couple of hundred years after an obelisk of stone was erected. When the bones of Columbus were brought to Cuba in 1795 before being deposited in the cathedral they were brought to this spot in an ebony case, where a ceremony was held under this venerable tree, then more than 400 years old. A small chapel was built one hundred years ago to further mark the spot the ceiba tree, obelisk and chapel are surrounded by a high iron fence. AOur guide told us that when Cuba became a republic in 1901, that the Spaniard ted the r ins of Columbus brought back to Spain, which was only right and was conceded by the Cuban Government. Sugar being the main industry of Cuba we went one day to a sugar mill--the island just hére is only about 50 miles wide and I would have liked to have gone to the other shore to see the Caribbean Sea, but we just got within a mile of it. A party and guide went on a little train, and in the way we passed many fields if sugar cane, It was being gathered by the natives who were cutting the leaves (sugar cane looks very much like corn in the fields) and piling the stalks in two-wheeled carts drawn by oxen. Then it was conveyed to the freight cars and hence to the mill, At the mill the first thing we were shown were these cars being unloaded. The freight car is run onto a movable platform which tips towards the trough into which the cane is to be dumped. The one side of the freight car is removed, the platform tips and out tumbles the cane. - The trough moves along Ly electricity and iron fingers squeeze every bit of sap from the cane, until it is quite dry and is shot along another trough, dried in passing, and dumped into the immense furnaces--saving the company hundreds of dollars a day in fuel. I didn't understand the process of sugar making of course, but it was a sight to see those huge vats of boiling sap, and in each vat the sap seemed thicker and more bubbly. It was a desperately hot day and we were glad to get into the air again. Our guide's collar was flat, in an effort to make us hear above the noise of the machinery. The finished product in Cuba is merely raw, brown sugar, done up in bags of jute (the jute of which these bags are made comes from the-fibre of a shrub which grows wild on the island), and sent to the great sugar refineries in the States where it is converted into white sugar, They have a large sugar refinery at Savannah, Georgia, so when we went back there we saw the raw sugar being unloaded from the ships and brought to white, also saw the machinery make our loaf sugar, put the paper on it and box it ready for distribution. various interesting leaflets were read. A- most enjoyable time was spent. The meeting closed with a hymn fol- lowed by lunch. The date of the Christmas Tree has been changed to the 17th of December in place of the 18th, owing to the Port Perry Fair. We hope to see all the little children present to meet Santa Claus. Mrs, Frank Crosier was in Toronto recently. Manchester A week ago Tuesday afternoon Mrs. Chas, Lambe suffered a paralytic stroke to her right side. Mrs. Lamb appeared in a well health as usual having gone on with her usual work 'that forenoon. We are very pleased to know she is regaining her speech and improving nicely. Mrs, Thos. Johnson is not improving : 'in health we are sorry to report. Miss Hattie Lambe, of Oshawa, is The Community Club met at the' with her mother, Mrs. C. Lambe. shome of Mr, Thos, Barrett on Thurs- 2 day, November 28th, with a splendid attendance present. ~~ |Successful Orators two or ree years e successful con- [Reginald Coop aan u very pleasing testants in public speaking at the humorous words. A contest of great School Fairs, spoke before the County interest was given. The business of Council at their November Sitting. the meeting took place conducted The winners were: 'Girls--Ruth the new President in the person of Hollinger, Pickering; Mary McFadyen, Miss A. Barrett, who handled her Pickering; position well. Lunch was served and BoVe--Donald Allman, a vote of thanks given Mr, Barrett Senneth Reynolds, (6 years Miss' Viola Mitchell spent Sunday Reach; Ivan Rennie, Brock. - East Whitby; old) paren Little Marie Hood, aged six years, the home of het In Sita Ms, snd M = of Scugog Island, nade a very favor- : io hos boo able impression on the County Coun- Buftalo where hig has VISIR ition with her little talk on birds. ere (YQ preset GREENBANK June Forsyth, Pickering; | Chureh Sunday School room. Gifts for every- body--for Uncle Jack and Aunt Mary, brother Fred and Grandma, too, the cook and Pal and Jane, Home-made candy, yum, yum; aprons of all sizes and designs; prices to suit everybody. Come along and bring your friends and enjoy the event of the season. See bills for particulars. The regular monthly meeting of the | Women's Association will be held on Tuesday of this week at the home of Mrs. F. Watson. JRev. E. N. Bowles, a returned Mis- sionary from China, occupied the pul- pit of the United Church én Sunday evening. His sermon was on his work there and was very interesting and should encourage all in missionary work to go on and do everything possible to help on the good work. The many friends of Mr. and Mrs, Jas. Watson, formerly of Sonya, will be sorry to hear of their recent motor accident. Mrs. Watson, who was hurt quite badly, was taken to the Oshawa Hospital, where she is doing as well Aas can be expected. Rev. Mr. Bowles was the guest of Rev. and Mrs. Green, over. the week end. : Mr. and Mrs. A, Ploughman and baby visiting Mr. and Mrs. F. Watson on Sunday. Mrs. H. Eagleson, Mrs. BE. Butt, Mrs. Green and Mrs, H, Leask, at- tended the bazaar at Pleasant Point on Friday last. The Girls' Quadrata Club meet at the home of Miss Alma Clements on Wednesday evening of this week: Mr. B. Wanamaker Prince Albert, on Sunday. Mr, Bobbie Brown, of Flint, Mich., spent a few days last week with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. Brown, Mrs. Gordon Cherrie, of Scugog, ia visiting her parents, Mr, and Mrs. 8. Reynolds. Mrs. Eagleson, of Pleasant Point, visiting her sons Messrs. H. and N. Eagleson, last week, Mr. and Mrs. H, Short, Mr. and Mrs John Short, and Mr. Roy Moon, in To- ronto, last week. Glad to report Mr. Jolin Short somewhat improved after his recent illness. Mr. and Mrs, M. McMillan, Mr, Neil McMillan, and Miss Aileen Fishley visiting at Hartley, on Sunday. Mr, Jas. McDougal has returned to his home after spending some time in Toronto, Glad to report Mr. Norman Smith able to be around again after his motor accident. Mr. and Mrs, A. Barnett and family of Port Perry, visiting friends here on Sunday, The regular monthly meeting of the PW. M. S. of the United Church will be held on Wednesday afternoon, Dee. 11, at 3 p.m. in the Sunday School room. Mrs. (Rev) Richards, of Whitby, is 'expected to be present and address the meeting. All ladies of the congrega- tion are cordially invited to attend. . The change from remarkably warm weather has been rather abrupt this fall, but the present snow is quite wel- come, The children of our Sunday School are practising for their Christmas Tree and Concert and wish to remind us that old Santa Claus is now on his way from the North. The sound of sleigh bells delight older children as well, Mr. and Mrs, F. Billingham and family of Toronto, spent the week end visiting in C. W. Moon. : Mrs. Jay Gibson, of Sonya, visited with Mrs. J. McTaggart, over the week end. Mr, and Mrs, C. Sleep spent Mon- day in Lindsay. + Mr. W. Fishley, D. Payne, W. Boe, | J. Holdershaw, and Mrs, Jno. Wana- maker, have installed radios - with the latter's parents, Mr. and Mrs.