i 9 o 5 ] METZGER— THE FILIPINO. 25 



children, the high and the low, the poor and the rich, priest and 

 layman. The men take to the cigarette, while the women and 

 children prefer the cigar. It is not an uncommon sight to see a 

 child of some three or four years whose only adornment is a long 

 cigar. The cigar is to the Filipino pickaninny apparently what the 

 bottle is to the American youngster, a pacifier. 



One may see in their marriage customs another phase of Filipino 

 life which characterizes this class of natives. A sort of purgatorial 

 preliminary exists among these people, in which the vicissitudes of 

 the average native swain are anything but enviable. If poor, and 

 this seems to be the universal state, the prospective groom must 

 serve the girl's parent as a catiped or house servant for a more or 

 less indefinite period, according to their whim, and it is not infre- 

 quently the case that after many months, or perchance years, of this 

 bondage, he is turned out and another suitor installed. Again, the 

 marriages are arranged by the parents without consulting the wishes 

 of the child, and quite frequently they are wholly obnoxious to one 

 or both of the contracting persons, and as a result it is not uncom- 

 mon for the child to force the hand of dictatorial parents by com- 

 pelling them to countenance his or her legitimate aspirations. 

 Before a marriage is consummated, a dowry is made by the girl's 

 parents in favor of the bride, with the understanding that it is not 

 transferable to the husband upon the death of the wife, but must 

 revert to the parents in the event of there being no offspring (which, 

 however, is rarely the case). In consequence of this it is not un- 

 common to see the children well provided while the father is a 

 beggar. The day of the wedding is always fixed by the ever vigi- 

 lant padre and the fee, which is always exhorbitant, is paid in 

 advance, either in currency or collateral. The marriage ceremony 

 of these people is one grand display of barbaric ritualism. Among 

 the very poor class of these so-called domesticated natives, where 

 the enormous fees demanded by the church are beyond their means, 

 the two sexes were accustomed to live together under mutual vows, 

 but since the American occupation marriages by the ecclesiastics is 

 not compulsory, and this practice of mutual assent is fast dying out. 



Among some of the pagan tribes, especially the Igorrotes, the 

 marriage ceremony is a sort of a catch if you can affair, in which 

 the prospective groom is led a chase about the village by the bride- 

 to-be, and for a time feigns to catch her, finally he secures his prize 



