LETTER XVII.
DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY IN MANILA
Manila, March 10, 1905.
I am still in Manila, you see, but am going home to-morrow, so I will write a line to go out by the next mail, which I should miss if I waited till I get to Iloilo.
I rambled off so in my last letter that I quite forgot to tell you about a party we went to at the house of some very rich Mestizos; a sort of reception, with desultory dancing, but in the afternoon, or rather, the evening hours before dinner.
When we arrived, at about six, the party was in full blast; rooms cleared for action, blaze of electric lights, string band, crowds of pretty frocks, and grounds all lighted up with arcades of paper lanterns. This climate lends itself particularly to such entertainments, with the warm evenings, and there is not much trouble in the way of preparation, with big, open houses and polished floors.
Our host was a small man, Filipino altogether, but his wife, a tall and very pretty Mestiza, “had fewer annas to the rupee,” and was exquisitely dressed.
I walked about the pretty rooms and met many friends, besides recognising many of those I had seen at the Malacañan fête, and saw again the pretty young woman who had charmed me so at the palace, when we were calling there. She looked prettier than ever amongst a crowd, though they were all very smart, and some of the American women really well dressed with nice hats.
This is such a small place, and so few travellers ever come here that everyone knows everyone else, which makes parties very pleasant, though I noticed, again, that the Americans are not really democratic a bit, and there is a great deal of social distinction made, and people do not recognise others whom they really know perfectly well.
The army is just as superior as the soldier set in any garrison in any kingdom; and if a man is a merchant, unless his business happens to bring in a large income, it would be absurd for him or his family to expect to be asked to the exclusive dinners and parties at which the administrative, military, and millionaire set congregate. I don’t think I am at all keen to be a democrat, even a theoretical one, for it must be very tiresome to have no real social position of your own, but to depend on some one else’s recognition of your claims to a certain income, an appointment, or who you are seen with, and what you wear—and then, when all is said and done, to be the social equal of your workmen and servants. Not that I suppose for a moment that anyone is really a democrat, for I have never yet read or heard of such a being, and certainly I have never seen one.