The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1904-09-30
WARDS Of OUR NATION
DAY SPENT WITH THE DUSKE
BARE-LIMMED FIIiPINOS.
THEY ARE NATURAL MUSICIANS


Plan Good Music with Training, Hut
Native Drums nrc Tavoritcs with
the Uninformcd-Mnn Was Looking
for the GondoIa Cage for II Pair.
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 21.-It was just as
we were approaching the Bridge of
Spain that leads to the Walled City of
the Philippine reservation that we met
him. He wore a slouch white hat and
a face that reminded me of the late
Sol Smith Russell. He was tall, angu-
lar and gaunt and his wife, a patient,
meek little body, trudged along after
him. 1t was clear that she was only
an appendix and not even vermiform
one at that, for she was no trouble
maker. He had tried it on several of
the uniformed young gentlemen
known as Jefferson Guards but got no
satisfaction, and so perceiving what he
mistook for a look of intelligence upon
our face he inquired:
Can you tell us where the gondola
cage is?"
Man like, John began fumbling the
leaves of his "official guide" to locate
the gondola cage, but with II woman s
sympathetic intuition l quickly per
ceived that the old man from Arkansas
had been imposed upon and l said:
mo; there is no such thing on the
grounds as a gondola cage"
Whereupon a look of sadness came
over his features as he said:
"Awfully sorry to hear that, We
have couple of rabbits at home and
1 promised the boys I would get them
a male and female gondola if they
could be found"
And he was from New York state 49,
not Arkansas.
Having shifted the smoke of the Boer
war it was hard to get Johu interested
in the meek and docile Filipino. al
though Jane, who had heard of their
fondness for dog meat ana of their
great aversion to clothing was crazy
to see them. And so peace triumphed
over war The Philippine reservation
is a great exposition in itself, worth
coming thousands of miles to see. II
cost over a million dollars, embraces
10000 exhibits and covers a tract of
AZ acres. More than eleven hundred
native Filipinos are gathered in villa
ges in bamboo houses built by their
own hands, all illustrating the employ
ments, diversions and social customs
which they follow in their native land.
The reservation is combination of
wooded hills, valleys and lakes and is
impressively picturesque.
AS we entered the Nisayan village
we saw a Filipino boy astride a water
buffalo" called by the natives TINA
h.
ured ding dang dong of many tom
toms fell upon our ears. The Filipino
loves his tom-tom. He will beat it all
day long. There are several varieties
of this instrument running from the
deep-sounding copper kettle shaped
drum to the wooden key with skin
stretched over the head. There are
groups of these tom-tom players all
over the reservation scattered through
the five villages of the Visayans, MorOs,
Bagobos, Negritos and Igorot.
The Filipino is musical clean
through. The long stick with a knife
on the end with which he digs holes
for planting rice have bells in the top
and is ornamented with feathers. While
digging he makes music with the bells
and he dances to the music. In the
Visayan village we heard music by a
Visayan orchestra of Is pieces, as beau
tiful music as you could hear in Chi
cago or New York. Evidences of an
advanced civilization are seen on every
hand in this village. There are wood
carvers, and makers of embroidery,
hats, canes and novelties. The bright
eyed, laughing Visayan maidens weave
beautiful cloth with strands of pine
apple fiber
We wero standing in the Bagobo viii
lage and 1 noticed that Johns eyes
were fixed upon a comely bare -limbed
maiden who was pounding a copper
tom-tom. Every line of her superb
figure was beautiful to look upon and
every movement was graceful and cap
tivating.
John refused to bulge. He was
glued to the spot. "Who is the young
lady beating the tom-tom?" I inquired
of one of the soldiers near by.
That lady is a man." said the SOL
der His name is Bulon and he is
chief of $500 Bagobos. He is 10 years
old and his hair is three feet long"
And we moved on toward the village
of the dog-eating Igorot and the head
hunting Bontocs. 4. A. ID.