Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/185

Rh me rest and friends, and have enabled me to see and to know the inner life and condition of society, and have given me an opportunity of seeing people who will be united in my heart with the delicious air and the beautiful palms of Cuba. Among these is Mrs. P., one of the best hearts in the world, one of those gentle, motherly beings whom one must love and reverence with one's whole heart. It was a grief to me to part with her and her kind daughters, who overwhelmed me with kindnesses and gifts, even to the last moment.

I live with the young couple here as with a younger brother and sister, and am as happy as possible with them in their lovely home, and in the charming air of Matanzas. I have again visited my beloved valley of Yumori, and made a drawing of its opening, as being most manageable from the azotea of the house, which commands a beautiful view of this point. I wished also to draw a Cuban house, and selected for this purpose a small, very pretty house on La Plaza de Armas. Very early in the morning accordingly, I seated myself upon a bench under the poplars there with pencil and book, and thus hoped, quite unobserved, to place Casa donna Fabriana Hernandez in my album. The first morning, everything succeeded to my wishes. One negro only looked out of the gate of the house and cast suspicious glances at me. The second morning, however, several heads peeped forth from the house, and a crowd of lads gathered round me, peeping into my album. On the third morning, the house was in evident inward uneasiness, and tall men came round me talking Spanish, not in any unfriendly manner, and with questions to which I could give no other reply than by showing them my drawing, and saying “hermoso Casa in Matanzas.” They laughed, but would see me at work, and there was no more tranquillity for me, I therefore left the place as soon as I had done sufficient of the house to enable me to finish the drawing at home. A handsome