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Show . FILIPINO WEDDING- DOWRY. The Manila Cablenews, recently received, re-ceived, contains some interesting information infor-mation as to the education and life-settlement life-settlement of Filipino g'rls. When the convent of Santa Isabel, in Manila, was founded in 1594, there was formed a' pious fund, the interest of which was to educate and maintain a humber of girls at the convent gratis, and also give each of them on her wedding day a dowry of $500. Commenting on a marriage lately celebrated, the Cable-news Cable-news says: "The day after the wedding Archbishop Arch-bishop Harty was astonished upon being be-ing asked to sign a large, impressive-looking impressive-looking document conferring a dowry upon the happy pair. The astonishment astonish-ment of the archbishop . was ' soon changed as the history of the dowry was disclosed to him. His grace expressed ex-pressed his admiration and appioba-tion appioba-tion of the custom, which has been observed ob-served with fidelity by the Convent of Santa Isabel for more than three centuries." cen-turies." There are at present 1,500 girls in Santa Isabel, and the original dowry fund has been so largely increased from time to time by the generosity of Filipino Catholics that it gives no sign of speedy exhaustion. Of still greater great-er interest to prospective Benedicts in the is'.ands than the assured dowry is the knowledge that the training received, re-ceived, at the convent 'is a thoroughly sane one, fitting the pupils for any and every walk in life. Taken in' connection with the balderdash balder-dash recently spoken and written about the -barbarism - and. ignorance ; prevalent preva-lent in the Philippines, says Ave Maria, the foregoing account makes rather Interesting In-teresting reading. The estabJlslonent of an institution such as Santa Lsabei postulates some slight measure of civ ilization; and it is well to relnember that .-th eatabllBhrnent. occurred, not "in th.? last five years,.", but .a .quarter, of a century before . the ,. Mayflower landed its pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. |