Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-06-30


Of my room one of the brown servants,
lying upon his mat upon the floor,
spores. too, and mumbles in his sleep
like Macbeth. The dog upon the stone
steps snores, and outdoors beneath my
window horse does the same. l never
knew before that horses snored.
When affairs are settled here finally,
there will be an immense importation
of American conveniences for house
keeping. Upon my soul, believe that
when the Pilgrim mothers landed from
the Mayfiower they had better house
keeping utensils than these antediluvian
Spaniards have in Manila today after
oil the centuries of occupa tion. It was
time Spain got up and out of here.
There is not, for instance, so simple
thing as washboard in this whole
town unless some of the American
army boys have if An American lady
searched the city over in vain TO get
one The native lauDdress or launderer,
as the case may be, dips the garments
into water. not too much of it, either.
rubs soap upon them and then pounds
them with wooden club as though she
or he were breaking stone upon
macadam road. Everything is pounded
out of the clothes except the dirt.
The Pasig river as it flows through
Manila is a match for the Chicago river
in purity. Yet on the banks of the
Pasig day by day scores of natives
squat ON the ground, and, as they be-
lieve, wash the bundles of clothing they
carry there IN hinge, fiat baskets upon
their heads.
Your native servant never stands or
sits. ike civilized person, TO do any
sort of work The one distinguishing
characteristic of the white race is the
ability TO sit upon chair. When our
boy. Damaso, cleans the knives, he
squats upon the brick floor of the kitch-
en- and lays the knives upon that floor
after he has cleaned them. There where
the hundreds of tracks of naked brown
feet are imprinted daily the knives and
forks with which You eat your dinner
lie after their alleged cleaning. If you
were to hint that it was dirty trick
thus to put them upon the floor, the
brown man who placed them there
would be astonished. He would think
you were mildly out Of your head.
Damaso is the name of waiter who
shines the cutlery at our house. He is
greatly in request among several youth
ful and undevout boarders at our house
on account apparently of his name,'
Damaso-accent On the first syllable
They put an ''l'' to the last syllable
when they speak it and shout out in
Spanish the order for soft boiled eggs
as follows.
''Damersole, bring me pair of eggs
passed through water!"
Damaso would fain learn the Ian
guage and ways Americana He and
his Tagalo brethren, who constitute the
kitchen staff of our household, are
wrestling even with American music,
trying to learn to whistle our popular
tunes. Danaso has got as far as ''Hot
Time In the Old Town" and March
ing Through Georgia. He keeps them
up night and day. Poor Tags!
The shirt worn outside the trousers
is very convenient for the Tagalo kitch-
en- help, 1t is useful for many purposes.
When the knives are dim or the plates
and saucers smeary, he snatches up the
lower part of the full, loose shirt and
polishes them off with the same till they
are speckless. | confess l myself never
witnessed this operation But am told
it is Tagaio custom from olden time.
Let my weak pen-that is to say, my
typewriter form for you word paint.
ing Of our kitchen. 1t will give you
better idea of the real household civil
lization of Spaniards in Manila than
anything else can. 1t is rough room
with a brick floor. In the center are
four oblong stones 1s inches In height
Upon these rest circular iron plate
four feet across. What is the thing? 1t
is our cooking range-absolutely that.
Upon the plate sit five earthenware
vessels. When the cook begins opera
tions, he takes few ridiculous little
sticks and kindles fire in the earthen
vessels. If he has five different articles
to cook, he makes FIVE different fires
There is not chimney to the kitch:
en-. So far as have been able TO OBJ
serve, there is not chimney to kiteh-
en- in Manila. The smoke simply rises
to the ceiling, passes out through the
windows and spreads through the house.
So it was in the beginning, when the |