notwithstanding the intimacy of our relations with the cubans for many years past, our people entertain the most hazy and confused ideas about them. it is difficult to make an american understand that there is any essential difference between a cuban and a spaniard. he generally imagines that the distinction is nominal, or, if actual, that it rests entirely upon political status. of the americans who go to cuba only a small proportion travel farther from habana than the caves of bellamar, and they imagine that they see the typical native in the men and women of the city. in this conclusion they fall very short of the mark. the habanero is not the best and truest representative of his country. he must be sought in the rural districts and will most readily be found in camaguey, where the percentage of pure whites is even greater than in the capital. the cuban is fond of calling himself a camagueyeno, and{84} this because the purest native blood of the island has been found in that province since the old days when it was a famous cattle-raising country.
the cuban is a spaniard to the same extent as the american is english, and no more. although the compositive mixture is greater in one type than in the other, they exhibit equal divergence from the parent stock, both in the matter of physical and mental characteristics. this, without reference to the native who is tinged with negro blood—the mulatto. he may conform closely to the traits and appearance of the creole, but then, again, he may differ from him in the widest degree.
the spaniard, and especially the peasant of the provinces, from whom the cuban is most often descended, is usually round-headed, broad-chested, and stocky. the cuban is lanky, lean and slack limbed. his drooping shoulders, languid air, and listless gait, give the impression of weak physique and lack of energy, an impression which is confirmed by a study of his habits. it might be supposed that, with the advantage of acclimatization, he would be able to hold his own against the foreign settler, but such is very far from being the case.{85}
immigrants of any race, but particularly those from spain, appear to have no difficulty in competing successfully with the cuban upon his native heath. this can not be altogether due to physical weakness and want of energy, and certainly not to deficiency of intelligence. perhaps the chief reason of the cuban’s backwardness is to be found in a constitutional absence of ambition. for generations he has had no incentive to effort and the laissez faire state of mind has gradually become ingrained. whether, with improved opportunity, his character will undergo a change in this respect is beyond the range of safe prediction. the opportunity has not yet been extended to him, despite superficial appearances.
critics of the cubans are prone to speak of them contemptuously for the lack of certain qualities which we prize and the possession of certain defects which we despise. the charges are generally true, but the condemnation unjust, nevertheless. no people were ever more handicapped in their formative development. numerous conditions, over which they had little, if any, control, have affected the cubans physically, morally, politically, and economically,—and the influences have, in the major{86}ity of instances and in the most respects, been maleficent. only since yesterday have the cubans been free agents, and even to-day their freedom is qualified, the conduct of their government subject to a critical supervision, and their independence liable to sudden interruption. they have had no more control of their making than a child has of its. they have always been treated as irresponsible and incapable beings. they have never had fair scope for initiative, nor a free field for endeavor. there has always been a pressure from above, crushing growth, independence, enterprise, and hope.
under the circumstances is it to be wondered at that the cuban is deficient in backbone; that he is vacillating and morally wobbly; that his somewhat effeminate, often handsome, and never coarse features bear a stamp of weakness which the most fiery pair of eyes will not suffice to counteract? would it not be surprising if he displayed any marked capacity for hard work, or facility for business?
pleasure loving, inclined to frivolity, cheery, and apparently philosophical, the cuban yields to difficulties and sinks under reverses. it is his habit, fostered by temperament and envi{87}ronment, to follow the lines of least resistance, and the way leads him ultimately into a cul de sac,—a slough of stagnation. he has a quick intelligence and a lively imagination. he can plan shrewdly and with nice calculation, but he has neither the force nor the executive ability to carry out his designs. for a full century he has conspired to throw off the galling yoke of spain, and he would never have done it but for the intervention of the united states.
as a young man he is apt to be foppish, libidinous and indolent, in striking contrast to the sturdy little spanish apprentice, of habana. cuban children are too often spoilt by fond and over indulgent parents. the effect upon the girls is modified by the restricted home life to which they are subjected. in the boys it shows in selfwilfulness, lack of principle and utter absence of respect for things that the anglo saxon is apt to reverence.
the cuban usually marries early, and he makes a good father, if, often, a questionable husband. despite the fact that he can depend upon the continence of his wife, or, perhaps because of it, he is frequently guilty of infidelity to her. this, if she discovers it, she is likely to treat with a complacency that an american{88} woman could not understand. it is a common boast of cubans that no cuban woman ever became a public prostitute. whether or not this is true, there is a marked difference in the standard of marital virtue maintained by the sexes among them. in this, and other respects, the less said about the cuban of habana, the better.
it is not on short acquaintance that a true gauge of the cuban’s character may be made. his surface air is one of self-respect and geniality, that hides the underlying egotistic selfishness and flaccidity. if educated, he has a courteous manner and polished address, while the poorest peasant displays a certain refinement and decided intelligence. i never remember to have seen a dull or stupid looking cuban, but, perhaps, that is due less to mental quality than to the universal endowment of remarkably fine eyes.
at first sight, you will like the cuban, and you may continue to do so after you have learned to know him for a weak-minded brother, without any stable qualities in his composition. he has a subtle attractiveness which you will find it difficult to analyze. perhaps it is his natural bonhomie and genuine affectionateness
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country homes of wealthy cubans.
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that draws you, and the undercurrent of na?ve childishness that blinds you to his faults. unlike his arrogant cousin, the spaniard, he is pathetically conscious of his shortcomings. often a comic assertiveness will thinly cloak an uneasy realization of inferiority.
and withal you will conclude that he is not a bad fellow at the bottom; that with half a chance he might have developed into a very different man. this idea will be strengthened when you come to know the guajiro. meanwhile you can not fail to speculate with misgiving on the future of the country if its government is to remain in the hands of the white and parti-colored cubans. you may base some hope on the recollection that the soil of this island has bred not a few men of noble character and great talent,—but we will consider the subject more fully later on.
the younger generation of the present upper class of cubans is a source of hope and may perhaps prove to be the seed-bed of a different race. their fathers were born to riches and enjoyed lives of ease and pleasure. reckless extravagance and loss due to war, and the consequent commercial depressions, have reduced most of the wealthy families to ruin, or com{90}parative poverty. it is as much as they can do to afford their sons good educations. after leaving college they are compelled to earn their livelihood. the result of this changed condition is already apparent in the display of more manly qualities and better principles. of the many cuban youths in our educational institutions, a large proportion give promise of leading useful lives.
what the cuban seems to need more than anything else is to develop virility and hard common sense. if he should do this in combination with the better application of some of his natural talents, he will present himself to the world as a very admirable man. meanwhile, it is always to be remembered that he was freed from his swaddling clothes but yesterday. he never before had a fair chance to grow, to stretch his limbs, to think and act for himself. we do not know what he can do or what he may become until he has been tested through two generations, at least.
the foregoing is written, in the main, with the cubans of the cities and towns in mind—the men of what are commonly called the “better class.” the guajiro, the white cuban peasant of the rural districts, is in several respects{91} a different fellow. but, before we proceed to a description of him, let us take a view of la hija del pais, the daughter of the country.
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{92} 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 due?a. 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 cas{93}carilla, 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.{94} 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 re{95}sult 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{96} 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
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“her world is contained in the town of which she is resident.{97}”
black and mulatto to call themselves “cubanos” could hardly be disputed in a country which owes its freedom in so great a degree to their efforts.
the lowest cuban of the country will welcome you with dignified self-possession to the hut in which his naked children are tumbling about among the pigs and the chickens. you will have no difficulty in realizing that you may not pity nor patronize him, however miserable his condition may appear to be. he will be glad to do you a service for pay, and will overcharge you if you permit, but you can not offer him a gratuity without risk of offence. his air of independence is not without a basis of fact for its justification. his simple needs are supplied with little labor. he works when he wants to, and loafs when he pleases.
the guajiro, or white peasant of cuba, is first cousin to the gibaro of puerto rico, whom i have described in a former volume.[2] they are much alike in character and in manner of living, but the former is the better man. he has not had to contend against the hookworm, which has played havoc with the puerto rican cam{98}pesino, and he has gained something in fibre and backbone from his hard experience as combatant or reconcentrado in the rebellions of late years.
the ancestors of the guajiro came mainly from catalonia and andalusia, and were a good, hardy stock. time was when he occasionally owned slaves and a fair extent of land, but nowadays he is more often than not a squatter in a little corner of that no-man’s-land which seems to be so extensive in the central and eastern portions of the island. in comparatively few instances he has title to a few acres, lives in a passably comfortable cabana, possesses a yoke of oxen, a good horse, half a dozen pigs, and plenty of poultry. much more often he lives in a ramshackle bohio, the one apartment of which affords indifferent shelter to a large family and is fairly shared by a lean hog and a few scrawny chickens. there is nothing deserving the name of furniture in the house, and the clothing of the family is of the scantiest. a nag of some sort, usually a sorry specimen of its kind, is almost always owned by the guajiro, who loves a horse and rides like the gaucho of the argentine pampas.
the guajiros are handsome, manly fellows.{99} while they have frequently become tinged with african blood, a majority probably have maintained the purity of their origin, and this is conspicuously the case with the peasantry about cienfuegos. they speak a patois which is a mixture of spanish and negro dialect, picked up from the blacks, with whom their intercourse has always been more or less close, and with whom they live on the best of terms.
the guajiro is totally lacking ambition and his chief desire is to be left alone to live his life in his own way. if he is frugal, it is from necessity. of thrift he has no understanding. what he earns to-day he carelessly spends to-morrow. indeed he knows no reason for earning except to spend. it would be strange if his characteristics were otherwise. he has never had any opportunity to improve his condition, nor any incentive to accumulate property. he has become accustomed to living from hand to mouth with indifferent regard to the future. he works when he must and ceases as soon as he may. in that respect he is merely giving full play to an inclination that is strong in all of us.
the guajiro lives chiefly on bananas and other fruit. aside from an occasional iguana,{100} or jutea, pork is the only meat he eats. this, contrary to our idea of the fitness of things in the tropics, is a frequent and favorite dish with all classes of cubans. he sometimes varies his bill of fare with a fish or a bull-frog.
the one trait of his spanish forefathers which the guajiro retains in undiminished strength, is love of gambling. he is supported through a week of loathsome labor by the prospect of wagering his wages at the cock-pit or bull-ring on sunday. he enjoys music and dancing with the whole-hearted delight of a child. as most of the observances of the church have something of a gala character they attract him, and he finds a pious excuse for attending them. weddings, christenings, funerals, are so many holidays in which it is a religious duty to take part. of course all the fiestas are holy days and if he worked on all the days which are in no manner signalized by the church, he would hardly labor half the time.
the guajira does all the chores about the place, except for looking after the cattle. if these and the cooking leave any surplus time it is occupied in attending to the numerous brood of guajiritos, who are to be seen tumbling
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young cane-field, with banana grove in the distance.
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about every cabin of the island in a state of unhampered nature. the guajira is the working member of the family, but she gets her full share of the holidays, for her husband usually takes all his dependents with him when he goes to town to attend mass and patronize the cockfight. females are debarred from that delectable entertainment and while it is in progress the guajira will foregather with others of her kind outside the village fonda and gossip over a glass of tamarind water.
there used to be more saints’ days than sundays in the calendar, but the number is not so generally observed as formerly. in fact, the country population seems to be beginning to take a more serious view of life and to regard work as a somewhat essential part of it, rather than a necessary evil of intermittent character. as he has come into closer touch with civilization in latter days, the guajiro has become sensibly discontented with his simple lot and desirous of many things of which he formerly knew nothing or toward which he was indifferent.
