The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1898-12-23
him or audible to hill

him or audible to him fail to arouse either
interest or response.
He is thinking of home, Is Pierce Grin
nell, this sturdy, hardy soldier boy who
had gone to Aguinaldo's land to uphold
the flag and help retain the glories which
Dewey had won-home and the approach
ing Christmas.
1t is the harder to bear the memory of
the olden Yuletide, because there is absent
In camp as in the nearby Philippine cap
ital all that preparation, anticipation en-
semble that in the poorest village of his
native land blossoms forth at holiday
time-once a year only, maybe, but once
a year - magically, nightly - Merry
Christmasi
He came off duty looking more bored
than wearied, and fingers for a moment
where an animated group are piling up
boxes, logs, refuse.
"a year ago." grizzled plainsman is
saying, there was ten feet Of snow at
Fort Custer, and"
"You didn't belong to the army of occu-
patton then?' breaks in suggestive voice.
Occupation? 1 call this gcntlemanly
ieisureT' was retorted tartiy. "Only-say,
fefhfowsf d give Week yations to have
a chill-just to remind me of home, and
snow, and real Christmas weather! Pile
those boxes straight, boys; now then,
criss-cross the logs"
What are you about here, anyway ?'
inquired young Grinnell little curiously.
What are we about? Whyr' stares
the Westerner, as if affronted, Christ
mas preparations, of coursev'
The young soldier smiles, half sadly,
Il don't see any Christmas trees, or
holly, or wax candles, Or
"Nor won't" comes the terse Interrupt
ton. "Still, we're going to make the best
play at 1t we know how when the date
arrives"
"And that is-'
ITO build roaring campfire first"
isn't the climate naturally warm
enough for you?"
"Never you mind! We're going to build
regular scorcher-wrap blankets around
us, huddle up as If we were frozen to
death, imagine we're out on those gl-lori-
GUS plains where fellow can always feel
Christmas, if he don't see much of it
and tell stories about last year, and the
year before, and the years when the regu-
lars had some kind of a holiday, even if
1t was q ragged one."
The officer of the day smiles indulgently
on the turbulent infraction Of camp rules,
and the colonel and staff appear to hand
in their contributions box, not box Of
cigars.
There are pineapples, cocoanuts, bana-
mas and oranges, but more than one wry
face shows that a juicy red pippin, a
pan of hickorynuts, would have been more
acceptable than "all these smothering fall
lalsw as the Westerner dubs the ample
tropical fare.
'1f our Christmas ship had only come
imp he remarked, and with fixed stare at
a comrade who had just come from town
"a stare with wink in it-he observes:
Steamer probably delayed, you told me,
PerkinsP'
"That's what" is nodded.
All hands look savaE5 at this. Christ
mas cheer was on its way TO them-of
that they had been advised by way of
Hong Kong a week since-buf the steam
er was overdue, probably delayed by a
storm, and their holiday cheer from home
might not arrive till New Years day.
Still. as Grinnell watches the West
erner and observes him more than once
gaze covertly in the direction of the cor
duroy camp road, he wonders if he is not
nursing some spirited surprise that he
will spring later on.
The stories begin, and soon all are en-
crossed. One man tells of Christmas at