Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-10-18
WOMEN IN MANILA.
An American Lady's Study Of the Fill


II ipinos.
\ New York Tribune.]
Mrs. Laura w. Schwichtenberg, wht
spent six months as government in
apector studying the women of the Phil
4 ippine islands, is in this city for few
days, and in an interview with Fri
bune reporter she gave some interesting
4 facts regarding her Investigation, a:
4 follows:
While in Manila lived in one of thu
4 picturesque grass huts of the natives
with my secretary and little Filipino
maid. 1t took US some time to over
\ come our terror of the insects and rep
tiles. We slept in big four poster beds
which had, in place of springs, cane
/ woven bottoms covered with thick WOW.
en- mating of cocoanut and palm fibre
This was spread with sheet, and made
q resting place hard enough to produce
aches and pains for week. The pillows
| were stuffed with jute. A round bolster
4 of the same material was intended fol
the knees A closely woven mosquito
netting hung from the four posts and
was tucked under the edge of the mat
ting all around the bed, to keep out
mosquitoes, centipedes, tarantulas, cha
meleons. etc. To prevent these pests
i from inhabiting our shoes we took them
! to bed with US. The running of the rats
over the ceiling at night was not the
/ least of our troubles, and cur maid sug-
gested that we get a snake to catch
| them. A snake, indeed, we found to be
considered a necessary factor of every
| house, so went in quest OF one. found
reddlers selling snakes like puppy dogs
and one which was pointed out to me as
especially desirable for the purpose was
warranted to be a first class rat catcher
and harmless. "A look at the monster,
however,-it was fully twentyeight feet
4 long and not less than a foot in diameter
and / decided to put up with the rats
4 unless some other destroyer could be
! found. The price asked for 1t was $1.50
They wanted to put it into our attic be-
| tween the ceiling and the grass roof.
| Cheaper kinds could be bought for SO
cents The big fellow recommended was
coiled about a long pole, which was car
| RED on the shoulders of two men.
Probably the most advanced woman
| in Manila is widow who owns all of
| the street cleaning department. Her
plant comprises hundred or more Of
two-wheeled carts. and caribou to draw
them. They are driven about the streets
by her workme1l, who remove the street
refuse to distant stream. Every Sun
day afternoon the owner inspects the
animals herself and turns them loose in
a meadow. to roll about and wallow in
the mud and Craze. She is making a
fortune cut of the enterprise, 1t is said.
1.-The child labor on the Cebu islands
is most deplorable In one place-an
English hemp factory-about fifty small
children form the motive power which
works a monstrous press. The children
are kept hopping constantly by an over
seer. with long whip. and their motion
keeps the iron bar at the top of the press
whirling from morning until night. The
weight Of this bar, the velocity attained
by constant urging and the trampling of
dizzy children under the feet of stronger
ones all produce a startling and most
pathetic sight.
Ramona Sabinosa Caballerous, of
Manila, is rich woman, and keeps the
largest shop for women's clothing in the
city. Completed garments are packed
away in chests, few being exposed to
view. All OF the sewing is done by hand
Styles do not vary. The fayorite decor
alton is appliqued swallows, which cost
81 apiece, and the more swallows the
more elegant the gown. A gray silk is
the usual foundation. A skirt Of this
kind is made short in front, end has
narrow oblong train. The Fashionable
costume consists OF such skirt with a
white jacket-like garment made of silk
cocoanut fibre, embroidered all over In.
.colored silks and spangles. A single
undergarment is worn underneath it.
sClad only in coarse slip the Filipino
women take their baths at the corne.'
pump every morning. They are ex-
tremely neat in their habits, even the
cigarette girls taking with them to their
work clean dresses to wear on their way
home. Their wooden shoes are worn
without stockings, and the sound OF
them on the cobblestone pavement
mornings when they are going to their
work, is one to be remembered. All
classes are fond of jewelry, and, altho a
woman may have only cheap cotton
gowns she is sure to possess an asyort-
ment of jewels which representa- her
savings.
"All classes Of women are gamblers,
and their favorite pastime is cockfight>
Ing. Sunday is the day usually devoted
to this sport, and the owners of the
birds take them to church in order that
no time may be lost. Another fad is the I
accumulation of American gold money, I
into which they turn their own curren-
cy as soon as they have enough. but
they lose 1t in the betting ring of the
cockffght.
1.-The women are bright and energetic, !
and do most of the work, while the men
take care of the children. Many of them
are quick to learn and shrewd in busi- /.
ness, and some are at the head of large
concerns Not one, in fact, is idle. AS
soon as they are old enough the girls
are sent to the converts to learn ecclesi-
astical embroidery, which they do beau
tifully. They are so industrious that
they often carry their work about the
streets and to the shops with them,
sometimes not missing moment, even
when they are making bargain. All
the cloth is made on hand looms by
women, and the children, while they are
still young, are kept very busy winding
shuttles A handkerchief which would
take Filipino woman a year to en-
broider might bring $50. Cigaret girls
earn 20 cents a day. A dressmaker, for
a plain silk dress receives So. and for
bingham slip, so cents. Chicken raising
is becoming favorite feminine occupa- I
tton. and since the advent of Americans
a few Filipino women are teaching the
lower classes of the schools. Street
peddling is favorite occupation of the
old Filipino women, and they carry