years old look very bright. Their hair is
trimmed only in front (a good deal like a pony's), and their laughing
eyes are very brown and mischievous. Most of them only wear a single
ornament for a dress--a "Mother Hubbard" of cheap cotton print which
they can buy for two _pesetas_ at the _Chino_ store. The boys all
wear long trousers, and, at church or school, white linen coats,
with military collars, which they call "_Americanas_," The girls
do not wear hats. They save their "Dutchy" little bonnets, with the
red and yellow paper flowers, for the _fiesta_ days. They wear white
veils on Sundays when they go to mass. The boys' hats often have long
brims like those that we wear on the farm. They also have felt Tam
o'Shanter caps, which they affect with quite a rakish tilt.

Playthings are scarce in Filipinia. The boys and girls would be
delighted with a cheap toy cart or drum. The dolls are made of cotton
cloth, with painted cheeks, and beads for eyes, dressed up in scraps of
colored _pina_ cloth in imitation of fine _senoritas_. Kite-time and
the peg-top season come as in America. The Filipino kites are built
like butterflies or birds, and sometimes carry a long beak which is
of use in case of war. Kite-fighting is a favorite amusement in the
islands, where the native boys are expert in the art of making and
manipulating kites. Among the other games they play is one that an
American would recognize as "tip-cat," and another which would be more
difficult to recognize as football. This is played with a light ball
or woven framework of rattan. The ball is batted from one player to
another by the heel. The national pet is neither dog nor cat; it is
a chicken and the grown-up people think almost as much of this unique
pet as the children do.

Music comes natural to the Filipinos. Their instruments are violins,
guitars, and flutes. The boys make flutes of young bamboo-stalks
which are very accurate, and give out a peculiar mellow tone.

_Fiesta_-days and Sundays are the great events in Filipinia. On Sunday
morning the young girls, in their white veils and clean dresses, go
to mass, and, making the sign of the cross before the church, kneel
down upon the bare tiles while the service is performed. The church
to them is the magnificent abode of saints and angels. The wax images
and altar paintings are the only things they have in art except the
cheap prints of the saints and Virgin, which they hang conspicuously
in their homes.