The evening times., 1899-07-11


the suburban resorts of this city may now
inspect a genuine Filipino village 1t is
an exact reproduction in every respect of
a typical community in Uncle Sans new
possessions. Hundreds, and ii might be
said thousands, of persons visit the vii
lage every day, and the guards are be-
ginning to wonder whether life is worth
living, in view of the yolley of questions
regarding the strangers which is continu-
ously fred at them.
Among those who have visited the viii
lage are several members of the Astor Bat
terry who took occasion to renew their ac-
quaintance with Salamo, one of the island
ers. who had been their interpreter while
they were stationed in the Philippines.
They said that it only needed a massive
old Spanish cathedral at the head of the
village street to make the soldiers believe
they were in fonda again. Everything is
the same. they say. only not quite so
much of it, There are the white gravel
roads, with no sidewalks, the bamboo
fences. the Nipa matched houses on stills,
with bamboo ladders leading up to the
porches, the white -shrted men and the
women in wide, flowing pima shirt waists,
and the chickens and pigs cooped up un-
DEE the houses by bamboo lattice work.
The American flag flies from a bamboo
staff over the palm-thatched market place
where men are engaged in making shoes,
baskets, and bamboo ware from material
and with tools brought from Manila The
little gardens are planted with seeds from
Aene, which with a few days more of
warm weather Will give the finishing
touches TO most realistic reproduction of
provincial village in the Philippines.
a sweet-voiced woman, Gregoria by
name, who occupies the house next TO the
market. divides her time between the care
of youngster three years old and the
entertainment of her visitors with songs
in Spanish and Tagalog. Her neighbor
across Gala Phillipo" finds in the care
Of little Psohencia, seventeen months old,
who is in danger of having her digestion
ruined by her admirers, and her household
duties enough to occupy her time. Ro-
mona makes pretty little palm-leaf baskets
in the market place, and Olivia is to be
found weaving cloth of Avacar fibre, such
as the parolas are made from, on the loom
that reminds her of her far-away home.
All seem happy and cheerful. They talk
freely with visitors who can speak to
them in Spanish, and are all trying TO
learn English as fast as they can, so that
they may know more about the country
they find so large and strange and full of
wonderful things-cars that go so fast
without horses, and houses that scrape the
skies.
The Filipinos live in native simplicity.
A supply of rice, fresh fish, or meat and
little coffee and fruit are all they require.
They do their cooking over little earthen-
ware stoves, which they brought with
them, a coffee pot, kind of saucepan and
a fryingpan being all they use in the way
Of kitchen utensils.
In fair weather they sometimes build an
open air campfire cut of doors, but if there
is wind or rain they prefer the little by
kitchens they have built outside of each
| house They are fond of cams and fish,
and at low tide often go down TO the beach
and dig for themselves the softshell clans
that have made the place famous. Some
/ times they take their boats and go out for
! fish in the Sound These boats are as queer
as their houses. Both were brought from
| the Philippines One is typical river
boat, such as is used SO much on the Pasig
to bring cocoanuts and fruits down from
Laguna de Bay. II is followed out from a
! single log is about eighteen inches wide
| and twenty feet long. Along each side is
a big bamboo pole, lashed as an ottrigger,
that keeps the boat from tipping over. 1t
carries over two-thirds of its length an
awning made of split bamboo, to protect
| passengers CT cargo from the sun or rain.
On the bottom is a split bamboo flooring,
and it is provided with two large. round
bladed paddles, with which the boys make
it fairly fly through the water when they
wish to. The other is a sailboat, narrower
and deeper Ii carries large square saii,
and Maxine is anxious to try race with
some smart little half-raters he sees run
ming about on the Sound.
When the inhabitants of this village
reached San Francisco they were held
there by the immigration inspector. He
stated that they were foreigners without
visible means of support and came within
the restrictions of the law. The case was
appealed to Commissioner Powderly in this
city, who. after much consideration, de-
cided that the Filipinos should be allowed
to land.
The case was a most interesting one and
was bitterly fought by both the inspector
at San Francisco and the resort manager
who brought the natives TO this country.
1t was urged that they had no funds to
support themselves. This was met by the
statement that they were professional ac-
tors and as such were allowed to land. 1t
was further claimed that they were insur-
gents and were in rebellion against this
Government. The managers then showed
that each individual member of the COM
pany had never much as rem
dered aid to the insurgents and were
loyal in every respect. After a long delay
the immigration authorities decided to al
low them to land, but the manager was
required to sign contract that he would