.
There was no haste, and there was no undue delay; while everything was
done "decently and in order." It took the Federal Convention of the
United States four months of secret sessions to frame its Constitution,
and its career was marked with many violent scenes, including the
withdrawal of the representatives of one of the chief states from the
Convention. The Cuban Convention had no incidents so unpleasant as that,
and it completed its work in three months and a half.

[Illustration: AURELIA CASTILLO DE GONZALEZ

Aurelia Castillo de Gonzalez, poet and essayist, was born in Camaguey in
1842, spent much time in European travel, and then settled in Havana.
She first attracted literary attention by her elegy on "El Lugareno" in
1866, and since that time has been an incessant contributor to Cuban
literature in verse and prose. She is the author of a fine study of the
Life and Works of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, of a volume of fables,
and a number of satires. Her complete works (to date) were published in
five volumes in 1913.]

February 21, 1901 was the crowning day. Ten days before the draft of the
Constitution, as yet unsigned, had been published in pamphlet form. On
the date named the Convention was to give it validity by signing it. The
public was admitted to view the scene, the consuls of foreign powers
were in attendance as specially invited guests, and a fine military band
discoursed patriotic and classical music. The Constitution, finally
engrossed, was read aloud, and then one by one the delegates marched up
to the President's desk and affixed their signatures. When the last name
was written, all stood while the band played the national anthem of
Cuba. The President of the Convention, Mendez Capote, made a graceful
address of congratulation and good wishes; and the Convention adjourned,
its work well ended.

We have said that at the opening session, immediately after his
introductory address, the American Military Governor left the hall. He
did not revisit it, and neither he nor any American officer was ever
present at any meeting of the Convention; nor was any American
representative present at the closing function of the signing of the
Constitution. The purpose of that abstention was obvious. It was to
avoid so much as the appearance or the suspicion of American meddling or
dictation in the work of the Convention. General Wood had told the
Convention that it had nothing to do with his government of the