The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-08-08

drvness of the climate that the whole
apparatus of the observatory, though
exnosed to the air, is wholly uniniured,
and the instruments act with unerring
precision.
Looked at from a social point of view,
what Immediately strikes stranger Is
that Havana, like the Rome of Romu-
lus, is a city without women. There
die annually, out OF a population OF
2O5, 900 souls, 3, 682 white males to ], ,2O4
white females, while the deaths among
the colored people are, for the males,
1.O46; for the females, l,099. Thus,
while the sexual numbers OF the negro
and mulato population are almost bal
anced, with respect to the whites the
proportion is something more than three
males to one female. The fact, hoWev-
er. is self-evident. Hardly any other
women than negresses are ever to be
seen about. Ladies with any preten-
ton to youth and beauty would sooner
die than venture out unprotected, even
for their early mass and SO uncommon
is the sight of decent women unattended
in the streets that foreign ladies, unac-
ouainted with the custom, and saun-
tering from shop to shop, become the
| objects of a curiosity not unfrequently
degenerating into impertlnence. The
causes of the edisproportion between males
| and females are not far to seek. Be
| sides the priests, the soldiers and sail
ors, and the public funcGionaries, whose
tenure of office is extremely precarlous,
and who are either debarred from mar.
riage or dread its encumbrances and
responsibilities, there are here thou
sands of Spanish immigrants OF the low
er classes attracted TO the spot by hgt
wages, but looking upon tn 5mselVes al
| birds of passage, who, consequently
would hardly dream of sending for wo
men from home, while their contemp
for the native race seldom allows then
TO look upon the Creole women witt
honorable intentions. / need not dwell
upon the obvious results OF tins state 0
things. Suffice it to say that regar'
for women is by no means enhanced Q.
their scarcity. There ensues an exclu
sively male society. The charms OF CAT
and club life, such as they are, Weal
} the Havana husband from home wher
real feminine accomplishments are a
, unknown as hearth-rugs and tre-1rons
: Housekeeping in the town, and std
: more in the suburbs, is terribly up-ml
J work. Foreign consuls and other straI
4 gers usually try it on their first arr1va
but soon learn to look even upon tn
= hotel with it's smells and noises, as
/ haven from domestic storms. Nothm
e like available free service is to be OF
: tained in a slave-holding community
f the laziness, and, unless awed by I'll
/ lash. the insolence, of the negro bont
f men communicate themselves to tt
f hired help, whatever be the color, rae
= or sex, working at the same task Wi
S him in a common household. Hem
# mans life in Havana is wholly QUITO
S doors. while for women there is no IL
Y within them. In no town IN France
IS ItaIv have ever seen so many, or, pr
;, portionately, such sumptuous and co
If stantly-crowded cafes and restaurant
IS The Havana merchant is as eager
l. make money as he is ready to squand
n it. But the town supplies little bes1d
e gross material enjoyment for his none
A box at his third-rate opera, dr1
,e in his dreary prado, are all the anus
d ments he can have in common with l
y wife and daughter. For the rest, t
ic women are left to NOPE alone at hon
a plaving bo-peep with the passers-
j. from their window-gratings, or paci
h the fiat roofs of their houses like
n many Sister Annes waiting for the
ii who are never coming. With so lit
in wholesome domestic society, it is pie
p, ing to hear the character universa
Sc given for good conduct to the Haya
IL women. Few of them, even of the 10
ic est classes. frequent the cockpit {.
yh the bull-ring, and the profigacy, t
ne symptoms of which are everywhere OF
he too conspicuous, is of Spanish or Am
ut ican-altogether of foreign impor
5ic ton. Correspondent London Times