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Show WAYS OP SERVANTS IH MANILA. - I .From my friends here I learn that much of the patriarchal system of living liv-ing still prevails even in Manila. In some large houses there are from twenty twen-ty to thirty dependents of all degrees, from poor relations to cooks and scullions. scul-lions. These persons live about the house, sleeping in corners, and are clothed and fed by the mistress. They marry, have children, and raise them in a harum-scarum way that would drive an American woman to an Insane asylum. Again and again I have seen In one of the finest houses here small naked children asleep behind the parlor par-lor door, while large-eyed, placid women wo-men nursed babies quite unabashed as they crouched on the floor in the hallways. hall-ways. These servants have their home, their clothes, food, and from three to five pesos a month. In a way, I suppose, they earn this money, as they nonchalantly polish the hardwood floors or carelessly flap the dust from the cVnter of tables and chairs. They sit on the floor in kitchens in front of a pan of water and wash the dishes that are piled up around them, and stack them edgeways along the wall to dry. Surely their ways are not ours, and it is a shock to the nerves to see a kitchen In the heat of preparation for a banquet of which one Is to partake later. It requires some skill to pass between the various dishes being prepared on the floor, where cats and dogs and babies, meats and fruits and vegetables, seem hopelessly hope-lessly Jumbled up. I always forget about it later, for a delicious dinner will always come forth from the chaos. Many of these servants have lived all their lives in one family. They feel themselves dependent on their masters, mas-ters, and the Idea of their going away ! or being dismissed never occurs to either master or servant. There is consequently con-sequently a family 'feeling between them, and a freedom of Intercourse that we, democrats though we are, would not tolerate. A friend told me that his head servant always remonstrates with him when he disapproves any course of action, and sometimes I have witnessed an altercation between a mlstrees and maid in which the maid prevailed. At or.e house, I remember, there was a difference of opinion at dinner as to the kind of wine to be served, and the servant had his way; yet they are not considered impertinent by their masters. mas-ters. American Woman in the Outlook. |