The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-05-25

10 that capital in the far East TO IND Oh
what an important factor in the life o
the foreign resident that same Englisl
Club is, which somehow binds the com
muity together and makes a side-tracke'
capital much more Hvable by reason o
it's existance. The En- glish Club is no
only sort of social center and bureau
of information, but is also a trade cente
at which sales are made contracts closet
and deals consummated. If you want
man and ire is not to be found elsewher,
during business hours, send to the cluI
for him or 80 yourself at about noon, ant
you are sure to find him Stacking mis- thirs
and talking to somebody.
In Manila the club affords shelter ant
I cocktails 10 its members at two widely
/ separated points of the compass-one JUS
on the banks of the Pasig, where its
waters, coming down from the big lake
at the foot of the mountains, are first in
| troduced to the outlying suburbs of the
city. and the other in the heart of the
! business section. The same set of ma.
/ tive servants practically served for both
/ departments since no one uses uptown
during the middle of the day and no one
downtown after business hours. AS a re-
suit, on week days, after the light break
fast of the early morning was over a the
uptown building, the staff of walters and
assistants hurried downtown in the tram
cars and made ready for the noon meas
az the other structure, returning again
to the suburbs in time to officiate at din
ner.
At the suburban clubhouse in Nag an
were the dining room. porlor, billiard
rooms, bowling alley, bedchambers for
members and guests, and a boat house
for those who had the energy to buck the
muddy current of the Pasig in heavy
working boats. In the down town or tiffin
rooms were merely the breakfast par
lor'' and library with a billiard table
perched out in the hallway; the whole es-
adjustment was modestly located on a
prominent corner in the main street, over
the offices of an English bank.
At 10 o'clock in the morning the hSSkers
and heads of houses used to assemble at
the tifffn rooms as a sort of chamber of
commerce, and discuss the news from
home as related in the private cable
grams. AT noon the members of the
foreign business community stopped work,
and most of them returned to the club
for the hearty breakfast which was served
below the lazily swinging punkahs. This
was the first square meal of the day, and
consisted of so many varied courses that
long sleeping chairs were provided in the
library for the comfort of members,
most of whom found an hours rest abso-
lutely necessary after a battle with
Chinese curry and canned plum pudding.
Tiffin was supplied on every business day
in the month TO subscribers for $3.50
Mexican, or about 81 in gold. If there were
few holidays in the month the price per
meal was cheap enough, say > cents;
but when those ever recurrent church
feast days came along-sometimes two a
week-meals were suspended down town,
and the club got the best of the bargain.
AT such times the body of servants re-
manned at the suburban establishment,
and the "tiffin" cost a dollar
The library in the tiffin rooms was ex-
cellent, consisting as it did of some 1000
volumes and a set of original Arabian
Nights kept in a big tin box near the
door. All Of the latest papers and maya
zines-six weeks old though they were
could be found on the tables, and nothing
induced sleep so easily after that hearty
breakfast as the slowly swaying punkah
and the perusaI Of stale news. The pun
kah boy slept with the rest and pulled on
in his dreams. If he awoke the cooling ar
rangement stopped. and some one would
throw Sir John Lubbock across the room
to put him asleep again.
In Manila in times of peace, the whole
city slumbers from p to g. Carriages dis
appear from the streets. the shops draw
down their blinds, and the little one
horse tram-car is about theonIy sign of
life At 3 the mercury begins to sink a lit /
tie and life revives. At the English Off /
ces served tea, tost and jam to customers
and clerks. and at the community paid /
a final visit to the tiffin rooms before driv- J
ing to the promenade or to the uptown /
club, at Nagtajen. If they went 70 the 1
promenade at the Luneta, the foreigners 1
saw hundreds of carriages circulating 1
around a slightly raised ellipse 1000 feet |
ong, whose center was marked with a
arge band-stand and whose surrounding
roadway was guarded by mounted police
hat kept the carriages in file. And no.
body but the encouragement and arch
bishop can turn his carriage in the oppo-
site direction from the general left 10
light movement.
Directly in front hes 5ne great bay. with
ne sun going down in the Boca Chica
between the hardly visible island of Cor
'egidor and the mainland thirty miles
lway. To The rear IS a stretch OF green
parade ground, clumps of bamboo trees
'oncealing houses. and the distant noun
aims. To the right lie The corner bat
cry and tne walls Of old Manila, and 70
ne left the attractive suburb OF Ermita
md the stretch Of shore running along
owatis Cav,te.
Carriages Of ali sorts made up the Pro-
ess.on. rs il used 20 be, and were filed
Silh stately Spanish couples. or groups
Z over-,lreSsed native women in crushed
trawberry gowns. or hunted looking
,lTinese- And people could generally de-
'end upon Il that she people who drove
n the finest -ictorsas lived in the poorest
iouses and had the least for dinner. For
panish officials and their wives pre-
erred 10 look wei on the Lune;a rather
nan TO live wei, a home Men. boys
nd tas1etuiy dressed children thronged
he elltpse al these times. or sat along
he edges Of the curling facing the bay