Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-17

see that there was a game cock tied under
the kitchen table The table, itself was
j much like crate of bamboo stats, so wide
apart at the top that the scraps fell
through. and thus fed the chickens below,
At the right OF the table was the cook
stove. And such a stove for family of
ten. the number the woman told me lived
IN the house! 1t was merely ledge of
bricks and mortar running along one side
of the room. On the top of the ledge, hol-
lowed out of 1t, as 1t were, We're four holes
each about the size and shape of tin wash
basin. Upon each a black bowl of CLAW
rested over some little sticks, each about
the size of your finger. These were aIight.
and the petty fires were cooking the dinner
Tor the family. There was no outlet for the
smoke but hole in the wall high above
the stove. and everything about the kitchen
was blackened with SCOT. The bowls con-
tdineo rice. nsh and stew of pork and veg
!aDies. one pot had boiling beans and fish
IN it. the two articles being cooked up to-
gether. 1 am told that the beans and the
fish are well mashed and mixed together
eaten with salt "
Fish Is also boiled with ginger root. but
IN TINS case 1t is served whole Rice is
cooked In all sorts of ways. 1t is eaten with
fruit, Is made into bread and cakes and is
eaten as We eat it. steamed A favorjte
dish among the children is rice flour sweet
ened in short bamboo tubes, which are
plugged up at the ends and then thrown
INTO boiling water After a short time thew
are taken out and served hot The only
cooking utensils in this house were a wire
grid1ron, two cocoanut ladies and some clay
bowls.
How the Filipinos Wash Clothes.
All washing of clothes is done in cold
water and kettles or boilers of large size
are unknown. No washboards are used and
the washtub is a round wooden affair about
half the diameter of our common tubs and
about six inches deep The tub is put on
ground CHI
the dirt is scrubbed out by rubbing the
clothes against the tub slapping them upon
stones or beating them with sticks. The
public waShwomen do their work in tba
canals and at the river or at any stray
puddle they can find. They dry their clothes
On the nearest available fence or on the
grass. va NV
There is a disease here. called The dohe
itch, which nearly all the Americans civil
ians and soldiers, officers and privates, have
nad, which is said to be caught from their
llesnls washed clothes 1t is believed to be
caused by a microbe in the water and
once caught, 1t spreads over the body es
peeially attacking the toes, the armpits and
olher places where the perspiration is
the hospital, but ordinarily not and in
minor cases. by washing the body with lis
ter1ne, 1t can be cured in short time I
have so far escaped 1t, but am in terror
every time l put on clean shirt. The
prices of washing, like everything else, have
jumped up since the Americans came They
are now from six to ten silver dollars per
hundred pieces, which is considerable when
you remember that IN this hot climate you
should have fresh suit of linen every
day.
A Word About the Hotels.
There is a chance for a good hotel or two
in Manila. Those which are here are ex-
ceedingly poor, high priced and uncom-
Portable to an extreme. The oriente, where
I am stopping. is the biggest and SUM-
poSedly the best hotel in the Philinninas Tie
charges are from six silver dollars and m
ward day, and it is not SO good as the
average country hotel of -ha United States
whose daily charges are dollar ard a
half gold. The rooms are large, with CELL
ings fourteen feet high and without glass
or anything in the window frames to keep
out the dust
The floors are uncarpeted, and my bare
feet leave footprints upon them like those
which Robinson Crusoe found In the sand
The beds, with their mosquito nets about