is cool pajamas, audits
the accounts with the assistance of the wooden counting frame, while
_Chino_ Jose, his partner, with his paintbrush stuck behind his ear, is
following the ledger with his long, curved finger-nail. Both _Chinos_,
being Catholics, have taken native wives, material considerations
having influenced the choice; but _Maestro_ Pepin says that,
nevertheless, they are unpopular because they work too hard and cause
the fluctuations in the prices. By pursuing a consistent system of
abstractions from the rice-bags, by an innocent adulteration of the
_tinto_ wine, these two _comerciantes_ have acquired considerable
wealth.

The bland proprietor will greet you with a smile, and offer you the
customary cigarette. And if the prices quoted are unsatisfactory,
they are at least elastic and are easily adjusted for a personal
friend. Along the shelf the opium-scented line of drygoods is
available, while portraits of the saints and _Neustra Senorita del
Rosario_, whose conical skirt conceals the little children of the
Church, hang from the wall. Suspended from the ceiling are innumerable
hanging lamps with green tin shades. A line of fancy handkerchiefs,
with Dewey's portrait and the Stars and Stripes embroidered in
the corners, is displayed on wires stretched overhead across the
store. Bolo blades, chocolate-boilers, rice-pots, water-jars, and crazy
looking-glasses are disposed around, while in the glass case almost
anything from a bone collar-button to a musical clock is likely to be
found. Santiago would be glad to have you open an account here and,
unlike the Filipino, he will never trouble you about your bill.

The market street is lined with _nipa_ booths, where _senoritas_ play
at keeping shop, presiding over the army of unattractive articles
exposed for sale. Upon a rack the cans of salmon are drawn up in a
battalion, a detachment of ex-whisky bottles filled with kerosene
or _tanduay_, bringing up the rear. Certain stock articles may be
invariably found at these _tiendas_,--boxes of matches, balls of
cotton thread, bananas, _buya_, eggs and cigarettes, and the inevitable
brimming glass of _tuba_, stained a dark-red color from the frequent
applications of the betel-chewing mouth.

Although the stream of commerce flows in a small way where the
almighty _'suca duco_ is the medium of exchange, gossip is circulated
freely; for without the telegraph or telephone, news travels fast in
Filipinia. The withered hag