A Woman's Impression of the Philippines by Mary Helen Fee
page 41 of 244 (16%)
page 41 of 244 (16%)
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the Exposition Building in army ambulances and Doherty wagons which
the military had put at the disposal of the Civil Government. Owing to the fact that I was appointed a sort of matron to the women's dormitory, and had to be on hand to assign the ladies to their cots and to register them, I did not go down to the Anda Monument to see the disembarkation. Plenty of people who might have pleaded less legitimate interest in the pedagogues than I had, were there, however. By half-past ten the first wagon-load had arrived at the Exposition Building in a heavy shower, and from then till early noon they continued to pour in. On the whole, they were up to a high standard--a considerably higher standard than has since been maintained in the Educational Department. The women were a shade in advance of the men. Both men and women accepted their rough quarters with few complaints. Nearly all were obliging and ready to do their best to make up for the deficiencies in bell boys and other hotel accommodations. We arranged a plan whereby twelve women teachers were to be on duty each day,--a division of four for morning, afternoon, and evening, respectively. The number of each woman's cot and room was placed after her name, and one teacher acted as clerk while the others played bell boy and hunted for those in demand. And they were overworked! By five o'clock in the afternoon the parlor of the Exposition Building looked like a hotel lobby in a town where a presidential nominating convention is in session. To begin with, there were the one hundred and sixty schoolma'ams. Then the men teachers, who had been assigned to the old _nipa_ artillery barracks, found the women's parlors a pleasant place in which to spend an odd half-hour, |
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