The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-02

place the stuff in the holds; and then
we slept on the dock, or on boxes, or
any old place we happened to be. We
wheeled trucks, carried boxes, and did
| everything just like the big darkies who
are employed there in times of peace.
1t was quite a sight to see our boys
handling trucks, side by side with these
old negroes, and / tell you, the old
darkies had to hustle to keep up with
us, too, for we were determined to get
off If work had anything to do with it..
There was nothing Of any interest hap
pened in loading with the exception
that one mule went overheard and an
other fell out of the derrick, killing it,
self, and one lieutenant fell overheard
and some fresh "non-coms' got kicked.
We cast away, or as one Of the crew
put it, "oisted the bloody HI anchor" at
sos Friday afternoon, with all of us on
board except two, who were up town
getting something to eat.
The weather continued fine during
our trip and, with the exception of a
horse dying now and then, there was
nothing happened of Importance. 1t
seemed as if we were in a little world
of our own-the monotony of existence
the principal thing. 1t was eat and sleep
and work the same as on shore, only
within limited space. The crews at
forded a lot of amusement they were
such funny Englishmen of the lower
classes-regular Kipling types After all
there were lots of fine things to enjoy
which to me overbalanced the discom-
forts. For instance, never enjoyed the
sun, moon, sky and water SO much, and
| | never found out so much about men
and their classes. I have come to the
conclusion that there are classes-but
we will discuss that some other time. l
do not mean to imply that travelling in
L. f-txA ffea1
tirety, for it is not. The men are packed
in like sardines. There is a guard con-
sisting of about third Of the men,
continuously, so that makes each mans
turn once in three days. and between
decks with the horses is hot, stuffy,
dirty and everything that is uncomfort-
able But l do say that we can overlook
those things and get all the enjoyment
possible.
On Wednesday we sighted land about
sunrise and it was interesting to watch
the mer as they came up on deck; a
broad grin was on each ones face as
he caught sight Of the hills in the dis
tance.
But our joy was short-lived, for about
II o'clock we were aground off reef
about 10 miles off the Port of Ponce,
with no less than 80 American gun
/ boats, battleships and transports in
sight in the harbor, and the queer
part about 1t was that we were the
Il third boat that had struck in the same
place in one week There was surely
something wrong in the management.
After tossing and pounding on the reef
for two days, we were taken to the
gunboat Annapolis Thursday night
about 5 o'clock and put ashore next
! morning at sunrise. The first impress
sions of Porto Rico are very favorable.
We could see from the Annapolis the
Inr1cr h11f1diFprG III POlnrG wifi ha
palms or cocoanut trees seeming to
spring up between them and backed up
by the hills or mountains in the dis
lance. The formation of these noun
tains is very curious. They seem to
be lot of little individual mountains
grouped together, just as if a lot Of
children had made a group of sand
hills.
When we landed we were still more
favorably impressed. Everything
seemed so different from what 1 had
ever seen, SO absolutely new to me in
every particular-architect vegeta-
ton, inhabitants. Nothing 'Ameri-
cano," all "Espanol."
The architecture is Spanish and moth
ing else, save for its squares of classical
one-story houses with classical cor
nices, supported by decorated and va
riegated columns and pedestals They
are mostly built of brick covered with
mate and time have been the worse for
the paint as paint, but decidedly the
better for ones eyes, for instead of
the vivid, original colors we see only
patches.
The rest is covered with delight
full green moss or slime, or else the
bricks showing where the plaster has
fallen off. The colors are glorious"
that is the only word that can ex>
press it. Even the little, old wooden
houses are rotted away In places and
out Of repair, and covered with this
green in places; generally need patches
of matching, add color and interest
to the roof, not to mention the protec-
ton to the inmates. OF course these
j peculiar colors naturally suggest un-
natural conditions of climate and SAN
Il itary arrangements. But let us only
talk of the climate and let the SAINT
tary conditions Of Ponce be left to the
health commission. The climate i'm
| presses YOU as delightful when YOU
first arrive. The clear, beautiful, deep
blue sky with absolutely no Clouds
the bright sun, and the peculiar odors,
make you feel that it is an ideal coun-
try, and you hold that opinion until
about o'clock, just after the sun
goes down" And that js where it diff
fers from 'our sun Ours" seems to
set" awhile, and gives US some twi-
light; but in Porto Rico il doesn't set
at adjust "goes down" without stop
ping and within half an hour after it
is pitch dark. And then come the
mosquitoes, regular ravenous creatures
not so large as our Jersey type but
a small grey back" and twice as big
a bite It is impossible to live during
that time without smoking, so ones
criticism about the women and child
dren smoking, takes a much milder
form After about s o'clock the mos
quitoes seem to go away and then one
can enjoy the night. The stars seem
bright and larger against an almost
black background, but it gets SO dread
fully damp through the night while
we were camped around the cathedrai
in the Playa of the port, that we would
get up in the morning and wiring our
blankets out. After two or three days
a person does not feel as keen and en-
ergetic, his legs seem heavy and his
head aches and the,sun is so hot, and
he grows tired of the jabbering ana
peculiar odors-in fact, everything is
'too much,' and you think of good
old America
, The land of the ash and the oak
And the weeping WILLOW tree.
And it's home, boys, home,