Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1875-03-27
Love in Cuba.

when young Mr.. Goodman was asked,
on his return from Cuba, what he had
wonderful to relate, he was sure to say,
after a sentence or two, mighty pretty
girls in Havana He had been special
~ interested in the home-circles of Cuba,
but came to the conclusion that he did
Lot like the way love Is made in the
tropics.
Fair Cachita was not quite as white
a5 the pOudTe de riz on her cheeks and
bosom, but she had the blackest eyes.
eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair. His
love for her was very great, but the de-
monstration of it was beset with diff
culties. Cuban good society does not
permit the friends of house to call on
the daughters only, and to sit with them
alone in the parlor. Everything has to
be done en- fanlilIe, or at least in the
presence of an elderly lady. But hand
squeezing before mamma, or before some
other person specially commissioned to
watch every pressure Of love, is, accord
ing to the testimony OF all possessing
some experience in it, little awkward,
and not very rehshable. Cachita and
he were of the same opinion, and they
decided to do large part of it while
she was sitting at the window. Cuban
windows, you know, are made alright
with panes of glass, but are mere open
ings in the walls, protected by iron bars,
and hung with curtains. Cachita could
in all propriety sit at one, and watch
and talk to the passers by, and, when
no one was in the street, stretch out her
hand for a squeeze, and press her face
to the bars for kiss.
Matters were quite pleasant so far,
but they could not rest here, and where
they would lead to was hard to tell.
Cuba papas, you know, still claim the
patriarched privilege of determining who
shall be their sons-in-law, and Cuban So
cial customs are arranged ina manner that
the dictates of the young ladies' fancy
do not often butt against those issued
by the paternal authorities. The super
vision exercised athome over the courses
of affection isnot broken even by short
call on the next door neighbor, or by 60
ing to mass in an out-of- the-way church,
or by promenade, or by going out
"shopping." Cachita is always accom-
panied by an elderly lady friend or rela-
tive, or by couple of black attend
ants; and, as regards shopping" that
is done by the servants, or, if need be,
by the gentleman of the house. By
this means Cachita would not have
formed, under ordinary circumstances,
an attachment that her papa felt bound
to unloosen; but Young America, not
overweighted with respect for the old
rules of propriety, managed to jump the
walls of partition, and she could not dc
otherwise than lift him up to her heart.
Papa, becoming informed of the un.
usually frequent chit-chats of the young
people at the barred window, and having
already planned the annexation of G
large coffee-plantation to the family
estate through the intervention of his
daughter, quietly removes Cachita tc
one of his sugar-estates some distance
from town. ..
Having arrived at this point of the
story, we may as we'll consider it q full
stop. The last act is only sort o.
transformation-scene. Caehita ceases tC
be senoritd, and becomes Seniors
Something, but not Goodman. He
leaves the island a bachelor, and thu
next moonlight night, when walking
with his future wife leaning on his arm
and the Great Bear grinning down upor
him, he thanks his stars that have saved
him from a great delusion. Marriage Is
always q delusion, greater to the mar
than to the woman, and greatest with {
foreigner. North America is the para
disc of Cuba n ladies, and Cachita woulC
have done any thing to get there.