Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-06-27


stances aggravating. From childhood
to old age she rarely does as she
likes, but is q slave to antiquated
customs. AS child, servant ac-
companies her to school and calls for
her in the evening, and her playmates
are few. When the marriageable age
Is reached. her courting is done in
the presence Of others, for the young
man who calls on tho Cuban senorita
! really visits the entire family, as at
least one of them always remains in
the room, which is brilliantly lighted,
and its occupants are in full view of
anybody passing along the street.
Even If the girl talks with her lover
through the grilled window some
member of tho family is always near
by. II he takes her to place of
amusement she Is always properly
chaperoned. After they are engaged
tho vigilance OF the parents is in
creased, and the young couple are
never for moment left to them
selves. A young man may be fond Of
a girl, yet in no position to marry,
but after he has spoken to her father,
which he must do early in the court
ship, he is expected to visit her homo
every night and enjoy her society
along with the rest OF the family.
If they should go to a dance. with
the family, of course. the girl dances
every set with her escort.
To the American woman this style
Of courtship seems particularly exas-
perating. for nowhere are there more
romantic spots than around Havana.
In fact, everything throughout the
island suggests the romance of lovers
wandering about free to enjoy each
others company, unconscious of the
existence of the rest of the world.
Yet there such pleasure Is denied
them.> The Cuban girl Of the better
class Is usually pretty. The beauty
of her clear, olive skin is heightened
by sparkling black eyes and very
white teeth, while her head Is
crowned by a wealth Of coal black hair
Her whole makeup suggests happi-
ness, but from an American point of
view she never really attains it.
am told that occasionally one is brave
enough to break down customs.
Finally this courted in the presence
of the family girl marrics, and unless
the young husband is wealthy. even
the Joy Of wedding trip 10 denied
her. She at once settles down to a
life of inactivity, and. as the result,
grows fat, and inside of five years has
lost every vestige of her girlhood
beauty. She is usually the mother OF
q large family, and be it said to her
credit she makes a devoted mother.
She is the picture of domesticity and
rarely leaves her home. Domesticity
does not always bring happiness, and
unhappy marriages are not uncom-
mon. Divorces are unknown, ana
when separations occur the unfortu-
nate couple simply live apart and
neither can remarry. This seems to
be the swinging back OF the pCndu-
lum to tho other extreme, as COM
pared with the loose divorce laws or
somo of the States. both system3 re-
sulting In immortality. One has but
to visit the big orphan asylum In
Havana to learn something of Cuba's
moral depravity. At the entrance
there IS a large turn-table, on which
q child may be placed and turned
into the institution. The good sister
receives it and no questions are
asked.
The Cuban matron has little to say
in the management of her own house
hold, as the family literally board
with their cook. who has sole control
of tho cuisine. When cook Is en-
gagged she Is paid SO much per month
ten, fifteen or twenty dollars, as
the case may bo-for her work. She
at once inquiries how much Is allowed
for tho marketing. which she Is to do
each morning. On being told. she
figures out how much sho can save
from the amount, and If the graft
amounts to say fifteen OF twenty
cents per day, she is likely to accept
tie position. She rarely sleeps at the
hoxse, and usually has q family OF
her own who are fed from the larder
of her employer. Early breakfast IS
light-fruits, rolls and coffee-and
at noon there is a meal known as late
breakfast, which resembles the Amer
lean luncheon When this Is finished
the cook spends few hours at her
home and returns at five O'Clock In
time to prepare dinner. A half
grown girl is employed to wait on the
table, answer the doorbell, etc. In
some families male cooks are EN-
ployed. If the meals do not suit the
master of the house he adds more
money to the marketing allowance.
Meanwhile. the wife enjoys life IN
a rocking chair, reads a little, and
does needlework occasionally. She
powders her face with a coarse pow
der until she becomes positively
ghastly. Even the children are sent
out with a coating of this ugly stuff
Many of the boys are sent to the
United States to be educated, and
only the other day the president OF
the Lehigh University told me that
ilc welcomed both the Cuban and the
Porto Rican, as they made excellent
students. The girls, however, rarely
have the same advantages, and are
seii to Spain, where they are educa-
ted in converts and retain their old
Spanish customs. If by chance one
marr!es an American Of the right sort
thes., ideas of seclusion vanish and
the real woman comes to the surface.
saw an evidence Of this in the inter-
ior of the island where I met a
charming Cuban girl. the bride of a
few months. Her husband was the
A--..isi s6,s,itasas LiiciIaaSs do