An Epoch in History | Page 3

performance without serious
accident is a matter of profound wonder; but we did, and the launches

when loaded danced away over the bay and entered the mouth of the
Pasig River. At the wharf we were informally introduced to a crowd of
curious natives. The men wore hat, shirt, and pants, and some of them
wore shoes. The women wore a sort of low-necked body with great
wide sleeves and a skirt not cut to fit the body, but of the same size at
both bottom and top, the upper end not being belted or tied, but just
drawn tightly around the waist and the surplus part knotted and tucked
with the thumb under the part already wrapped around the body. The
long, black, glossy hair of the young women hung loosely down their
backs, in many cases reaching below the hips--heads of hair that almost
any lady would be proud to own. Many of the women had in their
mouths long poorly-made cigars that were wrapped and tied with small
white threads to hold them together while the lady owners chewed and
pulled away with vigor at the end opposite the fire.
The time of our landing was in the midst of the rainy season, and our
clothing each morning when we arose to dress was as wet as if it had
just come from a wringer. Our underclothing could be drawn on only
with difficulty and the excessive disagreeableness of the feeling added
no little to the discomfort of the situation.
When the Spaniard, attracted by riches of these distant islands that he
had named for his King Philip, built the city of Manila, he modeled it
after the mediaeval towns of his European home. And it is well that he
did so, for, if we give credence to the city's history, its early life was
not one of undisturbed quiet. Not to mention the sea-rovers of those
early times who paid their piratical respects to the town, legend has it
that this old wall has saved the city on two separate occasions from
bands of Moros sweeping northward from the southern islands. So
Manila consists of two parts, the city "intra muros" and the new city
which has sprung up around it.
It was on the morning following our landing that I first stood upon the
old stone bridge that for one hundred and fifty years has borne the
traffic between the old city and the new. The strokes of eight o'clock
were pealing forth from the tower of a neighboring ecclesia when I
purposely took this station that I might see the current of Manila's life

when flowing at its height.
At short intervals along the entire length of the bridge stood in its
center a line of well-shaped American policemen in neat Khaki
uniforms and russet leather leggins. Thousands of pedestrians were
pouring across the bridge in a ceaseless stream. Between the two lines
of pedestrians moved in opposite directions two lines of vehicles and
carts. It was indeed a cosmopolitan mixture of people. There were
English bankers, French jewelers, German chemists, Spanish merchants,
foreign consuls, officers and privates of the American army, seamen
from foreign warships lying in the bay, Chinese of all classes and
conditions from silk-clad bankers to almost naked coolies trotting along
with burdens swung over their shoulders. There were Japanese, and
East India merchants from Bombay and Calcutta, and, finally, all
classes and conditions of Filipinos apparently representing all of the
seventeen separate branches of the race,--each individual in this
wonderful stream following the channel of his own necessities.
In the river beneath were steam launches towing all kinds of small
crafts. Along the bank of the stream below the bridge were inter-island
steamers packed so closely along the shore that one could almost have
stepped from one to another. Into every nook and corner between the
steamers were crowded small odd looking boats loaded with native
produce over which the owners kept up an incessant chatter.
All of us remained in Manila for about two weeks awaiting assignment
to our stations. One may well imagine our consternation on awaking
one morning about the end of the second week to find the following
notice posted throughout all our quarters:
All teachers not assigned to the city of Manila or to Iloilo should
supply themselves with the following articles:
a. One bed, or folding cot,
b. One oil stove,
c. One lamp,

d. Enough supplies of all kinds sufficient for six months,
e. Pots, pans, kettles, etc.
It is needless to say that positions in Manila and Iloilo were now at a
premium.
Was it possible that teachers were to be sent to places where even the
necessaries of life could not be obtained! Was it possible that many
would be sent to places