um.

The size of the residence and the quality of its furnishings depends
upon the wealth of the owner. But there is so vast a difference
between the mode of life of the highest class and the _tao_, or lowest
class, that it is well to speak of them separately, and the great
middle class of Filipinos can easily be imagined to occupy the
intervening ground.

The rich Filipino's house is usually of wood built upon a wall of
stone or brick from ten to fifteen feet high. The floors are kept
highly polished in his hallway, dressing-room, and bed-rooms. There
are, of course, no fire-places in any of the rooms, but on some
occasions something is needed to dry the rain-soaked atmosphere, for
even in the dry season it has been seen to rain for five successive
days and nights without the cessation of a moment.

A long chain of dependents is attached to the household of the rich
Filipino. The master has his special body servant to be present at all
times to do his master's bidding, in short, to be the visible
mechanism of his master's volition. So, too, the lady of the house has
her servant woman to do the slightest bidding of her ladyship. Then
there is the cook who is almost invariably a man, a house boy or two,
and the coachman. These functionaries, with their assistants and
assistants to the assistants, together with a servant or two for the
exclusive service of the children, complete the economic household.

Such a family has an abundance of rice and wheat bread, also of
chicken and fish with occasional fresh beef. They have also a good
deal of _dulce_. They regularly serve wine and frequently serve beer
on their tables.

In strong contrast with this mode of life is that of the _tao_. His
diet consists almost wholly of rice and small uncleaned fish boiled
together. As a rule knife, fork, plate, and spoon find no place in his
household. The rice and fish are boiled in a pot and then allowed to
cool in the same vessel or poured out to cool in a large earthen or
wooden bowl. Then Mr. Tao together with Mrs. Tao and all the young
Taos squat on their heels around the mixture and satisfy that
intangible thing called the appetite. They do not use chop sticks as
the Chinese do, but the rice and fish are caught in a hollow formed by
the first three fingers of the right hand. The thumb is then placed
behind the mass. It is raised up and poised before the mouth, with a
skill coming from the evolution of ages, when a contraction of t