The shutters are then opened by the people within, and a supply of cakes or other pastry is dropped into a bag carried by one of the party, who acknowledge the gift in the following lines, and then depart: “Aquesta casa reta empedrada, Empedrada de cuastro vens, Sun amo de aquesta casa, Es omo de compliment.” “This house is walled round, Walled round on four sides. The owner of this house Is a polite gentleman.” If nothing is given, the last line reads thus: “No es homo de compliment.” “Is not a polite gentleman.” This song is repeated throughout the city until midnight. To the listener it has a peculiar fascination like some of the tunes from popular operas, keeping one awake to listen to its strains, even after many repetitions have rendered the singing monotonous. The walls of the United States barracks are probably the oldest structures in the place. An old house on Hospital Street, torn down in 1871, when Mr. Pendleton built a very pretty cottage upon the same ground, was said by old residents to have been the oldest house in the town. The former residence of the attorney-general during the English possession stood just south of the Worth House on the corner of Bay and Green Streets. This was a very old structure, though built in too costly a manner to have been one of the earliest buildings, one of which in English times still bore the date 1571. The house was built by a Spaniard named Ysnada. Its beams were made of a wood brought from Cuba, which resembled our royal palm in being susceptible of taking a high polish. The staircases, wainscoting, and panels were of lignum vitæ. For many years the house stood in too dilapidated a condition for occupancy. Finally the wood was torn out by curiosity hunters and dealers, and made into canes and other mementoes of “the oldest house in St. Augustine.”