The Philipsburg mail., 1898-07-22
PRETTY CUBAN REFUGEES,
Talking with Gen. ISe About Their Re.
turn tn Havana.

Talking with Gen. Iee About Their Re.
turn To Havana.
From the Boston Evening Tran
script: 1ampa.-I wished very much
last night that ! had had phonograph
OF first-rate recording power; and also
tnat photography were capable of re-
producing scene by light which was
combination of moonlight and cleo
tr1city, and that a camera were at hand.
On the broad western veranda of the
motel sat Gen. Fitzhugh Lee in large
rocking chair. He was one figure in
seated group, arranged in a perfect
oval, OF about sixteen people, only one
other of whom was man. All the rest
were exceedingly pretty Cuban girls
and young women, most of whom were
talking gayly in Spanish at the top of
their voices, giving Gen. Lee a. chance
to get in word now and then. The
girls were nearly all members Of the
Havana refugee group now established
IN Tampa, awaiting as early a chance
as possible to move back to Havana
They We're putting the general to his
stumps in Spanish. Frequently they
We're bold enough to laugh at his Span
ish, and this he was taking in the great
est good humor. Whatever may be his
temper toward Spaniards, Gen. Lees
good humor toward this party of love-
ly refugees was absolutely angelic. He
is man Of the utmost bonhommie any
way, but no one could have done other.
wise than take with delight any amount
OF chatting from such group as this
l doubt if the equal of it could have
been produced outside of Cuba. The
beauty OF these girls. at the girl age,
be 1t understood, is somelnlng almost
ineffable. They have great black eyes,
which shoot innocent lightnings ak
around Their compilations are not
like Boston complexions; it is hard to-
tell why it is that poudre de riz seems
to be all right and proper on such a
complexion and not to degrade it. One
wonders what Cuban girl would be
without poudre de riz; but anyway her
complexion. for some inscrutable rea
son, seems to be lovely with it. I have
decided that while face powder should
never be used by any one else, it may
be used quite freely by Cuban girls.
In their ways these lovely Cubans are
shade coquettish, perhaps, but they
are also perfectly highbred and proper.
1t is the same with regard to coquetry
as it is with regard to poudre de riz:
it seems to be a perfectly normal and
part of their equip
ment. Nearly every night these Gu.
ban girls are at the Tampa Bay hotel.
and they are always chattering in
Spanish at the most incredible rate of
speed, and are always laughing music
ally and showing rows OF pearly teeth,
and shooting those glances Of lightning
about them. There are sundry Guen-
mas, as rule, with them, but the du-
ennas seem to be of slight consequence.
Moreover, they seem to be very little
needed. The Cuban girls are as good as
they are pretty. which is saying a great
deal. This evening they were giving
Gen. Lee a sort of Spanish rehearsal.
and he was meeting the test in excel
lent style. To be able to stand such a
fire as he was undergoing, and meet it
with perfect GOODNESS, calmness, and the
utmost good nature, proves that man
possesses great qualities. So far as +
could tell, Gen. Lees Spanish Is good,
but the girls. nevertheless, derived
from everything. On the
evening of his arrival these young la
dies were among the very first to greet
him, and they Immediately asked him
when he was going back to Havana:
and they were amused at the somewhat
evasive and non-committal way in
which he answered them. He asked
them when they were going back them
selves, and they intimated that they
were only waiting for him; that they
couldn't think of going without him.
Then they laughed that merry and rip
ping palm-leaf-in-t the breeze sort of
laugh Of theirs, which is not to be
daunted by war or hardship or exile.
Hardship, at least, relatively to their
ordinary circumstances, these Havana
people OF wealth and position have to
endure. Their fortunes may be
wrecked or confscated in their absence,
and when they 60 back II it is to free
Cuba they may go back to quite other
in life from those they
left. But they are always, men and
women, as gay as they can be.