No gratitude is even asked of them nor is
it expected that they do no damage to the hospitable family either
during or after digestion! The rich, those who have ever been to Manila
and have seen a little more than their neighbors, have bought beer,
champagne, liqueurs, wines, and food-stuffs from Europe, of which
they will hardly taste a bite or drink a drop.
Their tables are luxuriously furnished. In the center is a well-modeled
artificial pineapple in which are arranged toothpicks elaborately
carved by convicts in their rest-hours. Here they have designed
a fan, there a bouquet of flowers, a bird, a rose, a palm leaf,
or a chain, all wrought from a single piece of wood, the artisan
being a forced laborer, the tool a dull knife, and the taskmaster's
voice the inspiration. Around this toothpick-holder are placed glass
fruit-trays from which rise pyramids of oranges, lansons, ates, chicos,
and even mangos in spite of the fact that it is November. On wide
platters upon bright-hued sheets of perforated paper are to be seen
hams from Europe and China, stuffed turkeys, and a big pastry in the
shape of an Agnus Dei or a dove, the Holy Ghost perhaps.
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