Home of a Well-to-do Manila Merchant.
Beyond is a large room, with walls of window and with sliding doors. Here are some chairs and a table, covered with a handsomely embroidered cloth. Upon the walls, which are covered with cloth instead of plaster, are various bric-a-brac, artistically arranged upon scrolls; while several engravings of religious subjects and one or two family portraits hang between. From the centre of the ceiling hangs a crystal chandelier with globes of colored glass; a small oratory, supporting the brazen image of some Saint, stands in the corner. The broad floor-planks, daily scrubbed and polished with plantain leaves, are as smooth and clean as a mirror.
Opening from this main room are several smaller rooms, used as bedrooms. A narrow passage-way leads to the bath-room and to the kitchen—in a separate building. The design of the whole domicile seems to aim at cleanliness and coolness,—both essentials of comfort in this hot, moist climate.
The roof is patched with nipa palm, and the outside walls of bamboo—painted white and striped with green and blue—are covered with grotesque carvings. This, with the broad eaves and the wide balconies, gives the house a most picturesque appearance.
We note with gratification the many signs of family affection around us. The father, kind and considerate; the mother, sweet and sympathetic; the children, quiet, obedient, and well-behaved—a picture of domestic happiness that is representative rather than exceptional.
How the Afternoon is Spent.
After tiffin, each retires to his own room to enjoy the siesta; and thus we sleep soundly through the heavy afternoon hours.
The siesta over, we venture into the village. Through the streets are hurrying scores of men, nearly every one with a cock under his arm. They are going to the cock-pit. We follow, and soon we come to our destination.