The morning news., 1889-04-13
LIFE AMONG THE CUBANS
THE PEOPLE OF HAVANA AS TREY
APPEAR TO AN AMERICAN.

,,en Polite But Deceitful-Grotesque
cesticulation - National Habit of
reminine observation-disclosures, Shop
and Home.
From, the Philadelphia Press. -.
HAVANA, March 20.-Although it is but
,;ratv miles from American soil to the
-roIls Of the city of Havana, the homes and
tbe people, their customs and habits, their
tastes and temperaments are as different
from our own as those of the Inhabitants
of Japan or Damascus. The Cuban who
oor,es to New York is Travelled gentleman,
q man of the world, without the provincial
;sms of his little island, but the Cuban at
home is a curious study, whose oddities are
almost innumerable. He is a born dandy.
He wears jewelry like woman, pinches his
feat into woman's shoes, wears his shirts
cut very decollete, dresses his hair with
rarfnme. and keeps his waist in shape with
rorsets. His bony, claw-like fingers are
orDamented with rings bearing large and
high colored gems, and he wears his finger
nails long and trimmed to a sharp point
ike those of a Chinese nobleman.
The Cuban strikes you at the first glance
as man all hair, eyes and shirt collar. His
countenance is always intelligent, and more
than often handsome; his manners are
graceful. his treatment of you most courte-
ous: he is never outdone In politeness and
generosity, and he will volunteer thousand
promises which he has never had the Slight
est idea of fulfilling. Oily and smooth
in making a bargain; oily and smooth
in avoiding his obligations, ne never
does as he agrees, and invariably expires es
surprise when you intimate that you
1, 10 lie taI Iicp 10 fano M
tomorrow. He never does to-day what
can be postponed tHl then. He is faithful
10 the last degree to the ties of kindred, and
patriotism is his strongest trait. His worst
quality is that he does not believe in the
virtue or honor of woman, and suspects the
faithfulness, not only Of his own wife, but
of his sister and mother.
THE AMUSING AGED CUBAN
The most amusing type Of Cuban char
acter is the old man; always mincIng.
fussy, excitable and with an upward turn
of the nose, and an expression of the mouth
which suggests a disagreeable odor some
where near him. When he talks he uses a
gesture for every word, and you imagine
he is on the verge of insanity when he Is
simply telling wnat be had for breakfast.
You see him press his folded hands upon his
heart: then stretch them in pathetic way
toward the person he is Addressing; then he
the sun, moon and all the stars; tie next
moment his fingers are flying around
like the arms of windmill his legs are
bent, his knees are qulverlng, and his whole
body is agitated like popular tree in a
gale. Aad all this time he is simply de-
scribing how he went to breakfast from his
office in volanti, had an omelette with
onious and after that a chicken stew and
some bacaloa (codfsh) with coffee. When
his breakfast was flushed his wife asked
him to do certain errands downtown, and
he is now on his way to perform them.
This simple story is related with as much
pantomime as the average American would
use to describe terrestrial catyclaSm.
The Cuban does not swear-that is, he
does not indulge in the blasphemous use of
the name of the Deity, but his wife does.
He is outrageously indecent in his CONVEX
sation, particularly when angry, aud speaks
commonly Of things which are never men
toned among decent Americans. The
Cuban lady swears fuently. When she
drops her thimble she exclaims the name of
the Saviour "AUe Maria PM1Tissintd, and
"fOr DioS,n is on her lips from morning till
night The name of the Saviour is a com
mon ejaculation, and every thing that is
sacred is appealed to for the most trivial
reasons And yet she does not mean to he
blasphemous. 1t is simply national habit.
EXAGGERATED NATIONAL PRIDE.
The Cuban feels more national pride in
proportion to what he has to be proud of
than any man on earth. He has the sub
lime egOtism to suppose that a want of
money or a want of knowledge of its re-
sources alone prevents every body on earth
cerely believes that in climate, soil,
wealth, intelligence, architecture, enter
prise and everything else Havana leads
the world, and is utterly disgusted when
you talk of going back to New York. He
cannot understa d how anyone can leave
Cuba, having seen it once. He hates
changes and refuses to make experimeuts.
What was good enough for his father is
good enough for him; hence Cuba, like all
Spanish American countries, is 100 years
behind the age. 1t gives him pain to
acquire new ideas, and when compelled to
listen to them he stands with a look of
forced resignation, and they have no more
effect upon him than water on the back of
duck.
THE CUBAN.
He refuses to have hardware stores, but
buys ali his pots and kettles and kitchen
utensils from a peddler who comes to his
nome. de declines to use the wheebarrow,
out carries away dirt in box He insists
that ice water will give "spasms" to
-ose who use it, because somebody once
mad colo from drinking too much. He
saws wood with the saw on the underside
OF the log and always whittles with the
blale of the kni.e toward him; he
sells chocolate at dry goods stores; brooms
aad shoes in the same shop, and combines
ready made clothing with jewelry. He
thlnks cool, fresh air is poisonous, and sits
IN the dew until he could wiring water out
oil his coat. But with all these peculiarities
ne Is never bored and never grumbles. The
fatality which hangs over his life perme-
ates every daily incident. He accepts
IhIngo as they are always.
therefore there are no Cuban inventions.
ne mas no need cf a patent Office and re-
gards all Yankee improvements as objec-
Ilonaole Innovations. Once in a while,
however, discovery is made that there is
something better than he is using, his
p-eJudices suddenly collapse and he has a
panic 10 get the new idea before his neigh
oors. lie appreciates the telephone, but
refuses to plow with anything but crooked
SUCK But the funniest of all is that he
carr es with him ia all the changes he
ilakeS the conviction that he is the discov-
tLeI t ana originator Of them. He believes
tnaJ Cuban discovered the power of
eUam, invented the locomotive and the
piInung press and expresses a profound
surprise that these novelties are in use else