FRANCISCO
THE FILIPINO
By BURTIS M. LITTLE
FORMERLY PRINCIPAL OF PROVINCIAL SCHOOL
ALBAY, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO
PREFACE
At the close of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain withdrew from
the Philippine Islands after more than three centuries of residence,
and turned over the responsibilities of Philippine control to the
people of the United States.
A number of years have elapsed since the American people took up the
white man's burden in the Orient, and although thousands of Americans
have visited our new possessions during this time, there are still many
persons who think vaguely of the Philippines as a tiny group of islands
somewhere in the Pacific, inhabited by half savage people who wear
little or no clothing and prefer dog meat to all other kinds of food.
When one stops to note that the archipelago consists of more than
three thousand islands, which, if placed within the United States,
would occupy an area extending from Minneapolis to New Orleans and
from Denver to Kansas City, he secures a more definite idea of their
magnitude. And when he learns further that the soil of these islands
is astonishingly fertile, that they abound in valuable timber, coal,
gold, copper, iron, lead, and platinum, and that of the eight million
inhabitants, only about half a million are uncivilized, the remainder
being Christians, some of whom are highly educated, with all the graces
and accomplishments of a European, he again finds himself startled
at the importance of these new American territories across the seas.
It was with the idea of giving American boys and girls a clearer idea
of the Filipino people,--how they live, what they eat and wear, how
they work and how they play,--that this little book was written. The
author recalls with the greatest pleasure the two years spent among
the school boys and girls of Albay Province, and is glad to number
among his warmest friends the Filipinos of southern Luzon.
B. M. L.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Francisco's Home 1
II. Francisco's Work 9
III. Rice 17
IV. Abaca 24
V. Coconuts 33
VI. Francisco's Pleasures 42
VII. Francisco at School 58
VIII. What Francisco Learned of Philippine History
and Government 69
IX. The Strength of Nature 82
X. Francisco's Graduation and Trip to Manila 92
FRANCISCO, THE FILIPINO
CHAPTER I
FRANCISCO'S HOME
Francisco was a Filipino boy who lived in the southern part of
the island of Luzon between the towns of Albay (Äl'-by) and Camalig
(Ca-mä'-lig). If you will look at a map of the Philippine Islands, you
can find these places. His home was on a large tract of land where his
father raised rice for the use of the family, and abaca (ä'-bä-cä),
or Manila hemp, for the market. Back of their house was a grove of
tall coconut trees. From the nuts which grew on these trees they made
a part of their living, and their hemp crop was also of much value.
Francisco had one sister and two brothers, all older than
himself. Pablo (Päb'-lo), the oldest brother, was studying in the
College of Santo Tomas (Sän'-to To-mäs') in Manila, preparing to
be a priest, while José (Ho-sa') and Maria (Ma-ree'-ä), the sister,
were living at home and attending school.
This home was very interesting and quite different from the houses in
which American boys and girls live. The house was made almost entirely
of bamboo,--bamboo walls, floors, ceilings, and rafters. The roof
consisted of the leaves of the nipa (nee'-pa) palm, sewed together
to form shingles and tied to the rafters with strips of very strong
rattan.
Filipinos always build their houses well up from the ground so as to
be above the dampness. Francisco's father had put their home on bamboo
poles about six feet high. This made a large room underneath the house
where were kept three pigs, a horse, and their little two-wheeled cart
called a carromata (car-ro-mä'-tä). Francisco's mother found bamboo
floors convenient, because very little sweeping was necessary; crumbs
and waste from the kitchen were dropped between the strips of bamboo
to the ground below, and there the pigs and chickens quickly ate them.
In the front part of the house was a large room called a sala (sä'-lä),
and here the family sat when their friends came to see them. There
were a number of bamboo chairs and a table in this sala; large windows
let in the light and air, and offered a view of the blue Pacific and
the great Mayon (My-on') Volcano which lifted its head high among
the clouds a few miles to the northward. These windows were not made
of glass, however, but of small shells about three inches square,
fitted into wooden frames that slid back and forth along the sill.
The floor of the sala was not bamboo. It was made of a beautiful
hard wood of a dark red color, and was kept very smooth by polishing
it with banana leaves; this was Francisco's work, and he took much
pride in it. Very often when friends came in for a visit, the table
and chairs were pushed back against the wall, José brought out his
musical instrument that looked like a guitar but sounded like a
mandolin, and all would join in a dance.
The house contained several sleeping rooms with bamboo beds. Francisco
preferred to sleep on the floor wrapped in a petate (pe-tä'-te), or
grass mat. The beds were very simply made with bamboo legs and a bottom
of woven rattan much like a cane-seated chair. José had learned at
school that mosquito bites cause fever, and therefore he had arranged
his own bed to be covered with mosquito netting; but the others of
the family slept as Francisco did, completely wrapped in their petates.
The kitchen was a very different sort of place from those in American
homes. The stove was a large square platform about four feet high,
covered with soil packed down till it was almost as hard as rock,
and having on it several stones. When Francisco's mother wished to
cook rice or boil a chicken, she made a little fire on this platform,
drew two or three of the stones near it, and placed the pot or kettle
on them and over the flames. Filipino houses never have chimneys,
but the smoke finds its way out through the cracks in the bamboo
walls. The wood used for cooking is usually cut into small sticks
an inch or so in diameter and twelve or fifteen inches long, and,
fortunately, burns with very little smoke.
Adjoining the kitchen was a small square room containing nothing but a
large tin can with several small holes in the bottom, and a long rope
passing over one of the bamboo rafters. When Francisco wished to take
a bath, he filled this can with water, pulled it up over his head,
and fastened the rope so that he could stand under the shower. The
water ran on down through the bamboo floor to the ground below,
making a cool, damp place for the pigs to lie.
Filipinos enjoy frequent baths because the hot climate of their
country makes bathing a necessity. José would get home from school
each morning about half past ten, take a cool bath and lie down for a
siesta (si-es'-tä), or nap, during the hot noontime, for school did
not begin again until half past two; then he would go back feeling
refreshed and ready for an afternoon of hard study.
The siesta habit is a very general one in the Philippines. For an
hour or more before and after noon, shops are closed, business stops,
and the streets are deserted, while behind drawn shutters, the people
are peacefully sleeping after their midday meal. About two o'clock,
they take up their regular duties again, thoroughly rested from the
morning's exertions and the extreme heat of noontime. The custom is
almost a necessity in tropical countries, and would undoubtedly be
a valuable habit for the busy, hurrying American to practice, if he
could only feel that the time could be spared for it.