The Lamar register., 1898-11-23
NOTES FROM MANILA
cHARAcTER OF NATIVE HOMES.
The People Surprised to See American
Exert Themseives-sna aud scor-
pions In tho Houses.

Record, writing from Manila. says:
The Philippine girls are interesting,
but only "a few are pretty. They are
extremely graceful. as straight as ar
rows and always picturesque. a girl
becomes a young lady at II or Is. a
mother about three years later and a
grandmother at 80. but even AT the ad
vanceG age vi 30 she is still supple and
graceful and picturesque. These who
were at the Worlds Fair in Chicago
may remember the beautiful Samoan
girls in the Samoan village. The type
of beauty Is very nearly the same, and
seems to be common with nearly all
the Pacific islanders and the Malays.
The skin is yellow or brown, the hoir
straight and shiny black. the eyes soft
and lustrous and the teeth white ex-
cept where the habit of chewing the
betelnut has left them red and repul-
sive. The women are modest to the
last degree, do not know what flirting
is and are hospitable and womanly-
The practice of smoking is general, and
even little girls scarcely s years old
may frequently be seen smoking enor-
nous cigars. The children go naked
until they are q or years old. and
then they graduate into a short skirt,
and little while later into about the
same style of clothes as are worn by
the grown people. The mothers carry
their children astride on their hips.
The natives are docile and peaceable,
and It Is doubtful whether pictures OF
more complete contentment and happi-
ness can he found anywhere in the
world than in the little matched huts
with their canopies of waving palms
and banana trees. II Is only when agi-
tators like Aguinaldo and his ambi-
tious retinue OF adventurers tell them
that they ought to be discontented and
unhappy that they realize that the
Americans are going to oppress them.
The attitude of the natives toward the
Americans is always very cordial, ex-
cept where the influence of the agita-
tors has been felt.
The uniforms worn by the Americans
are somewhat ugly and unmilitary
looking. bur there is always that sug
gestion of health and strength about
them that the offense to esthetic ideas
of beauty nre not noticed. The blue
shirts and rough brown breeches and
slouch hats give them the appearance
of stage cowboys or frontiersmen.
Sometimes in the evening there are
companies of soldiers drilling on the
Lunetta and at these times the sidss of
the parade ground are crowded.
The American soldiers are keeping up
regular routine of drilling. In the
evening at about & o'clock the districts
OF the city and suburbs are enliyened
by the sound of martial music the
shuttle of measured footsteps and the
rattle OF arms Hundreds of natives
and Spaniards usually gather to watch
these daily drills, which are in a way
exhibition drills. and they doubtless
wonder at military display which
the Spanish predecessors evidently
fnfnI,raI In n 1nns an Amnri-
can citizen good to see how superior in
physique and how strong in healthful
development the soldiers of his eoun-
try are. They are usually so much
taller than the Spanish and insurgent
soldiers that there is no comparison.
Over in the bandstand a couple of
Oregon soldiers occasionally give ex-
hibltions of boxing. The crowd that
throngs around the arena during these
displays of manly strength and clever
ness of sparring are always big and
very appreciative. although the people
here usually marvel at anything that
involves voluntary eNertion.
The excise on tobacco at Manila is
severely criticised as being undiplo
matte. The natives. every man. woman
and child of whom is a smoker, will
suffer directly from this duty. And as
they have never before paid duty on
tobacco for local consumption they will
harbor bitter feelings against the
Americans for Introducing a duty
which strikes every one of them as
hard.
One feature Of the houses in Manila
which is rather hard to get accustomed
to is the presence of the great number
of lizards which crawl around the cell
ings and walls of the rooms at night.
They are harmless, but the thought
that they may occasionally lose their
grip and drop down in ones face is not
calculated to make them welcome
members of the household. There are
many scorpions about. but they keep
exclusively in the dark corners of the
house and yard and otherwise behave
themselves well. 1t is said that nearly
all the older houses are populated with
house snakes, which wage a relentless
war upon the rats; but so far have
not found any beneath my pillow or
seen any wandering about.