Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1899 — WOMEN OF THE PHILIPPINES. [ARTICLE]

WOMEN OF THE PHILIPPINES.

Their Redeem! n< F««tire la a Sense of Absolute PeraaaaA Cleanliness. “The aristocratic Philippine matron ■ and her daughters indulge in no greater boaily exercise, if they can help it, than that required for driving or shopping,” says Charles Bryant Howard, In the Woman’s Home Companion. “But the peasant woman shares her husband’s work, whatever it may be, laboring at the plow behind an ungainly carabao (water-buffalo) in the paddy-field, or helping to pole a huge lorcha, or eocoanut raft, up or down the river, besides attending to her domestic ogres. And I take pleasure in saying that, whatever its proprietor’s rank or station, the native Philippine nlpa hut is Invariably a marvel of neatness and cleanliness as to its interior; far superior in this respect to the average Spanish dwelling-house, be it that of a merchant's clerk or that of the governor general. So far as the latter are concerned, a decent servant-girl, Buch as are employed in America and England, would not be content to remain in one two days. “Hundreds of girls are employed in the great cigar factories; and others in the convents labor to weave the farfamed pina lace of the Philippines, several at a time squatting on the floor around a single frame, picking and manipulating with deft fingers the Infinitesimally delicate fibers. Sometimes they work for months to complete a single mantilla or handkerchief. These native women are rarely employed by the European residents as domestic servants, except in the capacity of lady’s maid or children’s nurse, ana even these positions are often occupied by boys. They are very unreliable, and the utter absence of the sense of gratitude, so characteristic of the entire Philippine race, renders It an almost hopeless and very exasperating task to attempt to train them as servants. Their only redeeming feature is their sense of absolute personal cleanliness, but in spite of this many European women prefer to go to the expense and trouble of Importing a Chinese ama from Hong-Kong or Canton, rather than to Intrust her children to the care of a native girl, although when in her own capacity as a mother the Fllipina, so far as observation goes, leaves nothing to be desired.”