The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Woman's Impression of the Philippines by Mary Helen FeeThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.netTitle: A Woman's Impression of the PhilippinesAuthor: Mary Helen FeeRelease Date: September 7, 2004 [EBook #13392]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOMAN'S IMPRESSION ***Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Distributed Proofreaders Team. From page images made available by theUniversity of Michigan.A Woman's Impressions of the PhilippinesByMary H. FeeToMy Schoolmate and Life-Long FriendMartha Parry GishThis BookIs Affectionately DedicatedContents I. The Voyage Begins 11 II. From San Francisco to Honolulu 21 III. Our Ten Days' Sightseeing 26 IV. From Honolulu to Manila 38 V. Our First Few Days in the City 45 VI. From Manila To Capiz 60 VII. My First Experiences As a Teacher of Filipinos 73 VII. An Analysis of Filipino Character 86 IX. My Early Experiences in Housekeeping 107 X. Filipino Youths and Maidens 119 XI. Social and Industrial Condition of the Filipinos 130 XII. Progress in Politics and Improvement of the Currency 150 XIII. Typhoons and Earthquakes 168 XIV. War Alarms and the Suffering ...
The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Woman's Impression of the Philippines by Mary Helen Fee
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,
give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.net
Title: A Woman's Impression of the Philippines
Author: Mary Helen Fee
Release Date: September 7, 2004 [EBook #13392]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOMAN'S IMPRESSION ***
Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Distributed Proofreaders Team. From page images made available by the
University of Michigan.
A Woman's Impressions of the Philippines
By
Mary H. Fee
To
My Schoolmate and Life-Long Friend
Martha Parry Gish
This Book
Is Affectionately Dedicated
Contents
I. The Voyage Begins 11
II. From San Francisco to Honolulu 21
III. Our Ten Days' Sightseeing 26
IV. From Honolulu to Manila 38
V. Our First Few Days in the City 45
VI. From Manila To Capiz 60
VII. My First Experiences As a Teacher of
Filipinos 73
VII. An Analysis of Filipino Character 86
IX. My Early Experiences in Housekeeping 107
X. Filipino Youths and Maidens 119
XI. Social and Industrial Condition of the
Filipinos 130
XII. Progress in Politics and Improvement of the
Currency 150
XIII. Typhoons and Earthquakes 168
XIV. War Alarms and the Suffering Poor 179 XV. The Filipino's Christmas Festivities and
His Religion 192
XVI. My Gold-hunting Expedition 206
XVII. An Unpleasant Vacation 217
XVIII. The Aristocracy, the Poor, snd American Women 232
XIX. Weddings in Town and Country 250
XX. Sickbeds and Funerals 262
XXI. Sports and Amusements 270
XXII. Children's Games—The Conquest of Fires 280
Illustrations
Filipino School Children Frontispiece
The Pali, near Honolulu 28
West Indian Rain-tree, or Monkey-pod Tree 34
The Volcano of Mayón 40
View of Corregidor 42
Swarming Craft on the Pasig River, Manila 46
"The Rat-pony and the Two-wheeled Nightmare" 48
The Luneta, Manila 52
The Bend in the River at Capiz 62
Street Scene in Romblón 64
Church, Plaza, and Public Buildings, Capiz 80
The Home of an American Schoolteacher 90
A Characteristic Group of Filipino Students 100
Filipino School Children 110
A Filipino Mother and Family 120
A Company of Constabulary Police 132
Group of Officials in front of Presidente's (Mayor's)
Residence 142
A High-class Provincial Family, Capiz 148
Pasig Church 154
The Isabella Gate, Manila 162
Calle Real, Manila 174
Procession and Float in Streets of Capiz, in Honor of Filipino
Patriot and Martyr, José Rizal 184
A Rich Cargo of Fruit on the Way to Market 194
A Family Group and Home in the Settled Interior 200
Filipino Children "Going Swimming" in the Rio Cagayan 212
Mortuary Chapel in Paco Cemetery, Manila 220
The "Ovens" in Paco Cemetery, Manila 228
Peasant Women of the Cagayan Valley 236
A Wedding Party Leaving the Church 252
A Funeral on Romblón Island 264
Bicol School Children One Generation Removed from Savagery 272
Sunset over Manila Bay 282CHAPTER I
The Voyage Begins
I Find the Transport Ship Buford and My Stateroom—Old Maids and Young Maids Bound for the Orient—The Deceitful
Sea—Making New Friends and Acquaintances.
On a hot July day the army transport Buford lay at the Folsom Dock, San Francisco, the Stars and Stripes drooping from
her stern, her Blue Peter and a cloud of smoke announcing a speedy departure, and a larger United States flag at her
fore-mast signifying that she was bound for an American port. I observed these details as I hurried down the dock
accompanied by a small negro and a dressing-bag, but I was not at that time sufficiently educated to read them. I thought
only that the Buford seemed very large (she is not large, however), that she was beautifully white and clean; and that I was
delighted to be going away to foreign lands upon so fine a ship.
Having recognized with relief a pile of luggage going aboard—luggage which I had carefully pasted with red, white, and
blue labels crossed by the letters "U.S.A.T.S." and Buford—I dismissed the negro, grasped the dressing-bag with fervor,
and mounted the gangway. To me the occasion was momentous. I was going to see the world, and I was one of an army
of enthusiasts enlisted to instruct our little brown brother, and to pass the torch of Occidental knowledge several degrees
east of the international date-line.
I asked the first person I met, who happened to be the third officer, where I should go and what I should do. He told me to
report at the quartermaster's office at the end of the promenade deck. A white-haired, taciturn gentleman in the uniform of
a major, U.S.A., was occupying this apartment, together with a roly-poly clerk in a blue uniform which seemed to be
something between naval and military. When I mentioned my name and showed my order for transportation, the senior
officer grunted inarticulately, and waved me in the direction of his clerk, glaring at me meanwhile with an expression
which combined singularly the dissimilar effects of a gimlet and a plane. The rotund junior contented himself with glancing
suspiciously at the order and sternly at me. As if reassured, however, by my plausible countenance, he flipped over the
pages of a ledger, told me the number of my stateroom, and hunted up a packet of letters, which he delivered with an
acid reproof to me for not having reported before, saying that the letters had been accumulating for ten days.
It is true that the Buford had been scheduled to sail on the first day of the month; but I had arrived a day or two before that
date, only to learn that the sailing date had been postponed to the tenth. I had made many weary trips to the army
headquarters in Montgomery Street, asking for mail—and labels—with no results. Nobody had suggested that the mail
would be delivered aboard ship, and I had not had sense enough to guess it. I did not make any explanations to the
quartermaster and his clerk, however, because an intuition warned me not to add tangible evidence to a general belief in
civilian stupidity. I merely swallowed my snubbing meekly and walked off.
I ambled about, clinging to the dressing-bag and looking for some one resembling a steward. At the foot of the ladder
leading to the bridge I encountered two young girls descending therefrom with evidences of embarrassed mirth. They
were Radcliffe girls, whose evil genius had led them to the bridge and to an indignant request to explain their presence
there. They explained to no purpose, and, in response to a plaintive inquiry where to go, were severely told, "We don't
know, but go down from here immediately." So they came down, crimson but giggling, and saw me (they said) roaming
about with an expression at once wistful and complacent.
I found a steward and my stateroom at last, and a brown-haired, brown-eyed young woman in it who was also a
pedagogue. We introduced ourselves, disposed of our parcels, and began to discuss the possibilities of the voyage.
She was optimistically certain that she was not going to be seasick. I was pessimistically certain that I was. And she was
wrong, and I was right. We were both gloriously, enthusiastically, madly seasick.
When we returned to the deck, it was crowded with passengers, the mail was coming aboard, and all sorts of bugle-calls
were sounding, for we were carrying "casuals." It was a matter of wonder that so many persons should have gathered to
bid adieu to a passenger list recruited from all parts of the Union. The dock was black with people, and our deck was
densely crowded. Khaki-clad soldiers leaned over the side to shout to more khaki on the dock. An aged, poorly dressed
woman was crying bitterly, with her arms about the neck of a handsome boy, one of our cabin passengers; and all about,
the signs of intense feeling showed that the voyage marked no light interval of separation.
I stood at the forward rail of the promenade deck, and fell into conversation with a gentleman whom I had met in San
Francisco and who was a fellow passenger. We agreed in being glad that none of our relatives were there to see us off;
but, though we made much ado to seem matter-of-fact and quite strong-minded about expatriating ourselves, I noticed
that he cleared his throat a great deal, and my chin annoyed me by a desire to tremble.
The gongs warned visitors ashore, and, just as all the whistles of San Francisco were blowing the noon hour, we backed
away from the dock, and turned our head to sea. As the little line of green water between ship and dock widened to a
streamlet and then to a river, the first qualm concerning the wisdom of the expedition struck its chilly way to my heart.
Probably most of the passengers were experiencing the same doubts; and the captain suspected the fact, for he gave us
fire drill just to distract our attention and to settle our nerves.
The luncheon gong sounded immediately after his efficacious diversion, and the military people who were to eat in thefirst section—the Buford's dining-room was small—went down to lunch. The junior lieutenants, and the civil engineers and
schoolteachers, who made up her civilian list, took their last look at San Francisco. We swung past Alcatraz Island and
heard the army bugles blowing there. The irregular outline of the city with its sky-scrapers printed itself against a
background of dazzling blue, with here and there a tufty cloud. The day was symbolic of the spirit which sent young
America across the Pacific—hope, brilliant hope, with just a cloud of doubt.
We passed the Golden Gate just as our own luncheon gong sounded, and the Buford was rolling to the heave of the
outside sea as we sat down to our meal. At our own particula