An Englishwoman In The Philippines PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 edition. Excerpt: ... LETTER XLI. THE FESTIVITIES Iloilo, August 17, 1905. I Must toll you all about this Cotnitiva Taft dissipation, of which we had the first taste on Monday, the 15th, when a printed notice was left at our house, saying that the "Congressional party " had arrived that evening instead of next morning, and another large, flowery, and handsome invitation, bidding us to a reception to be held at the house of the De la Ramos, very rich Filipinos, who have a fine house in a broad, shady street, where the Bank and some other big houses stand within gardens. The reception was to be followed by the performance at the Filipino theatre, to which as I told you we had also been invited, but we thought that the reception, which was "scheduled" to come off at eight, would bo quite enough for us for one evening. We dined early, and sent Domingo out for a quilez "with a good horse." He came back after a long while and said all the carriages in the town were already hired, but he had got what he could, and the cabailo was poco bueno (little good). He was right. It was a horse to make one's heart ache to look at; and when we stepped into the dirty old broken-down quilez, to which he was attached with odds and ends of old rope, the poor beast started going backwards all down the street. The driver roared profanities, and clicked his lips, and chucked the reins, but all to no effect; till at last he called one of our servants out of the house, and they each seized a wheel by the spokes and forced H round, so that the pony was shoved along, when it started off at a great pace; the driver sprang on the box, and we tore like the wind to the house of De la Ramos. There had been a great deal of rain, and the roads were very deep in mud, but the sky had cleared, and...