Evening star., 1898-05-28
Of the Three Seasons One is All
But Perfect.
BUT TEE OTHER TWO ARE DIFFERENT
Never a Question as to What The
Weather viii Be.
VEG ETATION RUNS RIOT

! rains" the wet season. lasting from,
June to October. is laconically called. a few
remarks on the lovely climate NAV not
be deemed impertnent. Lovely climate
Is the generic epithet one hears appl,ed I'm a
vague way to the remote region around
Manila by amateurs
There are three seasons I'm the true trop-
ics-the cold weather" the hot weather.
and the rains" The climate of the FIRST
Is like that of paradise: that of th,, second
Ike very different and antipodal terri
tory, which shall be nameless in this polite
article, and OF the third-well. il there is a
climate that is a combination OF n steam
pain warm poultice and blue mold IN.
rains is like that.
AZ other words. from the middle Of No
semoer till the middle OF March every day
Is IKE one or our most beautiful June days
win cold morning and evening throun
in. the thermometer marking G5 d.aros
perhaps, at noon. ard ~ degrees or a tritis
icwer even at night That is the very per-
iectioh OF weather; ii is weather as
10 weather. and no mistake.
Hot and Dry.
FROM the middle of March till early I'm
June the heat grows gradually terrific till
II gets TO be unbearable. This climax hap
pens ABOUT the middle Of May; then you go
on bearing II two or three weeks Longer
nies up TO meet II, and together they mako
your head swim. Hot and dry. drv ana
not no rain, yet not drought because 4,
never does rain. and can't rain al mar
,lme or year 1t doesn't know how. In tho
rot weather IL is only hot In the rainy
season IL only rains There arr no nost
ponements on account of the weather ne
cause there is only one kind of w.ather-at
uthc There are no sudden changes for
the same reason. There is comfort IN thssa
thoughts. You put your umbrella avsv ~
camphor IN September. knowing that Won
VIII not require II again for eight months
al iesst. ANA you tin" your ribbons silks
ana Kid gloves Theoretically in Nav away
from mIldew. knowing that YOU will NOT
See Them again before October There are
no barometrical surprises for the dwelIer
IN the tropics. There is no starting on a
picnic in the distant woods, full of life ana
spirits, at o'clock in the morning in a
light muslin dress and straw hat d..cked
with roses, with teeth-chattering return
al $50 o'clock. the muslin soaked with
rain and then frozen on you rils of pink
from the saturated roses adjoining your
hose You may come home in Manila with
your gay blue muslin faded out white but
IL mas not been rained showed on and
your feet are drier and hotter than when
you set forth on them. But then, you don't
go much on picnics in the tropics Too
many snakes
When the Rains Come.
But the hot weather, being prepared for
it. can be got through somehow. Wet sail
cloth on the top of the brousham. a ser
want with an umbrella whenever you move
houses built to keep cool in, with high cell
ings and Dunhabs. and no movement re-
CURED OF you and no dressing for falls in
the thermometer. and no burdening oneself
with wraps for such drops-which is one
reason why We suffer Intensely here
when We venture out of sight of home-all
these appliances and immunties make it
IN - a. rrrrA,
weather. day or two of cremation q
lot of dark clouds, and one day oh re-
freshihS remembrance. IA few big round
solemn drops are heard to slap the ba ked
earth smartly. then more and more, a hard
shower, and the monsoon has burst. The
rains have come.
Hug well the first few hours of delicious
relief. for there comes Il time when an sn-
ira raIndroD breaks the camel's back and
You are as oyerborne with wet as YOU
We're with dryness. But at first, The dusty
earth relents and begins to allow the wa
ter to soften its surface. the earth sends
up grateful fraSr2nce, which you drink
III with deep broaths: the shrubs shine
open their leaves and hold up their heads
to the welcome downpour. How tired they
get of their eXUbcrance later, when SOAK
ed and water logged, they sometimes lie
sprawling and sullen over the turf no one
knows, but just now they are greeting the
preserver Of their lives.
Too Much of n Good Thing.
When your gates and fences sprout, two
months later, and you have to rush to the
looking glass every few hours to be sure
you have not grown tender shoot of
green from your ear, yourself-whcn your
boots mold over night. and nothing that
you touch is free from clammness-when
trenches are eaten through the hearts of
your books, and the covers are nibbled
and ''chawed and otherwise defaced by
white ants-then you ask yourself how you
ever could have stood at a window drink
ing in the scent which the earth exuded
and throwing out your hands TO catch
what Austin Dobson calls "spurtles of
rain" Oh. "spurIles." indeed Waterfalls,
cataracts, deluges. they soon enough de-
Nelop into.
rains. but il is likely at any minute to do
SO. In this way, hoping yet fearing, yCu
sratca drives. And ii sometimes rains Gt
night and gives you day fair and serene.
If it rains all day. you have to take your
drives, If you want any air. at night BG:
there is no daI'Eer of your coao ohman's
leaving or giving warning" if you feel
Ike starting out for ten miles after dinner.
which means IL O'Clock or SO. Your coach
man takes your order to get his horses
farnessed at midnight with the same equa-
nlmity with which he receives a similar be-
hest at midday. And he doesn't like it at
either time.
A Wealth Of Green
Yet the vegetation and the verdure at
this season-Eo words can describe their
leafy glories Trees growing TO reach the
sky, and throwing out arms below as well
as above and all sides Ivies covering
the trees. grass of the richest emerald and
thick as velvet, shrubs and ferns in abso-
lutte profusion, the difficulty being to re-
strain them from growing, instead Of COAX
ing then. to grow, as one does here. The
beauties Of the, tropics in the rains are
beyond conception. Who minds q tarantua
or two on the towel horse, or spiders
weighing an ounce? Who objects to a
slight daify coating of nildew, or a fun
gus growing out of the hat he has not
worn for a week. il he can see bamboos
waving their delicate traceries like rare
old lace against the sky and banyan trees
dropping a hundred shoots into the ground,
and all sorts OF Inventions and miracles in
green growths?