The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-06-09
s~ALgrATIoNs IN Y
present CustoIua In
a Mix-Tp.

Mix-Gps
The conflict in Havana between the
~Anglo-Saxon and the Latin c~iviliza.
tions, or, more definitely speaking, be,
tween the American and the Spanish
civilizations, is just as noticeable in
the little things which go to make up
the everyday life of the people as il
is in the broader fields of justice, re-
ligion and politics. And sometimes
thereby come little personal annoy
ances and embarrassments to both
4 Americans and Cubans, unintentional
on either side and yet unavoidable SO
long as the usage of the one people or
the other shall not entirely prevail.
For instance, there is the custom OF
saluting acquaintance when met upon
the street or in the drawing-room. In
Cuba it is the rule of social life that
the man shall bow or speak to the
woman first 1t is considered dreadful.
" forward of a young woman if She
take the liberty of recognizing a young
man apd bowling to him before he has
bowed to her. IN the United States it
- AuAtC lnE ICkEtSGs AuGIE 1t IS GUS
tomary for the woman first to salute
the man, so that the fair sex have the
right of selecting to whom they shall
bow. In view of the close guardian.
ship which Cuban and Spanish moth
ers keep yer their daughters and the
jealousy with which men guard their
wives it seem a little strange to us
that hare z,D, ~ .L-----
bow to a woman on the street. The
natural superstition of the woman is
that if she cannot remember the face
of her saluter she must have met him
and forgotten him. However. in all
fairness, it should be said that the Gus
tom among those accustomed to it
works as well practically as ours does
among us. There r always fathers
and husbands and brothers, to hold re-
sponsible personally those who over
step the lines of propriety, so that it is
only theoretically that objection could
be made and this objection depends in
all probability solely on our foreign
point of view.
But it is when you try to mix these
two customs in a society composed of
persons, part of whom are accustomed
to the. one and part to the other that
the confusion begins. An American
man newly arrived meets a Cuban
woman at a reception. The next dav
they pass each other on the Prado. He
naturally expects her to speak first.
She expects him to speak first. They
stare at each other with mutual ex-
pectatiOn and embarrassment and pass
"a dead cut on both sides, This same
young man after a stay of somelength
finds out something about the customs
of society, He is introduced to an
other young woman. Later he hap
pens to meet her in the street. He
knows that by the usages to which she
is accustomed he should speak first
and yet he knows that she knows that
be IS an American and may wait for
her to speak first. On the other hand
she knows that he is accustomed to
having the women speak first, but she
also knows that he, having lived in
Cuba some time knows that it's the
mans place here to speak first and so
1t is they stare and stare and look
away and stare again. If they succeed
in bowling at all it's generally in a
jerky scared Observation-Disclosures
sort of a way,
OF course these endorsements
only arise among those newly ac-
4uainted. After people know that
they know one another it is easy
enough for the salutations are prac-
simultaneous. One thing which
the Cuban system does is to shift the
responsibility for identifying a host of
formally introduced people from the
woman to the man. This is trying to
The American because not being sure
the faces he is in a peck of trouble
for fear of cutting those whom he has
by not bowling. In the present
confused status it is likewise irving to
.he Cuban gentleman for knowing the
custom, he hesitates to bow
fear of offending American women
may not remember that theyhave
net HMM. Y. Sun.