Servants.
In the good old times we were well off for servants in Manila. They flocked up from the provinces seeking places, and those employers who took pains to enquire closely into the antecedents of applicants, could almost ensure being well served.
Englishmen paid good wages, and paid punctually, hence they could command the best servants.
Personally, I may say that I kept my servants for years—some nearly the whole time I was in the islands. I had very little trouble with any of them. There are people who say that they have no feeling, but I remember that when I embarked with my family on leaving Manila, my servants, on taking leave at the wharf, were convulsed with tears at our departure.
A family living comfortably in a good-sized house would require the following servants:—
| Wages in 1892. | |
| Dollars. | |
| Mayordomo, or steward, who would act as butler | 8 per month. |
| Two houseboys, one would valet the master, the other would trim lamps and pull the punkah, @ $6 | 12 per month. |
| Sempstress or maid to mistress | 6 per month. |
| Gardener or coolie, would carry water for baths, sweep and water | 6 per month. |
| Coachman, would look after one pair of horses and carriage | 12 per month. |
| Food for six servants, @ $3 each | 18 per month. |
| Maestro cook | 18 per month. |
| 80 |
American competition for servants has more than doubled these rates of pay. Cooks get $50 now.
The house-boys and maid live in the house, and sleep on the floor, with a grass mat and pillows. The mayordomo sometimes lives quite near, being, perhaps, a married man. The coachman has his room by the stables, and the gardener lives in the lodge, or in a small hut in the garden.
The maestro-cook does not usually sleep on the premises. He arrives about 11 A.M., bearing two baskets depending from a pinga, or palma-brava staff, resting on his shoulder. These baskets will contain the day’s marketing—eggs, fish, meat, chicken, salad, tomatoes, bananas, firewood, and many other things.
He promptly sets to work, and by twelve, or half-past, presents a tiffin of three or four courses.
His afternoon is devoted to preparing the more elaborate dinner due at 7.30 P.M., when he will be ready to serve soup, fish, entrées, a roast, a curry, and sweets, all conscientiously prepared, and sent in hot. Most excellent curries are made in Manila, both by Chinamen and natives. To my mind, the best are made from prawns, from crab, or from frogs’ legs. If you cannot eat anything else at dinner, you can always make out with the curry.
The dinner over, the cook asks for orders, and takes his departure, to return with perfect punctuality the following day.
The Chinese cooks all belong to a guild, which is a trades’ union and a co-operative society, and are bound to follow the rules.
They would never dream of going into a market and bidding one against the other.
Their system is to assemble early every morning at the guild house, and for each man to state his requirements. A scribe then tabulates the orders—so many turkeys, so many chickens, etc., and two experienced cooks are commissioned as buyers to go into the market and purchase the whole lot, the provisions being afterwards fairly divided amongst the members, each having his turn to get the choice pieces, such as saddle of mutton, kidneys, etc. But if a dinner-party is contemplated, the cook who has to prepare it gets the preference.
They thus obtain everything much cheaper than the native cooks, even after taking a good squeeze for themselves. I believe that they have a fixed percentage which they charge, and would consider it dishonest to take any more, whilst the guild would not approve of their taking any less.
If you send away your cook, the guild will settle for you who is to replace him. All your culinary fancies will be well known to the council of the guild, and they will pick out a man up to your standard.
It was customary to give the cook a fixed sum per day to provide tiffin and dinner, and this was paid once a week.
I found that two dollars a day was sufficient to amply provide for my family, and I could have one guest to tiffin or dinner without notice, and be confident that the meal would be sufficient. In fact, this was part of my agreement with the cook. By giving short notice, the dinner could be extended for two or three people at an additional charge.
The cook rendered no account of the money he received; but, if I was not satisfied with the meals he provided, I admonished him, and if he did not do better I discharged him. I may say, however, that there was very seldom cause for complaint, for the Chinese are thorough business men.
When a dinner-party was given, the cook provided according to order, and sent in his bill for the extras. There was no housekeeping, and no need to order anything, and you knew exactly how much you were spending weekly, and how much a dinner-party cost.
The cleaning and polishing your plate and glass, the laying the table, the tasteful adorning of it with variegated leaves, with ferns or flowers, and the artistic folding of the serviettes, may with confidence be left to the mayordomo’s care; every detail will be attended to down to the ylang-ylang flowers in the finger-bowls.
With such servants as these, the mistress of the house, free from domestic cares, may take her shower-bath, and, clad in Kabaya and Sarong, await the moment when she must resume the garments of civilisation, and receive her guests looking as fresh, in spite of the thermometer, as if she had stepped out of a coupé in Piccadilly or Fifth Avenue. Ladies used to the ministry of Irish Biddy or Aunt Chloe ought to fancy themselves transported to heaven when they find themselves at the head of a household in Manila.
I append a note of household expenses for a family living moderately in Manila in 1892. I suppose the cost has been doubled under American rule.
Household Budget in 1892.
For a family of three adults and three children.
| Mexican Dollars. | ||
| House-rent | per month | 100 |
| Servants’ wages and food | per month | 80 |
| Washing | per month | 12 |
| Forage and grain for two ponies | per month | 16 |
| Allowance to cook for market | per month | 60 |
| Extra for two dinner-parties of six or eight guests each | per month | 20 |
| Bill at Almacen (grocery store) for groceries, ordinary wines,spirits, and petroleum | per month | 65 |
| Bill at Botica (drug store) for soda water, ice and variousarticles | per month | 20 |
| Case of champagne for dinner-parties | per month | 25 |
| Repairs to carriage, shoeing horses, materials for cleaning stable,etc. | per month | 10 |
| Garden expenses—plants, tools, hose | per month | 5 |
| Subscriptions to clubs, telephone, newspapers, and charities | per month | 20 |
| Tobacco and cigars | per month | 7 |
| Taxes on servants and horses | per month | 10 |
| Clothing for self and family | per month | 50 |
| Pocket money, entertainments, and sundries | per month | 100 |
| —— | ||
| Per month | 600 | |
| Say $7,200 per annum. |