The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-06-24


accomplishments. She must cook, wash
and weave. The washing is done at a
nearby stream, where she lays her cloth
ing upon a rack, and after wetting it
thoroughly beats it with a club until
clean.
The wearing apparel of the man is
different. He works all day in the cane
field with no clothing beyond a simple
band around his loins He may wear n
hat or may not; when he does, it is
one he has manufactured from grass and
made rigid with small pieces of bamboo.
At home he may have a shirt of aboca
pair of white trousers, but he has no
shoes nor underclothing.
His house, however, contains one 9TH
er fixture which we have not yet seen.
This is the crucifix. However humble
may be the institution it cannot exist
without this necessity. Ask him some-
thing about it and he replies that it is
essential to his salvation. 1t is GUS
tom handed down to him and he cannot
discard it. He knows nothing of the BIZ
BILE, nothing of God and is ignorant OF
all things save the cruciXion He has
a religion but he has no Christianity. He
worships, but of what he worships he
knows nothing. He is not permitted to
own Bible, even though he can read
and he has never heard a sermon. His
priest never talks and never visits. Dur
ing the week he appears to be blessed
/, and when his children get sick he takes
them to the church for the same purpose.
When one dies the father takes it to
the church on bamboo bier. In front
of the church he sets it down and the
church bells ring. He cannot take it
in the church unless he can pay $4,000.
The priest appears and after thirty sec
ond ceremony the father, bamboo litter
and child are on their way to the grave
yard. Should the priest be away or in
disposed the sexton performs a ceremony
which consists in sprinkling the remains
with holy water.
The graveyard in which he buries his
child is a horror to behold! Hundreds
of half tumbled down, staggering crosses,
made from bamboo or two sticks mark
the resting places of the dead. There are
no mounds ard few Inscriptions Scat
tered over the ground are countless num-
bers of human bones; skulls that grin
and glare, which have been aroused from
their shallow beds to make room for 9TH
ers. In just six months a graveyard is
filled and has to be gone over anew. There
are no lots and no paths. Every man
for himself and he buries his dead where
he likes. The new dirt of the last grave
is plainly to be seen and the next one is
begun Immediately beyond it. He knows
when he starts to digging he will unearth
| the bones of some one that a few months
ago was as well and as happy as a Fill
| pino could be. Down he digs; he finds
| them but heeds them not, and with the
! scoop which answers the purpose of a
| shovel, he throws them out to make room
| for another which he is about to bury.
! The corpse, wrapped in mating, without
coffin, is tumbled in and covered up.
! No grave is more than two feet deep,
| for it is too much trouble to dig them
deeper.
! Those who have money are not buried.
| They are put in inches and for these
| inches an annual rent must be paid.
! When this rent is no longer forthcoming
! their contents are removed and another
| occupant takes the place Of the old one.
! Most crudely made from rocks and sun
| baked brick, these inches are placed
! against the stone wall surrounding the
| cemetery. When a body is placed in
| them, the opening is roughly plastered
| with mud and clay, and this in a month
or SO is so dry and brittle that it easily
/ falls away. Passing by these inches their
silent occupants are seen within, as if,
| apparently, waiting for the day to come
when they too should be replaced by 9TH
er bodies, as they had in turn replaced
/ those before them.
The question often arises "Can we civ
| ilize the Filipino?" The answer to this
question is subject to criticism, whether
| answered in the affirmative or negative.
That this, his present State. is
not one of civilization, no one
will deny, but it does not APP
pear incongruous to say that we
can civilize him eventually. 1t cannot
be done in a month. a year or in ten
! years; but ultimately he will be on the
same standing as other Eastern nations.
With few years instruction see no rea-
! son why he should not establish a gov
! ernment and become an intelligent, as
| well as useful race. But, in his present
! condition he knows nothing OF how to
! govern nor what it is to be governed.
Since the time OF Magellan Spain has
| welded her rod Of mastery from Luzon to
! Jolo, and the people today know no more
| than when Magellan found them. For
| this unsophistication some one is re-
! sponsble and poor, down trodden Spain
/ must plead guilty. Ignorant and covering
| at her feet Spain, has kept the Filipino
! for three centuries He has had no gov
eminent, no written law, no worthy exam
! pie put before him which he could follow,
and how then can we expect him to gov
| ern himself.
| Spain, rotten from within and under
mined from without, was bad enough
but the Filipino today is worse. But for
this we must not blame him. 1t is not his
! fault. The iron hand which has ruled and
| governed his footsteps is responsible for
his shortcomings. He has had no oppor-
tunity to educate himself no chance to
broaden his mind and no means to hear
from the outside world. He thinks it is
all like the little shack of nipa leaves and
bamboo poles which he inhabits.
With education, enlightenment and civ
ilization he will grow better, broader and
wiser, but those to whom this duty falls
will find their task hard one.
He has lived in ignorance and prfmi-
tiveness for ages past and without know
ing the sound OF the white mans voice.