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 [Illustration: “HER WORLD IS CONTAINED IN THE TOWN OF WHICH SHE IS RESIDENT.”] 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.