Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1899 — Filipino Women. [ARTICLE]

Filipino Women.

Much has already been written concerning the women of the Philippines, for the subject is engaging. For all their dark faces they have figures the grace of which is accentuated by the very garments tijey wear. They have lustrous dark eyes and luxuriant black hair, in which they take great pride; it is long, thick, and glossy, anointed with cocoanut oil, cleaned and washed with lime juice, and usually worn in a coil or knot held by a golden comb or ornamented pins. Hats and bonnets are unknown among the Filipinos, so no doubt many an American husband wishes he lived here. The native women have finely shaped feet that never knew a stocking; they wear low slippers of an Oriental pattern, sometimes wooden shoes. The dress of a Filipino woman usually consists of a single garment with wide sleeves; a plna-cloth handkerchief is generally worn around the neck, and every one wears a rosary or a crucifix. Housekeeping in the native section is quite primitive in its details. Lovemaking, courtship and marriage are here conducted in the manner common in Oriental lands, the lover serving the father of his future wife. Fifteen years is the customary age for marriage here in the Philippines.— Manila letter to Collier’s Weekly.