Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-12-16
CUSTOMS I'M THE philippines.

Many of the Iowa teachers and others
who have gone to the Philippine islands
from Iowa are writing entertaining let
tiers to home friends giving interesting
views of the new and strange scenes
they meet with. Mrs c. III. Maxson
writes entertainingly to the Outlook
Club of Maquoketa, and the Excelsior
prints her letter. She is located in the
town of Molo, on the island of Fancy,
the town being near Iloilo, which is said
to be the second city of Importance in
the Philippines. In the course OF her
ter she says:
Some of the things that have inter-
ested me most are the little customs
which differ from what we. have known
at home. When you meet teams in driv-
Ing your driver turns to the left. in
stead of the right The hour for calling
is from o',ciock till Z, and the evening
meal is served at o'clock At the table
everything lis served in courses, and at
your place you will find pile of plates.
One thing is served at a time and as
soon as that eaten the top plate is re-
moved. Then too If we go in to call the
first thing they bring in is plate of
cookies, cakes, sweet potatoes. bananas
or something and offer US wine to drink.
1t Is hard sometimes to make them un-
derstand that we do not use wine and
especially are they astonished when we
refuse tobacco in any form. The women
of the poser class nearly ali smoke
cigars. and the cigars are often twice
the length Of the ordinary American
manufacture. Even small children,
both girls and boys smoke these cigars
or cigarettes.
It is often said that it does not cost
much to 1--we in the Philippines. but it
Is owing to how we live Rice. bananas
and a variety of sweet potatoes are
cheap. The incest bananas are eaten
when they are green in color. One va
riety we buy are not more than three
inches long, but are fine.
One very odd custom is the tolling of
bell at night. At first we wondered
what liz was for. but we learned that
near by ther,, Is native policeman who
is supposed to patrol certain section
Of the town. Each time he passes the
bell he rings 1t to let it be known that
he liz on duty.
The native oranges here are very
large, sort of pear shaped fruit, and
are quite unlike anything he have seen.
They are eaten while the skin is green.
and are rather sour, with sometimes a
little bitter taste. There are other ma
tive fruits hut we have seen nothing
choice. The chickens are small and fly
like birds, especially the young. AS a
consequence they are all light meat.
Eggs are small and cost 20 cents gold
per dozen.
We are surrounded with cocoanut
palms. They reach far up above us and
the cocoanuts are gotten by the native
boys. Steps are cut up the. sides of the
tree very far apart but they climb
quite rapidly. The cocoanut milk is ex-
cellent for medicine-we have not learn
ed to relish II. yet, however.
The streets, are narrow, there are no
sidewalks and rubbers are unheard of,
while in lieu OF street lamps each house
is requested to hang lantern outside.
Only the upper story Of the houses are
used for living rooms and the natives
use the lower. rooms for their family of
live stock. We have good room below
but raised few feet from the floor
where our nauchacho tservanD lives
with his wife.