The amusements for ladies were limited to riding, lawn-tennis, boating, picnics, and frequent dances. I remember many delightful dances in Manila. One was given to the officers of the U.S.S. Brooklyn, and another to the U.S.S. Richmond. At the latter, the ladies were in traje del pais, i.e., dressed as natives and mestizas. And very handsome some of them looked. Now and again some theatrical company would come over, mostly from Saigon. There were a good many dinner parties given amongst the British community, and weekly receptions at most of the principal houses, during the time I lived in Manila, where you could get a little game of cards, dance, flirt, or take it easy, just as you liked. The ladies very wisely took a rest from two to four, to be fresh for the evening. The proper hour for calling was at 9 P.M. or 10 A.M. on Sundays after High Mass. I knew several ladies, English and American, who look back upon a term of years spent in Manila as the happiest in their lives. Children born in Manila can remain there without damage to their health till ten or twelve years old, and after having spent a few years at home are indistinguishable from children born and brought up in England. The principal thing lacking in Manila is means of access to the hills where people could go occasionally for a change and during the hot season. I have little doubt that the Americans will provide this before long. Manila was not without its frivolous element; but there was one period of the year when all frivolities were suspended, and religious observances monopolised the people's time. That was in Lent, and the ceremonies culminated on Good Friday. The Very Noble and always Loyal City of Manila celebrates the greatest day of the Christian year very devoutly. On foot, and robed in black, its inhabitants high and low throng the churches and attend the procession. All shops are closed, vehicular traffic is suspended, the ensigns hang at half-mast, the yards of ships are crossed in saltire; not a sound is heard. The capital and the whole of the civilised Philippines mark the crucifixion of our Saviour by two days of devotion, of solemn calm. Under Spanish rule a stately procession, attended by the highest and the humblest, filed slowly through the silent streets, the Civil Government, the Law, the Army, the Navy, the Municipality and the Religious Orders, being represented by deputations in full dress, who followed bare-headed the emblems of the faith in the presence of an immense crowd of natives, who bent the knee and bowed the head in homage to the crucified Saviour. I never failed to witness this imposing spectacle when in Manila, and it was mortifying to me to remember that Good Friday in London is nothing but a vulgar holiday, and that probably not one person out of a hundred in its vast population realises in the least degree the event that solemn fast is intended to commemorate.