The Mandaloya Asylum, of the same order and of the same grade, is for girls, and teaches the proper performance of household duties and the various feminine accomplishments.
Poor and demented children find shelter in the St. Joseph’s Home; while the Hospital of San Juan de Dios, founded in 1595, is open to all. This institution has two chaplains, one head nurse, six physicians, eight resident medical students, one pharmaceutist, and a corps of trained nurses.
The Hospital of San Lazaro is for lepers. It was founded in 1578 by the Franciscans, under rather peculiar and not uninteresting circumstances. The Emperor of Japan, full of resentment at the attempts of the Spaniards to convert his subjects to Christianity, sent the infant colony a ship-load of lepers with his compliments, saying, sarcastically, that he had no doubt but that the good brethren to whose care he felt called upon to send these useless subjects of his kingdom, would, in their exceeding love for souls, receive them most gratefully.
The Spaniards, however, needless to say, were by no means delighted, and were at first inclined to send the lepers back. Pity and Christian feeling, however, at last prevailed, and this hospital was built to receive them.
One of the most important organizations is the Chamber of Commerce. There are also several good banks and a savings bank. Under the Department of Charity and Health are several subordinate boards, all conducive to public improvement.
The Royal Polytechnic Society has for its object the promotion of the arts and the sciences. The Musical Society, the Spanish Casino, the Manila Club, the German Casino, the Gun, Jockey, Lawn-tennis and Bicycle clubs are highly successful social organizations. At Santa Mesa, on the outskirts of the city, is a race-course, which in the spring is very popular.
The mint is only for the striking of subsidiary coins. It has been in operation but a few years.
There are six daily papers: El Diario de Manila, and La Oceania Española, both issued in the morning. The evening papers are: El Comercio, La Voz de España, El Español, and El Noticero.
The Nactajan Mess: Manila Jockey Club.