Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-16

graceful. The skin offthe face is first coy-
cred with an ointment, to which the powder
will adhere. Girls who, ono would guess,
would naturally be of brownish tint APP
pear with faces of an almost death-like
pallor. This, Perhaps heightens the erect
of the dark eyes and flashes, but gives an
Gnflattering first impression to the stranger
who has been accustomed to associate such
liberal uses of powder with a class gener-
ally not referred to in conversation In the.
drawing room. When young man dances
with a Cuban belle he is likely to take
away with him a remembrance III the form
of a soiled coat. The powder and the grease
together do irreparable damage to dress
coats. Notwithstanding this, the Cuban
girl seems to love to rest her head on her
partners shoulder IN, the dance. The
powder fashion would be very exasperat-
ing and diScoEraging~to a man counting a
Cuban girl if he were permitted to court
her in the usual American fashion. But he
is not permitted to do So and if he loses
many bissful moments on that account, he
has the satisfaction Of knowing that he
saves his coats. The powder that is used
is perfumed, and all of it has the same pc
culiar and pleasant odor, SO that a woman's
presence in Cne's neighborhood is generally
first detected by the sense of smell. In an
audience at tho opera or elsewhere, the
Cdor, together with the flying particles Of
powder in the air, becomes almost suffo-
eating. The fashion Of pow derng, in the
city, extends down among all classes, even
to negroes Of the darkest hue. A French
commercial traveler,who represents a Paris
house devoted to the manufacture and sale
of face powder, told me that Cuba was
their best market. His house alone disposes
OF 10000 dozer boxes of powder year to
Cuba, and this, he said, was not half of
what is annually consumed here. The tend
ency to coppery and sallow compilations
may account for the tenacity with which
the Cuban girls cling to their powder or
perhaps, one should say, with which the
powder clings to them.
Cninteresting and Ignorant.
so much for the appearance of the Cuban
girls. 1t may be ungallant, but truth COM
pels the statement, that, as rule, what
ever physical beauty they have is their
greatest CT arm. They are unnteresting in
conversation, for the reason, mainly that
they do not know anything. They are kept
almost like prisoners during their girlhood
ana young Womanhood, encouraged in in
dolence, and have as little to talk about as
they have to do. They learn to play on the
unny pianos that can be heard jangliug at
most any hour of the day in a Cuban house
for pianos are robbed of their character
by the climate here just as much as men
and they go through the ordinary studies
of Sirlhood. ard then they come to an intel
lectual Nirvana. They seem to be very
plOuS and take every opportunity to go to
church-and there are many opportunities
here, where every feast day in the calen-
dar is observed with much ceremony-but
one cannot help suspecting that mixed with
their piety Is a worldly desire to vary the
monotony Of their home life One sees
many more women than men kneeling on
the stone floors of the cathedral on feast
day; indeed, if one wants to see Cuban wo-
men, the church is about the best place to
go. He will see many arch face behind
a convenient fan. with laughing eyes, that
seem to say that their owners thoughts
are not all on the words of the service. If
the typical Cuban girl is not up to date in
her mental equipment it Is not her fault.
She has not been brought up according to
the American notion OF what is necessary
to make a girl of the period. She Is not
troubled with any ambition to free her sex
or to make stir in the world. She was
bern to be loved by some lazy man who
twill not ask many questions, and she fills
the bill admirably.
Counting the Whole Family.
When the Cuban fpver, or any other man
who falls in love with a Cuban girl. goes
to see his sweetheart hsT has to see her and
talk with her in the presence of the whole
household. The only exceptions to the rule
are the stolen interviews obtained through
the barred window. Perhaps then he can
kiss hand outstretChed to him, but that
is all. If he takes her to the theater he
has to take the whole family. 1t is fire.
QUent sight on the Prado to see a young
man ard his sweetheart walking, with a
watchful father and mother, and, maybe,
brother, also, attending them. If girls and
young men are taught to be self-reliant
and Self-res pecting- and to respect each
other, they are given little opportunity to
exercise such qualities. The impression
that an American Gets is that in Cuba no
confidence is placed In either sex. Rules of
propriety recognized and observed else
where are carried to an extreme here. A
young woman cannot appear on the street
unattended at any time without running
the risk of being compromised. Any wo-
man appearing the street alone here is
subject to insulting looks, if not insulting
words. Men seem to take it for granted
that such woman can be ogled and even
addressed and will not resent it.
1t may be that the care with which young
women are guarded is the result of this
state of affairs, but it is probable that the
reverse is true, and the small amount of
freedom permitted to respectable young
women is responsible for the perverted view
of women held by men. When girl mar
res she obtains more freedom. but even
after that she is obliged to follow customs
that seem to be founded on distrust.
Among the lower classes and in the coun-
try in the families of small farmers, where
the powder habit is not followed. one will
see many pretty faces-gipsy-like in their
beauty. Going along a country road one is
likely to meet girls with faces that would
send a painter looking for a model of a
tropical type of beauty into transport of
delight-a face of sensual beauty, with
nothing of the intellectual--a Soiled cotton
gown, and general suggestion that the
owner of the face is prettier than she Is
clean One thing remarked to the credit OF
Cuban women is that they furnish very
small proportion of the army of dlssolute
women in Havana. IL T. IT,