The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-07-25
A Town Without Women.
Havana Letter.l

Looked at from a social point of view, wha
Immediately strikes stranger is that Havans
like the Rome of Romulus, is a city witheu
women. There die annually, out of popu
lation OF POS, 900 souls, 1882 white males t
1904 white females, while the deaths anon
the colored people are, for the males, lO4f
for the females, 1899. Thus while the sexua
numbers of the negro and mulatto population
are almost balanced, with respect to the white
the proportion is something more than thre,
males to one female. The fact, however, il
self-evident. Hardly any other women thai
negresses are to be seen about. Ladie.
with any pretensions 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, unacquainted with the custom, and
| sauntering from shop to shop, become the OBJ
jects OF a curiosity not unfrequentlv degener-
ating into inpertinence. The causes of these
disproportiens between males and females are
not go far to seek. Besides the priests, the
soldiers and sailors, and the public function
aries, whose tenure OF Office is very preca-
rious, who are either debarred from marriage
or dread its encumbrances and responsible
ties, there are here thousands of Spanish i'm
migrants of the lower classes, attracted to the
spot by high wages, but looking upon them
selves as birds of passage, who, consequently,
would hardly dream of sending for women
from home while their contempt for the ma
tive race seldom allows them to look upon
the Creole women with honorable intentions
l need not dwell upon the obvious results
Of this state of things. Suffice it to say that
regard for women is by no means enhanced
by their scarcity. There ensues an exclusive
male society. The charms Of cafe and club
life, such as they are, wean the Havana hus-
bands from home where real feminine &C.
complishments are IS unknown as hearth
rugs and fre-irons. Housekeeping in the
town, and still more in the suburbs, is terri.
bly, uphill work. Foreign Consuls and
other strangers usually try it on their first
arrival, bat soon learn to look upon the hotel,
with its smells and noises as haven from do
nestle storms. Nothing like available free SER
vice is to be obtained ia slave-holding COM
munity, the laziness, and, unless awed by the
lash, the insolence OF the negro bondmen,
communicate themselves to the hired help,
whatever be the color, race or sex, working at
the same task with him in common house.
hold. Hence man's life in Havana is wholly
oat of doors, while for women there is no lite
within them. In no town in France or Italy
have | ever seen SO many, or, proportionately, |
such sumptUous and constantly crowded cafes |
and restaurants. The Havana merchant is as |
eager to make money as be is ready to squan-
der it. But the town supplies little besides /
gross material enjoyment for his money. A
box at his third-rate opera, drive in his |
1reary prado, are all the amusements he
IAN have in common with his wife and |
laughter. For the rest the women are left to
nope at home, playing bo-peep with the
,assers-by from the window gratings or
pacing the fiat roofs Of their houses like SO
many Sister Annes waiting for those who are
lever coming With SO little wholesome
domestic society, it IS pleasing to hear the
universally given for good conduct
0 the Havana women. Few Of them, even
t the lowest classes, frequent the cockpit
nd the bull-ring, and the profgacy, the
ymptoms of which are everywhere only too
is the Spanish OF American
together foreign importation.