The New York herald., 1871-03-26

WIFI the lou OI Cnelr cOunCryW0meu. Wnen
came here the MORO Castle had among her
passengers a few Cuban women who had lived
in New York for two years prevlou1, and
one OF them especially had acquired all the
bizarre airs of Gagged bird set free Her name was
Julia, and her father Is leading Cuban gentleman
OF this city. All the way out, except when sick
ness intervened to prevent 1t, she busted herself
singing such classic airs as Captain Jinks,"
''Walk1ng Down Broadway' and "Tassels on the
Boots" She sang "Shoo Fly, don't bodder Men OF
course, perhaps because 1t was suggestive of her
home but the lines which seemed to give ner most
pleasure and which she sang ortenest sounded
something like these:-
Ze Yankee girls.
Wiz 'er 'air In curls,
And tassels boots
After singing this refrain with much uncton on
the last night OF the voyage she folded her
her breast In q most dramatic fashion and ex-
claimed, 1--WE are very merry tonight, but to-mor-
row-slaves." These words not only told the whole
history of every woman's life in Cuba but revealed
the profoundest secrets of every Cuban woman's
heart-her discomfort with her condition and her
longings after better and more independent exist
ence. To be well born and woman is here the
hardest OF misfOrtunes making the most beautiful
Of their sex the veriest slaves of mems caprices
But to be the slaves OF mems caprices, even the
most unreasonable and unrighteous OF Spaniards or
creoles, is endurable compared with the yoke which
society puts ABOUT the feminine neck. Inordinate
variety and an nordlnate desire for nattery are I'm
planted in the hearts of Cuban girls from their in.
fancy, at the same time that all their surroundings
teach them that fathers and brothers and husbands
have no belief in womanly purity and virtue.
CUBAN BEAUTIES AT HOME.
Cuban ladies never walk, SO that 1t Is not to be
wondered at that Sehorita Julia sang "Walking
Down Broadway with SIGH Cuban ladies are
not permitted to ride out aione, and If no better
escort can be found little nigger is thought wise
enough to guard them from consequences against
which womaniy modesty Is the surest protection
and manly faith the best defence. AS l ride along
the CerrO he Fifth avenue Of Havana) these delight
ful evenings, see within the splendid residences
which line that splendid thoroughfare many beaut-
ful women and have not failed to observe that the
youngest and most beautiful are always nearest to
the bars. But the bars are ineXorabe TO the beaux
as well as the bellies. Glass windows are not needed
in the houses Of country the air in winter is
freighted with supernal mildness and in summer
laden with tropical heat. The bars which are
placed over every window in the houses Of the rich
are accordingly necessary to prevent intrusion, and
they become the wires to the cages OF the i'm
prsoned birds. This imprisonment Is literal, not
fanciful Only an accepted lover may enter the
house OF his sweetheart but she Is not allowed to
go out with him or even to be moment alone with
him. AT the opera he may stand oil the evening
at the door Of her box. drinking in her beauty with
his eyes, but he cannot accompany her home at the
close OF the play, or as Is too often the In New
York, ask her to Delmonico's for champagne and an
ice. If he is not accepted lover If he is only be-
ginning to do what New England has christened
casting sheep gances or has been prescribed by her
parents the outside Of the bars is his only resource
The other day was walking along one Of the best
streets Of the city-a very ineegant occupation,
confess-when my attention was arrested by seeing
young girl at the window OF splendid dwelling
looking tenderly at young man who was kneeling
close to the house and beseechng her with the most
importunate looks lover could assume. Neither
spoke word but they looked and looked into one
anotners eyes, she casting furtive glances at her
mother who was at some distance, and he keeping
out OF the range OF the mothery vision. The scene
was supremey ludcrous and it seemed to me to be
method Of courting almost disreputable as
flirting with the handkerchief.
C0URTING IN CUBA.
1t seems nara tnat the course Of true love, which
never did run smooth should begin in such troubled
waters, and that the signing youth whose heart is
touched should be compelled to converse for few
moments only with ''tne only woman he ever
loved" through the bars which let the light OF
heaven into her fathers dwelling, but shut In the
here are more jealous than other men that women
are jealously guarded. In no country under the
lions as in Cuba Nothing is too good or TO expen.
sive for q wife or a daughter. woman's whim, eX.
Ees s o. nr and mat
ladies would die, Is mans law. Nowhere else is
beauty SO highly prized, 1t is no impoiteness in
hand to be observed Is the homage which beauty
always expects from the other sex. Jeai-
would smash the faces OF men for doing
what is here considered conveying the most deli
sae ss S sns is IN er
own house, stranger, unless he be q foreigner,
may bow to her and tell her she is beautiful and
lover may hear his sweetheart thank man she
never saw before for endeavoring to beguile ner
with nattering words. American ladies' do not
they are stared ut in way that they denounce as
impertinent, but which Is here called compliment
tary. The boxes at the Teatro Albisu, wnere
Italian opera nourisnes, are made so that men can
see into them from the lOsbles, and between the
acts gentlemen tUa M amuse themselves looking at the
auuse themselves at home by looking at canary
birds through the wires OF the cages. It is not ac-
It is founded proessedly upon the theory that it is
praiseworhy to look st whatever beautiful
The advocates OF women's rights assert that mar.
ryng and the bearing OF children are not the whole
are not valued highly enough, but here women are
thought to be ut only for paythings and for mothers
In one OF Splebagen's novels there is delightful
art chapter IN which the Venus Of Mile Is regarded
as the type OF womanly and of heavenly beauty.
She Ia grand, magnificent creature. both In form
and feeling, not too good to be the mother Of NOR
tails, but too pure, too independent, in word too
wemanly, to be the toy Of any man. Here one often
sees the handsomest vases among the basest clay.
man not only regards his wife as an object made
for no better purpose than to yield him pleasure,
but holds her as his property as absolutely as he
holds his slaves. He cannot deprive her OF her life,
but he holds dominion over that which to every
noble woman is dearer than her life and there is
escape from him except through death.
AMERICAN WOMEN AND CUBAN WOMEN.
Women In the United States are not content to !
hold their own property as their own after mar
riage as well as before and to enjoy their old
fashioned rights Of dover In the property Of their
husbands, but some Of them are striving to have a
voice IN the business OF their so-caed lords. Wo.
men In Cuba are as lIstess in these things as the
playthings OF men naturally become; they still live
under all the disabilities OF the common law, with
out moving finger In their own behalf. Which are
the happier 1t Is difficult TO say; buG Cuban women
when they have once tasted the free air OF the