Up to the time of American intervention in 1916, the practise of carrying weapons was general. In the country a man strapped on his pistol or carried his gun as he would in other countries put on his necktie or take up his cane. At the railroad stations in the Cibao I have sometimes observed everyone congregated about the station wearing a revolver more or less visible, except two or three, evidently the poorest farm-laborers, who could not afford anything more than a dirk and who gazed at the others with envious eyes. Beautiful pearl-handled revolvers were proudly exhibited to the public eye, and on one occasion I saw a little boy not over ten years old with a revolver that reached to his knee. The habit was all the more indefensible as it was absolutely unnecessary, Santo Domingo being as safe a country to travel in as any other. Governors of provinces sometimes forbade the carrying of arms, but the prohibition was rarely enforced with reference to their friends and adherents. The American authorities have put a stop to the habit, however, and confiscated all the arms they could find; some 15,000 rifles and revolvers have thus been taken up. After all, the average Dominican will resent a shot less than a blow. A story is told of a prominent youth in the capital who received a slap during a quarrel; the aggressor fled, but the young man kept holding his handkerchief to his cheek for days until he met his assailant and was able to wipe out the insult in blood. Only in the larger towns are there facilities for the gratification of the popular fondness for theatrical performances. Puerto Plata has a pretty theatre. In Santo Domingo City the ancient Jesuit church, long abandoned, was converted into a theater, the stage being located where the altar formerly stood, the boxes occupying the aisles, and the chairs of the audience being arranged in the nave; but a new open-air theatre, the "Teatro Independencia," is more commodious. The Spanish drama is popular, as well as the delightful Spanish "zarzuela" or musical comedy. Owing to the isolation of the country it is not often visited by good professional troupes, and the interior is entirely dependent upon amateur talent.