The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-06-12

duces a more disgusting mouth than
snuff Most married men and women
indulge in this luxury.
The Christian natives use the mar
riage and burial ceremonies of the
Catholic church. A marriage is fol-
lowed by feast and dance and a
death is also the time for feast and
a little wine to drown sorrow.
A peculiar marriage custom is said
to be used by the wild mountain
tribes near my town. When a young
man desires to unite with a young
woman he talks first to her father,
who bids the lover return to the house
on certain day in the future When
he does so he is told that his sweet
heart is in the forest and that he may
search for her; if he is successful in
the search they return man and wife.
The best cemeteries are surrounded
by thick stone wall in which are
inches to put collins. If a man is
buried in one of these inches his
friends must pay yearly rent to the
church and when they fail to pay this
rent to the church the bones are
taken out and cast into a bone pile
over the wall
Most native houses are small and
have no room for beds, so mat is
placed on the floor, a pillow arranged
and the tired brother across the sea
covers himself with a sheet and slum-
bers sweetly. An ordinary house is a
one roomed, 15x15, bamboo, straw
rooted mansion raised on posts four
feet above the ground in order to
avoid the dampness and entered by a
ladder; very cool and comfortable
but rather crowded on a rainy day
when all the children are indoors.
Furniture consists of perhaps a
bench, frying pan, a large clay water
jar, a small clay jar in which to boil
rice and small clay hearth instead
of stove.
Houses are always grouped in towns
for protection from robbers and for
social purposes. If a farmers land is
far from town he takes his family out
to little shelter on his farm during
the rainy season and remains there
until his work is done.
Since a native has so much idle
time he loves amusements. They
learn music without effort. Every
town has its band and an orchestra OF
stringed instruments. The young
people love to dance. They celebrate
many of Saints days of the church
and have one or more holidays every
week. These ''fiestas" interfere very
much with work and schools. We
close our schools on the American
! holidays and on ten church holidays
Gambling is universal and cock
fighting is the national sport. On
Sunday morning the pious native
goes to mass and in the afternoon
takes his pet chicken under his arm
and marches off to the cock pit where
he watches the bloody contests and
if he has any money bets it on his
favorite rooster.
The Malay must have Malay char
acter. He is polite and hospitable tc
strangers, devout, quiet, not quarrel
some and kind to his children, but he
is deceitful, treacherous, will lie as
readily as tell the truth and cannot
be depended upon. His children are
polite and respectful and rarely cry
in school they are docile and studious
There are a few rich natives anC
many who own some property, but
most of the people are very poor. Il
man has rice enough to last from
one harvest to the next, roof ovel
his head and a few cigarettes he i,
content.
In regard to religion there are three
great classes-Roman Catholic, Mo
hammedans (Moros) and Pagans, the
wild mountain tribes. There are 6
few Protestant congregations il
Manila also. | believe the forms anC
ceremonies of the Catholic church
suit the peoples minds and think il
better for them to keep and improve
the faith they have rather than divide
into bitter sects as we have them il
the States. Each town has its large
stone church and priests residence
(convents), usually the only building
of Importance in the town, and {
monument it is to the power and am
bition of the Spanish friar whom tn,
people have now driven from tn,
parish. The people attend strictly OF
| the forms of the church, but am no
sure it makes them any better. TIL,
native priests now in charge hav,
great power over their people ant
are almost all hostile to the American
government. AS a rule every nativ
priest has a housekeeper whom b.
calls his sister and and family O
children who pass in polite society a
his ''nephews and nieces."
The Spanish school system was s.