Show k 7fiitrerc juiIicir 1 J f iriA = LITTLE GI1cL lWJO HAS ATLW8JP gggT 4 DL of What do you think of a little girl 9 years old who never saw or heard of a doll and never played a game of any kind In her life I dont mean a lilllo girl who is an invalid or a cripple but one who is well and strong In every way and who probably would dearly love a doll even a rag baby ll she had ono onoThis This little girl Is like all her friends and neighbors and lives In tho dtoc Davao on Mindanao island in the Philippines It is more than probable that none of your school geographies will show you where the city of Davao is and most of them will not even tell you which of the Philippine islands is Mindanao However c if you will look at the map you will see away to the south of Manila and Luzon island another island very nearly as largp and that Is Mindanao It is a very largo body of land and its entire coast is cut up in bays some four or five miles wide and ten or fifteen miles long On one of these at the south Is the city of Davao which was a place of Importance during the Spanish days In tho archipelago and Is now occupied by some troops of the Thirty fiist 1 Infantry regiment We were the first of Uncle Sams soldiers to come here but We had uo fighting to do as the people1 are peaceable peace-able and took no Interest n Agulnal uos rebellion on Luzon The very night of our arrival I the people gave us a ball and that Is where 1 met BlUe Julio Sevarlna oC I whom I am going to tell von Sho IH a little viscay n girl of 9 and very pretty too even if I her skin Is a little darker than ours and her hair as black and straight as an American Indians Like all the natives here whether Vlscayan Morro or Bagobo she is small for her age but very demure and prim In comparison with the girls and boys I know at home She gets up in the morning at C and docs not lake long In dressing as her clothes are neither very many nor elaborate She wears but two gar ments a sort of sacqiic which fits very loosely and has big flowing Klpyps which hang from Urn shouido to thp elbow and a skirl Tills skirt IR I made of two yardn of brlghtrolorod gingham of whlih both ends are sewed together In a single Rfrani nM It IR finished She stops Into this and pulls it up to her waist gathering all she can into a fold in front This fold she carefully brings over to her right side tucking In under the tightened top edgo of the skirt Then she combs hfr long hair twists It In a single ound knut behind stfcfcd the comb rirn u l TT 4 6 i H I 1 i I I II I r i L I LITTLE JCLIA AND HEP 3ftr P JINJ7A into this and her toilet is complete Shewears no shoes except on Sundays and fiestas holidays when she slips her bare feet Into a sort of slipper sandal which flop against her solos at every step On such occasions too she wears a white embroidered petticoat petti-coat put on in the same wav as her skirt She carries a black laco fan and on her head she wears either a white or black lace mantilla such as you sec in pictures of Spanish ladles The first thing after rising In the morning IS I to take her bath which she docs In the river With her mother and the other women of the city Each one lulces an extra skirt with her and when she reaches the river bunk she lakes off her sacque and pulls her Pkirl up under her armpits fnstnninfr It HS before and plunges Into the water After swimming and diving around for about Ion minutes they all come out and put on their sacques and era skirts this time over their heads dropping the wet one to the ground Then they all fill their water Jugs as they have no running waler Kin their houses and the water In the j few wells is not fit to drink These jugs arc very curious looking affairs and If you were to see one you would never in the world be able to guess what It was They arc simply pieces of bamboo such as you so often see used la America for fishing poles only much larger Jn diameter being about nix inches thick and from five to eight feet long The pith is taken out from all the Joints but one which Is to serve as the bottom and the other end ia cut Into very much the shape of a large water pitcher When these jugs are filled 1 they arc carried on the shoulder Just as a soldier carries a I rifleThey They then I po home and Julia 1 helps her mother got the breakfast which always consists of rice She has no range and iron pols I but has to uae an earthenware crock without a handle and shaped very much like the glass globes we use at homo to keep < goldfish gold-fish In This Is covered with a big j green palm leaf lied down with aj rattan andput i on an open wood fire S made in a big box filled with dirt and placed in ono corner of the room However when the rice is rooked it is hotter than nine out of ten cooks in America can make it with all their many utensils As soon as rcjady I the pot is taken off the tiro and put In the middle of the room whore all the family squat down atountJ It and help themselves I am sorry to say with their fingers After breakfast if there Is any laundry work to bp done and there usually is as the viscayans are ery neat and clean Julia and her mother again go down to the river to do it They have no washboard and until I we came no soap but lay the clothes ono at a time on a Hat board and heat them with another board until I they arc clean and in many cases I full of holes Having no bluing they then lay thc clothes out in the sun for about two days to bleach after which they arc starched with a rice preparation prepara-tion and then neatly folded and put away as they have no fialirons It Is then about dinner time and another an-other pot of rice Is cooked which Is sometimes helped out with a few bananas fried on fiat stones or dulce sweets such as molasses or canned goods from America 1C they have them After dinner Julia usually comes down to the fort to see me and have a romp I have taught her to play tag and blind mans buff which she enjoys immensely I show her the pictures In the magazines of American people and things which Inmost in-most cases surprlsc > her but always are of interest and she fsvcry amixtOus to go to America to see all these things for herself So far she does < not speak more I than a dozen words of English but she is learning fast and will soon bo able to speak It well and will than I know three languages the other two I being Vlscayan and Spanish In which I language our conversation Ig i now carried on My two little monkeys Dire and MInda are a source of great Joy to her always and she persists trying to teach them English too but so far site has not boon rewarded with any success At about G 1 j oclock Juda goes home to her supper of rico again very soon after which she goes to bed This bed Is very different from yours as it Is only a piece oC colored netting plaited bi reeds and laid on time hoer She has a L pillow too but instead of being made of fcathcn or nice curly hair if Iou I-ou were to open it you would find It filled with a L lot of dried leaves ono thing like wild hops hut which are very soft and comfortable to rest ones head on Such Is the life of Julia am oC all little Vlscayan girls day after aDo a-Do you think you would like tochange with her y C LT3V1S t |