The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1897-12-22
UNDER THE
SOUTHERN CROSS.

1t was about 4 o'clock on Christmas
eve and business was over as | closed
my desk and rose with a weary yawn.
There was little in my surroundings to
remind me of the day, no frost on the
windows, no snow on the ground out
side and no sharp bracing cold in the
air. The windows were as wide open as
they could be, and the steady swinging
of the "punkah" overhead was all that
kept the room from being stiflingly hot
and close, for the Office was situated
somewhere about latitude IA north, in
the PARKWAY Philippine islands, where
the great, beautiful flowers have no per-
fume and the wonderful birds never
sing, where the southern cross glitters
over the land at night and the great
dipper is upside down and the sun sets
within two minutes of quarter after
all the year around.
So | had before me about two hours
and half of daylight, and was try
ing to decide whether to utilize it by
riding out TO the tennis club and hav-
ing afternoon tea, or walking to the
park to hear the band play and see the
Spanish dignitaries. The native clerks
in the outer room had busted up and
now came gliding i'll with bare, splay
toed feet, like black headed ghosts in
their white clothes, TO bid me "buenas
noches" and a happy Christmas, and in
oidentally TO receive each his holiday
gift of one or perhaps five big silver dol
lars, according TO his station, from Jose,
the half breed chief clerk, who on the
strength of his dignity and of his speak
ing little English kept his shirt tuck
ed inside his trousers and wore embroid-
cred sandals, down to little Nito, the
errand boy, hardly more than a savage
of the wilderness. They had the
christmas feeling" anyway, and asso-
oiated it with the mercury's ranging
from 80 TO 105 degrees, as we New Eng
landers do its rambling from zero to
freezing.
The last "muchas gracias, senior,
had been said, and the last clerk glided
out, and the gray headed old "punkah
cooly" was stealthily watching to see
me take up my jacket, the signal for
his departure, when the tramping of
unmistakable and evidently stout boots
sounded without, and with prodigious
crash of the screen door there entered
into my sanctum stalwart Captain Hale
Of the good ship Monhegan, arrayed in
snowy linen and crowned with a broad
pith helmet, accompanied by stout and
jolly Mrs Hale, carrying big basket
and a brown gingham umbrella, with
her cheerful face beaming from the
depths of a real old fashioned sunbonnet.
"Good evening, SIR" they both call
ed out, and Mrs. Hale added: "Wish
you merry Christmas, Mr.. b. My,
amt it hot!" subsidipg into the bam-
boo chair which 1 had placed for her
under the punkah, with "pica, hon.
bre" Easter, mani, to old Pedro, the
cody, who redoubled his efforts with a
disappearing grunt
Good gracious, Mr.. b., )" exclaimed
Mrs. Hale, don't, for PHYS sake, make
that poor old Teller work 80 this hot day
on my count. Stop it, " shaking her UNI
brella vigorously at Pedro, who took
this for signal to go faster still, and
the big fan Tapping madly back and
forth till l called, "Despacio" gently.
The Monhegan had been in the bay
for month past under charter to me
for Boston, and was now cleared and
ready to sail the next day. had spent
many pleasant hour ON board with the
captain and his wife, rejoicing in the
homelike feeling it gave me to hear
their good old Yankee forms of speech.
The very sight of their healthy faces,
Drowned by the sun in many seas, did
me good in my weary exile, and their
presence seemed to diffuse an atmos-
phere of the breezy pines and wind
swept shores of Maine. And how good
their primitive, shipboard food was aft
er months of awful Spanish cooked din
ners on shore
And now the sound of their hearty
voices seemed to give the earthquake
rent, dingy walls of the old Office build
ing pleasanter aspect. "You see, Mr..
b." said the captain, 1--WE kinder
thought we'd drop in and give we the
good wishes of the season fore goin
round to do our Christmasin. Fact is, "
he added, smiling, 1.-THE old lady can t
get on without celebratin Christmas,
no matter where she - and she's al
ways bound to give some presents TO
folks. If we're at sea, she gives 'em to
my crew, and if we're in port like this
she hunts up poor folks and gives 'em
-
mother?''
Mrs. Hale nodded. That's fact,
father" she said. "Why, 'twouldn't
seem the least mite like Christmas if |
couldn't give presents, whether 1 be
home in Boothbay or not. AS for hea-