. iy * 
Uncle Sam departed. 
NORTH 
SHORE BREEZE 5 
(Written for the North Shore Breeze) 
Across the Isle of Pines Behind —TTwo Mules 
By Thomas D. Connolly 
(Copyright Thos. D. Connolly) 
Ww left New York on the Ward Line steamer 
. “Morro Castle” on a.Thursday at one o'clock in 
a dense fog and after slowly picking our way as far as 
Sea Gate came to an anchor. While anchored the 
steamer Munroe passed us at full speed and came to 
grief 36 hours afterwards by being run into and sunk 
within 10 minutes, with a loss of 49 lives. We started 
again towards evening and for two nights we were in a 
fog with our whistle blowing all the time. Capt. Huff 
takes no chances. The first object we came across was 
the Diamond Shoal Lightship near Hatteras and the 
steamer saluted and threw out some newspapers wrapt 
up in oil cloth to keep them dry, when the lightship 
crew lowered a boat and received them. The next. land 
seen was Palm Beach on Sunday afternoon; we sailed 
along within a mile of the beach, People could be 
easily seen in bathing, the water nice and warm, of a 
deep blue color, and alive with flying fish. Sunday even- 
ing several light houses can be seen and Sombrero light 
was the last one visible before retiring. 
' On the Steamer with us, for Cuba, is my old friend 
Father Sheehan and Father Dooper of the Redemptor- 
ist order on their way to Matanzas (Bishop Currier, 
formerly of New York, is now Bishop there); also 
Father Grenier of Waltham and Father Choquette of 
Malden, bound for Isle of Pines; also for Mexico is Mr. 
Hamilton Peltz, representing the New York Herald; 
Consul Leon Rasst, representing Russia; secret service 
men; Major Marquis J. Saigo, a Japanese bound for 
Vera Cruz, and some passengers bound for Progreso, 
Mexico, all having the same story—how long, oh! how 
long will this policy of waiting keep on; probably until 
some overt act will happen, and then we will have to 
go into Mexico and settle this once for all. President 
Wilson knows what he is doing and probably is waiting 
to have the Panama Canal finished; but we sometimes 
think why did we not go in when Madero was assas- 
sinated, All the European countries are watching us 
as they, too, have vast sums of money invested in that 
country, Certainly we, with our waiting policy, cannot 
be called “the arch robbers of the universe’ same as 
Admiral Belknap some years ago quoted about a cer- 
tain prominent European empire. Or will our Munroe 
Doctrine come to naught and will we with our waiting 
policy allow Germany, England, Japan and other coun- 
tries as their interest may appear with their stiff back 
bone, resources and bluff invade Mexico and carve same 
up to suit themselves. If we are to police Mexico let 
us do it and do it quick! 
Four days out of New York we finally reach Hav- 
ana with its population of over three hundred thou- 
sand people. The entrance to the harbor is like going 
into the neck of a bottle; water very deep, We were 
shown where the Maine lay when she was blown up. 
It has never been explained how she was blown up; a 
great many Americans living in Havana think that it 
was an accident, It has never been fully explained. 
Havana is an old city, quaint narrow streets; has been 
shown by Uncle Sam how to keep clean. A splendid 
water system exists and there are well paved streets, 
sewerage system, and no epidemics have occured since 
It has two military bands that 
to Spain. 
play twice each week and the players are certainly art- 
ists. One bad feature of Havana is that nearly all the 
steamers have to load and unload from lighters; wharf 
facilities are not of much account. The Ward Line is 
building large docks and soon will be able to load and 
unload from them. 
Havana is merely a city, through which, at the pre- 
sent time, one has to pass on the way to the Isle of 
Pines. A stay of three or four days, however, can be 
well spent in looking it over, In early times it was 
taken and retaken, pillaged and robbed by freebooters, 
pirates and others. It was also the resting place of 
Christopher Columbus’ body in a church and just be- 
fore the end of the Spanish war his bones were taken 
Havana has the look of New Orleans and 
Saint Augustine, Uncle Sam’s money is the currency 
used in all government offices and Spanish money is 
worth only ninety cents on a dollar. The writer was 
much amused at the old negro women smoking unusual 
large cigars, and in the evening with large umbrellas 
over their heads to keep away the rays of the moon 
(children of superstition). 
We leave Havana and cross the island to Cuba to 
a place called Batabano, by train, a run of about two 
and one half hours. In the large Central Station at 
Havana is the original steam engine used on the Cuban 
railroad with only one large driving wheel like the old 
engine in our boyhood days that ran between Marble- 
head and Salem, Mass. It is nicely painted up, with 
a guard rail around it, and is a monument for future 
generations to look at, On our trip to Batabano we en- 
ter a train consisting of first, second and third class pas- 
sengers. No smoking cars on train, but each car in all 
the different classes is a smoking car and the ladies in 
some of course have to endure the smoke. Even the 
conductor and brakeman have a cigar, puffing for all 
they are worth. 
On the way to Batabano large farms are seen grow- 
ing tabacco and sugar cane, which is the chief staple 
product of the island. I saw piled up at Batabano 
railroad sleepers, many of them of solid mahogany, and 
as one enterprising Yankee said to me: Would it not 
be cheaper to save this mahogony wood and use the 
cheaper woods of the United States. 
At Batabano we take the steamer Christobo Colon 
for the Isle of Pines, 87 miles south west of Cuba. A 
line of steamers also run from Havana every five days 
for Los Indios on the Isle of Pines also, We pass 
through the different cays of coral reefs in very shallow 
water—an all night run. The first stop on the island 
is at Jacauro early in the morning, up a river from the 
sea’ This is a port of the town of Santa Fe. Across 
the river is Columbia. a port also. We steam out of 
Jacauro and off for Neuva Gerona, the principal town 
on the island. 
We pass a flat country with high ranges of moun- 
tains, all marble in them. The water here is alive with 
fish. It seems as if all the fish in the United States 
live here: Tarpon, red snapper, baraconta and Spanish 
mackerel. You will see schooners or small sailing ves- 
sels gathering up sponges, and having quite a trade in 
this industry. We approach the headland of Columbo 
