The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1896-08-15
CUBAN GIRLS AT WORK.
They Arc Helping the Cause OF Cub
Lfbre In Florida.


Libre In Florida.
Hundreds of pretty little Cuban
senoritas in this country by the toll
of their hands are playing no incon-
siderable part in carrying on the war
for the freedom of their native land.
There is not Cuban colony of dozen
households in this republic, whether in
the great cities or in the towns and
villages along the south Atlantic and
gulf states, but there is to be found
a club or society formed of girls of
Cuban parentage for the purpose Of
raising funds for the cause of Cuba.
Down along the Florida coast there
are large settlements of Cubans. In
Pensacola, Tampa and Key West the
population is Largely made up of set
tiers who came to this country from
the island with the increasing growth
of the cigar business. Hundreds of
large cigar factories have been built in
these cities within the past few years,
and each of these employs from 100 to
500 cigar makers, all of whom are
Cubans. In this way there has been
rush of Cuban immigration to the
cities of Florida on the gulf coast, the
wages being good and the conditions of
life far more favorable there than in
Cuba, with the ills of Spanish rule coiu-
planned of for the past few years.
In Tampa SO great is the percentage
of Cuban population that the signs over
the stores for the most part are pre-
scented alike in the English and Spanish
languages. The Cubans in these cities
are an intelligent class and make good
citizens. They are represented in the
city councils and hold higher Offices Of
public trust. They have their schools
and colleges, and their children are
growing up with fair advantages for
enlightenment and culture along with
the American youth of modern times.
The girls are average types of the
genuine senorita to be found on the
island. in facial outlines and dress,
never having lost their fondness fo-
the pretty laces and mantillas worn in
Cuba since they came to live among
American girls, with their modern
American dress. They are well edu-
rated, as a rule, and some of them have
talents and accomplislunents that many
an American girl may well envy. OF
the talents common to them, music is
chief. Scarce, indeed. are they who
cannot sing with charming sweetness
of tone, or play with that characters
tic soul-soothing touch the piano, man.
dolin and guitar. The senorita who
isn't graceful with her tiny feet is rare
Nearly all of them can do clever turns
of the terpsichorean art involving
castanets and that peculiar measure OF
time that characterizes Cuban and
Spanish music.
1t is with these talents and those ac-
complishments that the Cuban sem
oritas of the colony IN America have
gone about their work of raising funds
for the wounded soldiers on the island
now clouded with war. They have or
ganized clubs and societies everywhere,
and these organizations give OCCASION
al entertainments or bazars, to which
the public is invited. An admission
fee is charged, and there are all sorts Of
pretty little bits of lace work and em-
broidery, pin cushions, glove cases, etc..
within for sale. The money paid for
them goes to the fund for the insur-
gents.-Tampa Cor. Philadelphia Times.