walk of life. The present dispute arose when a restaurant keeper from
Alabama refused a seat at his public table to the mulatto Colonel of
a Cuban regiment. The Southerner was perfectly sincere in the
declaration that he would see himself in a warmer climate than Cuba
before he would insult his American guests "by seating a 'nigger'
among them!" To the Colonel it was a novel and astonishing experience,
and is of course deeply resented by all his kind in Cuba, where
African blood may be found, in greater or less degree, in some of the
richest and most influential families of the island.

COLORED BELLES THERE.

In Havana you need not be surprised to see Creole belles on
the fashionable Prado--perhaps Cuban-Spanish. Cuban-English or
Cuban-German blondes--promenading with Negro officers in gorgeous
uniforms; or octoroon beauties with hair in natural crimp, riding in
carriages beside white husbands or lighting up an opera box with the
splendor of their diamonds. There was a wedding in the old cathedral
the other day, attended by the elite of the city, the bride being the
lovely young daughter of a Cuban planter, the groom a burly Negro.
Nobody to the manor born has ever dreamed of objecting to this
mingling of colors; therefore when some newly arrived foreigner
declares that nobody but those of his own complexion shall eat in a
public dining room, there is likely to be trouble.

THE WAR BEGAN.

When the war began the population of Cuba was a little more than
one-third black; now the proportion is officially reckoned as 525,684
colored, against 1,631,600 white. In 1898 two Negroes were serving as