Heidelberg
Heidelberg, 7 February 1886
MISS MARÍA RIZAL
MY VERY DEAR SISTER,
[1]There goes the first letter I write you on German territory in order to have the pleasure of receiving your reply. The object of this letter is to relate to you some particular things that may be of interest to you and besides use to you, like for example, German and French women keep their houses. Although French taste reigns everywhere, nevertheless it is modified in every locality and according to the status and imagination or the people. Speaking about the dining room, for example, in Europe it is the general feeling that it must be gay, attractive, and pleasant. In the houses of the very rich you’ll see paintings of landscape, fruits, and animals by the greatest masters. You’ll see painted oysters, prawns. lobsters. fish. etc., etc. Others who cannot afford to pay so much are satisfied with copies and the poorest with lithographs. In some houses in Germany and particularly in Holland, what I see in pictures is that they hang on the walls old plates with more or less color, with more or less designs. In some houses they’ll show you the plate belonging to a grandfather, to a grandmother—a huge plate fifty years old, a century perhaps; and in the Pardo’s house at Paris I saw beside some plates of Chinese porcelain nearly two centuries old, blue plates like those from China we have for daily use, if I’m not mistaken, and have this shape: [Sketch] These plate decorations are very charming, above all when the designs are fanciful and the colors are gay. On the other hand Italian houses have on their walls gay bottles of Chianti wine whose lower parts are wrapped in straw, their neck being very slender [Sketch], and placed in the corners are small baskets of fruits which are also very pretty. In some houses they have hanging parasites alternating with cages of birds like canaries, linnets, etc. No serious or sad subjects, for some persons would get indigestion, and in truth they are right. When it’s time to eat, eat well; when it’s time to pray, pray well. Our dining room there, that is, the landing or antehall, could be decorated with parasites and plates, for we have neither paintings of landscapes nor big pictures. White plates are not used for decoration because they are confused with the wall. I remember that when we were small we had some plates with designs of little figures and landscapes on their hollow. For these I know that some would give even five pesos each for they are now rare.
The plates are hung in the following way: Take three pieces of wire, their sizes depending on the weight or size of the objects they are to support, and they are bent at the end, for example, [Sketch] and in this hook the edge of the plate is inserted; the three wires are joined at the back and a kind of ring is made to hang it on a nail so that in front it will look like this [Sketch] and at the back [Sketch].
The parasitic plants—in this we can excel all European houses, if we have good taste—are hung more easily. There are three ways of placing them: Suspended, attached to a post and in little baskets set on a table [Sketches]. Generally iron wire is used because it becomes more beautiful as it becomes oxidized or rusty. This is easier for us because it doesn’t cost money and there is an abundance of parasitic plants in our country, especially in our province.
The flasks and bottles chosen are those which have fanciful shapes and if they are wrapped in straw like the demijohns, for example, the better. They are usually filled with black wine or colored liquor. The more covered with cobwebs in their corners these flasks are the better they are. They are usually placed at a sufficient height and they are a not usually moved from there. For this purpose they use a board attached to the wall in the following way: [Sketch].
On the dining table they usually place flowers in the middle alternately with the dishes of sweets, pickles, and fruits. Today it is no longer customary, at least in Paris, to put big fruit dishes on the middle of the table. They used to put flowers in small glass dishes with water so that they will not wilt. In winter when flowers are very expensive, it is not unusual to see tables with half or completely dry flowers, but over there, where it doesn’t cost anything to have them fresh, they would be out of place.
I can tell you many more things about this, but my letter is already very long and it is not fitting.
This is enough for the present then and I shall be glad if this could be of some use to you.
Your brother who embraces you,
RIZAL.
Heidelberg, 7 February 1886.
01-142 [Family]
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