From the time that she first begins to walk, until she is handed over, too often against her inclination, to a husband, the Cuban girl is under surveillance. Whether this close guardianship is prompted by fear of the evil designs of the young men of her acquaintance, by anxiety about her own tendencies to go astray, or both, is not clear. Perhaps the old Spanish custom is unnecessary and is maintained merely because it is an established practice. Be that as it may, the Cuban girl is not allowed any kind of intercourse with the other sex, except for the members of her own family, until she leaves her father’s house for that of her husband, unless it be under supervision. Occasionally lovers contrive to exchange a few words privately through the bars of a ground floor window, but the proceeding is not countenanced by the maiden’s mother, and may entail a penance in expiation of the bold defiance of the laws of etiquette and modesty.
The little Cubana is escorted to school and thence home again. Her little brother goes to a separate institution. It would not be at all proper for boys and girls to read their primers upon the same benches, or even in the same room. Later on, when she has grown to be a big girl and of an age at which an American miss is supposed to take care of herself, the Cuban is still treated as if it were not safe to leave her alone for a moment. She goes to the theatre or plaza with her mother, and young men of her acquaintance cast languishing glances at her from the foyer, or the benches along the walk. One of them may be particularly favored by her parents and he may be permitted to call upon her, but he will never be permitted to see her, except in the presence of a sister, or a less sympathetic dueña. Their courtship is carried on without any of the sweet tête-à-têtes that are as essential to Anglo Saxon love-making as mustard is to ham. I presume, although I have made no precise enquiry on the subject, that most Cuban girls of good families do not kiss the men to whom they are married until after the priestly benediction has been pronounced upon the union.
No nation can boast women more comely than the daughters of Cuba. Often their features are strikingly attractive and sometimes extremely beautiful, despite the disfiguring cascarilla, or powdered egg-shell, which is plastered on the face with ghastly effect. If the Cubana had vivacity, or even expression, she would be irresistibly charming. But her countenance, though not lacking in intelligence, is apt to be placid to the point of dulness. This is the more remarkable because her Spanish grandmother was probably a woman of verve and sparkle, with flashing, big black eyes, which in her descendant are just as big and black, but languid and unresponsive. Though blondes are not extremely rare among the Cuban women, the prevailing type is dark, with blue-black hair in abundant quantity. The cubana matures early and fades correspondingly soon. A fully developed woman at thirteen, she is often married at that age, or shortly after, and is probably the mother of several children before she has passed out of her teens. Her good looks wane and her figure becomes embonpoint, if not corpulent, at an age when the Anglo-Saxon woman still presents the appearance of youth.
One who had only known la senorita might be disposed to think that Cuban women have little character or individuality. It is as mothers that they display their best traits. From the day of her marriage, La Cubana devotes her life to her home and family. She is a willing slave to her husband and children, often with bad effect upon him and them. A little more independence, a little less self-sacrifice, on her part, would be better for all parties concerned. But every Cuban girl is taught that her sole mission in life is to fulfill her duty as wife and mother to the best of her ability. She has been schooled to consider herself the absolute property of her husband and to render him unquestioned obedience.
She is prone to jealousy but slow to resent neglect and unfaithfulness. Sad to say, this devoted creature too often loses the love of her husband with the decline of her beauty. She seldom has the strength of character or the intellectual attractions necessary to hold him when the physical charm has lost its force.
Religion is the only other interest of the Cuban lady, and she has a monopoly of it, for the men of her class are almost universally irreligious. During the revolutionary period, when free-thought doctrines were rife in Europe and America, the Cubans of the cities became addicted to reading the works of Voltaire, Rousseau, and their Italian disciples. The result was a deterioration of religious belief, from which the Cubans have never recovered. Although they are sometimes apparently zealous in the observance of the rites and ceremonies of the Church, it is probably more from a love of music and of pageantry than from devotional motives. The most regular attendant of mass is apt to speak lightly of his faith and its representatives and to laugh at the scurrilous cartoons, caricaturing the Church and its ministers, which frequently appear in the newspapers and the shop-windows. No doubt the conduct of some of the clergy in Cuba, as in other Latin-American countries, has done much toward destroying respect for the cloth and devotion to the faith. Then again the fact that the Church was allied with the official oppressors, although many priests sympathized with the natives, had its effect for alienation. Were it not for its female adherents, the Church in Cuba would cease to be a national institution to-morrow. La cubana, however, is a fervent devotée, constant in her attendance at mass and confession.
The Cuban woman is the most conservative of beings and a stickler for the proprieties. She is very matter of fact, very serious, and utterly destitute of humor. Her life is passed in a narrow groove, with little but birth, marriage, and death, to vary it. Her world is contained in the town of which she is resident, and perhaps within a few squares of it. What happens outside these boundaries is nothing to her. She seldom cares for reading, her sole accomplishments are embroidering and piano-playing, her chief diversion, gossiping with her neighbors. She is never taught to take an interest in household work and knows nothing about cooking.
But withal she is womanly, warm-hearted, hospitable, and often extremely charming.
The Cubans are the most democratic of people. The ragged peasant maintains a dignified attitude toward all men, which conveys the impression of a nicely balanced respect for himself and for his fellow. His landlord, or his employer, meets him upon his own ground and the relations between them are frequently characterized by friendly familiarity. The revolutionary period, with its levelling processes and its common interests, tended to make this condition more pronounced. It also had the effect of almost obliterating the color-line, which had previously been but faint. The right of the