place" of Cuba and is perhaps the most beautiful
residence in all the tropical regions of the world. These women gave
large sums of money for the revolution and made many sacrifices for it,
beside running great risks of utter disaster to their fortunes. They
were both in Paris when news came of the death of Antonio Maceo, the
brilliant and daring commander who had carried the war westward into
Havana and Pinar del Rio and who fell in battle in the former province.
His death was a disaster well calculated to shake the fortitude of the
patriots, if not to strike them with despair. But immediately upon
hearing the news Marta Abreu sent a cable dispatch to Benjamin Guerra,
the Treasurer of the Junta, urging him not to be discouraged but to
"keep the good work going," and adding that she and her sister were each
mailing him a check for $50,000. Such a spirit was indomitable.

The small farmers of the island, or "guajiros," the peasantry and rural
workingmen, were strongly in favor of the revolution, although it meant
unspeakable hardships to them. They sent their families up into the
mountains, where they would be comparatively safe from the actual
fighting, and where the old men, the women and the children could
cultivate little patches of ground, planted with sweet potatoes, yucca
and other food plants, which would supply them with nourishment and also
contribute to the feeding of the patriot army. Then the men joined the
ranks of the revolutionary army. It should be added that among the most
eager recruits were many sons of Autonomists. Their fathers deprecated
the war, but the sons realized its necessity. There were even some sons
of Spanish Loyalists in the patriot army, who fought faithfully for the
Cuban cause against their own fathers.

The priesthood of the island was absolutely against the revolution and
in favor of maintaining the sovereignty of the Spanish crown in Cuba.
There may have been a few exceptions, of priests who not only favored
independence but who actually went into the field with the patriot army
and fought for it. But apart from them the Church was solidly for Spain.
The great majority of the priests had come from Spain, and remained
Spaniards at heart and in political sympathy. They preached from their
pulpits against the revolution, and undoubtedly exerted considerable
influence in that direction. That fact was not forgotten after the war,
and it explained the very general antipathy toward or at