The evening times., 1899-02-07
New York Cotton Market.
A Philippine Cemetery.
(From narper's Weekly.)


Psco Cemetery is a characteristic Fill
pino burying- ground, a small circular
piece of land with two thick and high con-
centric walls some distance apart the out
er one enclosing the cemetery In these
walls, and not in the ground, the dead
are buried in innumerable narrow inches
running deep into the wall When the
body is once put in, the niche is walled
up and tablet is placed TO mark the spot.
The reason that graves are not dug in the
ground is that at a depth of two feet wa
ter is found. The cemetery is managed
on the plan OF boarding house. The de-
ceased's friends pay his board for four
years, and if al the end of that time they
do not. pay again the niche is broken open
and the remains thrown into the bone pit.
Sometimes not even this courtesy is shown
TO the dead, for / saw coffin and part of
a corpse thrown over the back wall of the
cemetery into somebody's ricefield.
On the lst of November. toward even
ing Paco Cemetery is a very interesting
sight. The two concentric rings of walls
blaze with the light of thousands of can
dies and small lamps. About these two
blazing rings great crowd moves. Indi-
yiduals stop now and then before the niche
of some dead friend, as. on the promenade
of any European watering place, people
stop 10 speak to each other.
L
the Derby hats of bygone years, but now
l know that they are sent out to the Phil
ippines, Little native men, in spick and
span shirts with the tails floating TO the
wind, wear Derbys of every conceivable
shape, some perched on the top of their
heads after the fashion OF the Irish mu-
sic hall comedian, some covering their
faces and ears with voluminous curved
brims Little Philippine women with stiff
frtN ~,
over their heads, looking neat and whole
some. swing along with that peculiar un-
dulatory motion of the body which re-
minds one little of the snake. Mestiza
girls, in costumes which are not quite
| Philippine. and certainly not European,
hold their heads high and sniff at the
common people as BELTS their superior
caste. Spanish women. in dresses after
| the Paris fashions in the sixties. hang in
! dolently on the arms of gallant Spanish
| officers who carry themselves with the
| naughty pride of conquerors And, final
ly, Jimmy Green, in an il-ftting brown
| duck suit with a flannel shirt and cam
| paign hat, slouches along to see the
| sights.
At one end of the cemetery is a chapel,
! where for small consideration masses
Will be said to get the suffering souls out
OF purgatory. Indeed, "Al Souls Day is
Tue ouly udS Ill tue year WnS0 sous IN
! purgatory have chance TO get out Back
| of the church is the "boneyard.'' Ions
| trench where the skulls and bones of peo-
pie that have failed to pay their rent are
! thrown. rather pretty Filipino girl
| nonchalantly smoking a cigarette at the
| edge of this pit, gave light to one OF
our party. Her escort climbed down into
| the "boneyard and picked up a skull
muttered something in Tagalo. Is might
have been Alas! poor Yorick,'' for all
! we knew. The relic hunter among us ask
| ed the man, in Spanish, to give him the
| skull to take home as a memento.
"Oh, senor," answered the Tagal III
you take it home. it will jump about al
night and give you no rest until you either
| break 1t or bring it back
But If | get the padre to sprinkle holy
| water on it?" asked the relic hunter
HIM! What can the padre do?" replied
the irreyelent Tagalo