“The ball room was a long, large hall, at the other end of which was a pretty stage for theatrical representations; on each side of the room was an arched colonnade, over which were the galleries, where the band was posted.  Hanged in double rows of chairs the full length of the room in front of the colonnade, sat hundreds of dark-eyed angels, calm, dignified, and appearing, most of them, to be mere lookers on; not a black coat among them.  All of these, with the exception of a few courageous ones that were facing all this beauty, were huddled together at the other end of the room, wanting the courage (it could not be the inclination) to pay their respects to ‘las Senoritas.’

“What is exactly the trouble in Cuba between the gentlemen and the ladies I never have been able to quite understand.  The men are polished and gentlemanly, as a general thing—­sufficiently intelligent, apparently; while the ladies are dignified and pretty.  And yet I have never seen that appearance of easy and pleasant intercourse between the sexes which makes our society so charming.

“I am inclined to believe that it is the fault of custom, in a great degree, which surrounds women in Cuba with etiquette, iron bars and formality.  This would seem to apply to the natives only, for nothing can be kinder, more friendly and courteous than the manners of the Cuban ladies to strangers, at least, judging from what is seen.  It may be as a lady with whom I was arguing the point said:  ’It is very different with strangers, Senor, and particularly with the Americans, who are celebrated for their chivalric gallantry to ladies.’  Now I call that a very pretty national compliment.

“Taking the arm of my friend, we walk up and down to see, as he expresses it, ‘who there is to be presented to,’ and faith, if beauty is to be the test, it would seem to be a hard matter to make up one’s mind, there is so much of it, but after a turn or two around the room, this form is gone through with, and one begins to feel at home and ready to enjoy one’s self.

“When one finds ladies (and there are numbers) who have been educated abroad, either in the United States or Europe, he finds them highly accomplished and entertaining.  Several that I had the pleasure of meeting on this and other occasions spoke French perfectly, some English, and one or two both of these in addition to their native tongue.

“But let us return to the ball, which is all the time going on with great eclat.  It opens with the advent upon the stage of a dozen or more young men, under the direction of a leader, in some fancy costume very handsomely made, who, after making their bow to the audience, go through some novel kind of a dance.  The performers take this means of filling up the intervals of the general dance, and amusing the audience.