The National tribune., 1902-07-31

host, veritable casa grande, elegantly
furnished and of the general style of con;
struction already described. The furni-
ture in all thesbetter class of houses is all
| imported from Europe and is of the Wen
ma style and cchiehy of mahogany and
| ebony, with cane-bottoms to the chairs
and marble tops to the tables, such at
least as are not solid and carved wood.
1t is the custom to place the chairs, chief
ly low rockers with wide wooden arms
upon which To rest the elbows, in two
lines facing each other and at right an
giles to the window, and thus we found
them, taking our seats facing each other
like the passengers in a street car.
We were N once served with cigarets
and drink Of "cervesa y ielo.' 1t Is i'm
possible to enter Filipino house, from
the grandest hacienda to the merest
shack, without being offered a cigaret as
soon as the ceremony of shaking hands
has been concluded, and this invitation in
the larger houses generally includes a ci-
gar and is soon followed by something to
drink and eat. 1t is bad form to decline
these hospitalities, and it is almost neces-
sary for one to at least smoke Il cigaret
if he would keep in the good graces OF
these hospitable people. Several of the
officers of my regiment did not smoke,
and could not be persuaded to accept
cigarcts, and they We're the objects Of
considerable curiosity and not little sus-
picion to the natives, who could not un-
derstand why any human being should
not smoke unless he were sick.
The Filipino of means is Il royal hest,
and spares no expense nor pains to en-
tertain his guests. We were, of course,
special guests on this occasion. but 1.have
found the same spirit to be all-pervading
wherever l have been, in city and cOun-
try alike. If one dare to express his
thanks for such cOurtesieS he is at once
overwhelmed with assurances that the
whole house and contents are his and all
its inmates at his service. 1t makes one
feel wealthy for time.
The dinner table is always set, and
there are fruit, wine, soup and delicate
cakes for those who do not care for
heartier food. The entertainment ex-
penses in Il casa grande must be large
during the course of Il year. for friends
come i'll by the dozen every day. AS for
servants and hangcrs-on in these grand
houses, they are as thick as fiies and al
most IS useless.
Three or four meet one at the entrance
below, others greet you on the stairs, 9th
ers line the hall, and still others swarm
in the dining room and kitchen. The chief
function of most of them appears TO be TO
get iii the way and occasionally pass an
order along for some other servant to do
something. Apparently if one member of
Il family is employed the remainder coll
slider they have Il right to hang about the
place and sleep wherever they can find Il
corner i'll which to spread their patatas.
A friend of mine who undertook to keep
house i'll Manila, Il luxury, of course, only
possible to staff officers. employed Il young
the way of sweeping and bed making, and
returned home in the afternoon to find
that the father, mother and two younger
children had also taken mp quarters in The
house. He protested that he had not
hired the whole family, but they claimed
the right to live where the boy was EN-
ployed, and said they could sleep in the
hall, pointing out convincinsly, as they
thought, the dong reach of unoccupied
floor that would serve for bed PURPOSES.
and also to their rolls of patatas and
quilts, to show that they had come pre-
pared to stayC permanently. No amoune
Of argument oruprotest suiliced to make
them leave until he discharged the boy
and bundled the entire family into the
street. This custom of making Il family
affair OF such1niatters and of the rich Oc-
cupying somewhat the position of pa
triarchs in the. community, supporting a
large number of retainers and family SER
wants, is what leads to the swarming of
useless servants lin the houses of the rich.
and, as well, to the fact that it takes IL
dozen of them TO do the work of an or
binary serying'i maid in this country.
These servants Hre' on extremely intimate
terms with their masters and mistrcsses
and it is almost impossible for IL stranger
TO determine which are members of the
family, which are relatives living with
them, which are family servants of pos
sibly the third or fourth generation. and
which are the newer ones. While there
are grades of society. as elsewhere, there
are not the sharp distinctions drawn in
personal manners and associations to
which We are accustomed in our own
country. Yet l noticed that the fine foods
spread for our delectation were not in
tended also for the consumption of the
servants, who were fed Oh the usual food
OF the common classes--rice, fish and
fruit These are cheap foods and lessen
the cost of maintaining these family at
tachments.
A NIGHT IN A FILIPINO HOUSE.
We slept that night in this same house.
coming home late from the BALL Our bed
room was the main reception room and
our bed the floor, softened by a fine patata
of woven palm leaves, added to which for
each of us were cOtton-stuffed pillow
and thin quilt, to protect us from the
chill of the early morning. What privacy
was necessary was secured by setting up
a few folding screens, the ladies of the
party being given side room to them
selves. The floor was OF highly polished
wood, as heavy as mahogany, so shiny as
to make mirror Of its surface The Fill |
ipino habit of wearing nothing but soft
slippers in the house, the servants for the
most part going barefoot, prevents these
hard wood floors from becoming scratched
and dented with shoe nails, as they do in
our own houses, and besides this they are
kept constantly oiled and polished.
The process of doing this as observed
it in one of the fine houses visited once
in MalabOn is illustrative of the F'ilipno
and the reason why a cloud of
servants is necessary to get anything ac-
A lusty muchacho of about
20 years, barefoOted and with but white
trousers and knit undershrt on, the latter
beng worn outside the trousers accord |
ing to Filipino custom, was skating leis-
urely across the polished floor He made
a trip across and sat down in a chair and
in few minutes he made the return trim |
to the other end of the room. sat down |
and lighted cigaret. AT first | supposed
he was amusing himself, as he certainly
did me, but l finally noticed that he had |
Il bunch of rags tied to each foot, and
that these rags were oiled. He was pol |
ishing the floor.
So little dirt accumulates on a floor