others made response in full, sweet voices. The tone of
prayer of this Sister was just what it should be. No skill of art could
reach it. How much truer than the cathedral, or the great ceremonial! It
was low, yet audible, composed, reverent: neither the familiar, which
offends so often, nor the rhetorical, which always offends, but that
unconscious sustained intonation, not of speech, but of music, which
frequent devotions in company with others naturally call out; showing us
that poetry and music, and not prose and speech, are the natural
expressions of the deepest and highest emotions.

They rose, with the prayer of benediction, and we withdrew. They
separated, to station themselves, one in each ward of the hospital,
there, aloud and standing, to repeat their prayers--the sick men raising
themselves on their elbows, or sitting in bed, or, if more feeble,
raising their eyes and clasping their hands, and all who can or choose,
joining in the responses.

XVII.

HAVANA: Hospital and Prison

Drove out over the Paseo de Tacon to the Cerro, a height, formerly a
village, now a part of the suburbs of Havana. It is high ground, and
commands a noble view of Havana and the sea. Coming in, I met the
Bishop, who introduced me to the Count de la Fernandina, a dignified
Spanish nobleman, who owns a beautiful villa on this Paseo, where we
walked a while in the grounds. This house is very elegant and costly,
with marble floors, high ceilings, piazzas, and a garden of the richest
trees and flowers coming into the court-yard, and advancing even into
the windows of the house. It is one of the most beautiful villas in the
vicinity of Havana.

There are several noblemen who have their estates and titles in Cuba,
but are recognized as nobles of Spain--in all, I should say, about fifty
or sixty. Some of these have received their titles for civil or military
services; but most of them have been raised to their rank on account of
their wealth, or have purchased their titles outright. I believe there
are but two grades, the marquis and the count. Among the titles best
known to strangers are Villanueva, Fernandina, and O'Reilly. The number
of Irish families who have taken rank in the Spanish service and become
connected with Cuba, is rather remarkable. Beside O'Reilly, there are
O'Donnel, O'Farrel, and O'Lawlor, descendants of Irishmen who entered
the Spanish service after the battle of the Boyne.

Dr. Howe had seen the Presidio,