The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-05-26


Moons. and cold nights; March. April,
Gnnd May are so hot dry. and dusty that
the American or Brlton ,is apt to say.
With the poet: ffli4 M
Where the latltude's mean and the
longltude's low. n !,
Where the hot winds OF sumner peren.
nlally blow. 49,. Z
Where the mercury chokes the Their.
mometer's throat, Hf5t
And the dust Is as thick as the hair on a
f goat, z N = 4 N n
Where ones throat is as dry as a num-
my accuryed, ,,{ 1lf
There licsh the land OF perpetual thirst
Each day at noon the mercury climbs
70 nlnety-six DEGREES in the shade but
the nights. though warm, iarel not un-
comfortable. ~ M
The heated spoil begins TO end with
the tremendous thunder storms OF May
and June that each afternoon send the
lightning dancing over the iron roofs
and drop a foot OF water into undrained
streets In fifteen minutes These heavy
rain-storms gradually merge into the
wet weather Of the rainy season, and In
July. August, and September those cir
cular disturbances. the typhoons, hold
meetings down In the seas southeast
OF the Philippines, and send delegates
whooping up the coast with instruc-
lions to move as many, houses as posi-
BILE from one town TO the next These
storms generally avoid passing directly
over Manila, but give. TIA bad enough
blow with their outside rim to upset
5000 houses and cast a fleet OF vessels
on the beach. In October and Noyem-
Der the elements quiet down with the
change Of wind from southwest to
northeast. and start experimenting
with the good weather that follows In
December. Z, e. lIs'S.s3.i5
OF all the sections Into which Manila
Is divided either by. artificial .boundar-
les or natural ones, the old walled town
Is the most interesting, and at this per-
iod probably the most useful. The river
bounds It on the north the bay and
promenade on the west, and q long line
OF boulevard on the southeast. This
leaves an irregular triangle, whose sides
are each about mile long. to be sur
rounded by. those old moss covered
walls rising out OF moats overgrown
with weeds. At the three corners OF
the triangle are the main batteries, and
down at the apex, which is formed by
the meeting OF the west wall with the
river, Is the grim old fort known as the
Black Hole, in which three score OF
prisoners were inadvertently smother
ed to death during the early days OF the
present revolution, In front OF the for
tlflcations, facing west toward the bay,
runs the Malecon promenade, and, In
peaceful times, on Its mile of smooth
road that Just tops the beach, have
often met General Blanco, then COVER
nor general, taking his afternoon con-
stitutional In the midst of scores OF
those peripatetic padres" who have
been sent out from Spain to study NOR
ais and make Manila the priest-ridden
capital that 1t Is. In thefroadway lott
cred carriages OF all sorts filed with
natives and foreigners IN their after
noon dress, and now and then hats all
along the line were doffed as the arch
bishop dashed by in his closed ba-
rouche, drawn by four white ponies.
From all the low gates OF the dark walls
poured carriages that ratified over the
shaky dcawbrldges. and by, sunset the
broader plaza ut the south end OF the
Malecon was filled with the fashion Of
Manila, out to hear the band and to en-
Joy the breeze blowing over, from CaVlte
through the shipping.
Within the citadel the streets are
narrow and the buttressed houses stuff
~. Ponderous churches squeeze them
selves In corners and ruined arches
show the work OF earthquakes. In those
hot days and nights Of the dry, season
no breath Of air seems to reach the
pavements in old Manila's Streets but
in troublous times like these, when TO-
900 natives are thirsting to throw out
SPANS priests and officials, and are
crowding up to the only thoroughfares
of the capital, those weedg meats
around old Manila, those heavy walls,
those drawbridges. and creaking gates
will all serve as they have served be-
fore to prevent a general massacre. The
guns of our fleet which escaped unscar-
red in that naval battle of Cavite, can
knock the walls to splinters and fill the
meats with battered fragments. but the
few marines on the American ships are
powerless to stop suburban massacre
when once the natives taste Of blood
and run smuck."
In spite OF what people who have new
er been to the Philippines may say, the
climate OF Manila, even IN summer, Is
healthy and free from danger to the
white race. American troops could want
no more salubrious water-place than
a camp on that island of corregidor. by
which sweep all the fresh breezes that
blow. from Manila Bay and the China
Sea. But IL we hold the Philippines
we have yet to fight long and trying.
and perhaps unending. battles OF civili-
cation In four hundred islands. with
more than 100000 people.