Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-11-18
CUBAN ETIQUETTE.
EFeUSlVe pOlITeNESS FOUND IN
HIGh-TONEO SPANISH SOCIETY.

Use af Certain Initials on Letter
Envelope - An Enusive Form Of
Coz fespondenCe-Extraya Polite
speech-GaIIantry on the street.
received letter few days ago from
a Cuban. On the upper left hand corner
of the outside of the envelope were the
initials b. l.. p. Now, any one who has
studied Spanish knows that B. l.. +, or
B. l.. NJ, III letter Of extreme polite
ness and etiquette, are used at the close
of letter, but the use of these initials
ON the envelope l hardly think is as
familiar to the general student of Span
iSh. This is very usual, both here and in
Spain on letters of some ceremony, and it
is de rigueur on the envelopes OF cere-
moniOus noteI invitations, etc.
Ladies writing TO gentlemen, or TO each
other, or gentlemen writing to each other,
use b. l.. M.-"BesO las manos" | kiss
the hands,. Gentlemen writing 10 la
dies use b. l.. p Beso las pies Il kiss
the fccU. The compliment, of course,
for the hands and feet of the party writ
ten to. The many expressions of friend
ship. respect, etc. used at the close of the
Spanish letter are not sufficient without
llC uSuai IL L. VI VI ID. L. ne lOl
lowing effusive form is much used in writ
ing to u person even of very slight ac
quaintance: With the sincerest prOfes-
sious of sympathy and friendship from
her affeCtionate servant, who b. l.. p"
kisses her feet, etc. To use one set of
initials for the other shows a great ignOr-
ance of the etiquettes and conyeniences
of society. A Cuban lady of my ac-
ne ~nl f.afa .1nNF
usual compliment of visiting card
under cover from a gentleman. On
looking at the envelope she threw up her
head with jerk and remarked that
'.one could easily see that that man did
have put Is. l.. NJ, instead of b. l.. p,
on an envelope sent TO a lady"
A MATTER OF SPANISH TASTE.
l must acknowledge that l could not
appreciate the nice difference. But after
all on reflection, there certainly is some
difference between B. l.. NJ. and b. l..
p, and it is only matter of Spanish
taste which is the most agreeable pro
Ceeding
This is only one Of the very little polite
nothings of this very polite people.
On being presented to n stranger-if a
ladS-lnStSau OF the usual DOW, more or
less gracious, of our country, there is a
cordial shake of the hand, accompanied
by an eXtravagantly polite speech eE-
pressing the very great happiness this
meeting has caused, ending with an
offer to you from the lady of her house,
which is, in other words, an invitation
for you 10 visit her A single man goes
through the same style of complimental
speech and concludes by telling you that
he lives at such a number in such
street, and begs that if you need his ser
vices you will call on him.
Whether sincere or not, these little po-
lite forms are the f1owery adornments Of
speech, and help to make up the refine
ments and illusions Of life, more or less
agreeable, according 20 the view one
takes of them. What would be received
by an American woman as an impertin-
ence is received by CIban with a gra-
cious smile and q "gracias," said i'll
most pleasant tone of voice, as, for in
stance, on being helped into her carriage
by man who is a complete stranger to
her. II a gentleman is passing on the
street when lady is about TO enter her
no gentleman is with her
he hands her into her carriage. This is
considered here only what a man who is
a gentleman would do under such cir
Compliments are sometimes
paid by gentlemen TO ladies on the street,
but are considered bad style. Cuba
Cor. New Orleans Times Democrat