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While the band played, the young men and young women promenaded.  Once in a while a young buck would spy a girl whom he knew and breaking away from his companions would go up to her and request the pleasure of her company for a stroll. The vast majority of young people so amusing themselves were "bright skins", and many of the girls are little beauties.  I think the women profit, in looks, for having a little white blood, while the men usually do not.  The men seem to loose virility thereby.

Parked along the drives were many cars of expensive makes.  These were usually filled with older people, but once in a while one would find a laughing crowd of boys and girls.  Some of the young people seemed most carefully chaperoned, while others are more modern and come and go as they please.

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At 8:45 they play the national anthem-a short snappy piece-and the crowd breaks up.  They always finish before 9 as women aren't allowed to be alone on the streets after that.  The authorities are not as strict about this as they used to be.

Speaking of Haitian music reminds me that one day I was listening to the band play for the soldiers to march and for the auspicious occasion they had chosen "Maine Stein Song"!

That same day a bunch of tourists arrived and by the time they [[strikethrough]] arrived [[/strikethrough]] got to the hotel they had viewed a good deal of the Parade.  One little "know-it-all informed the others that most Latin American countries met the tourist boats with bands & parades.  How she would have started had she known that the parading was in celebration not of the arrival of the Americans, but of their departure.  Evacuation Day.