The San Francisco call., 1898-12-03


 the division hospital and pass the Red Cros,; place at a slow step, with the band at their head playing solemn dirge. Now it seems to me that II was one of those in the Red cross wards, lying desperately ill with typhoid or any other old thing, It would require more o- sense Of the hulnor- ous than l possess to keep my splrlts keyed up to any great degree or hlIar- ity with three or fou1 of those grew some parades filing past me every day. 'Tis sort of depressing, you Know. sort of sets a fellow thinking Of the sins of his past and the small chance ne mas of ever committing any more; mere has very little happened In the regl- ment since the commencement or US garrison life Things go on without much variation and the soldier has practically nothing to do but to eat, sleep, drill and keep himself clean. we merely jog along in sort or an act the each tomorrow finds us 1urther than today sort of style, waiting for something to turn up, ana hoplng that that something will pro"e to De a transport with orders to carry us home. The other day M Company was enlivened by an incident which at first looked as though it would end in fatality. but which fortunately con- cluded with a brilliant display of hero ism and the saving of life. One Of the boys of the company While en- gagged in some sort Of an occupation near the rivers edge managed to fall in As he could not swim he was in a fair way to become an addition to Davy Jones collection of curios, if that ancient mariner ever does any gather ing at the muddy bottom of the PaSig. Luckily his dilemma was seen by two of his comrades, who, fully dressed as they were, plunged in and swan to his assistance. They managed to get him ashore before life was extinct, though they had a hard time of it, and nearly lost their own lives in the effort. The gallant fellows who so nobly imperiled themselves to ss se a comrade are Cor poral Frank l.. Owen and Private Ed gar A. Taylor, both San Francisco boys and both members of M Company. A German baker by the name of Kline, who came down here on the Valencia, became involved in a quarrel with woman of the town which ended in his beating his lady love nearly to death with the butt end of a pistol. MT. Kline has already started in on one years sentence in tLe way of reparation for the wrong he did.
 There is no monkey business when martial law takes the place of civil. Kline is the first white man to be S he is the first I have heard of. By the by, in a previous letter l spoke of the band possessing professional attributes which made the resemblance of their music to that produced by. Chinese orchestra noticeable to the practiced ear of a trained observer. The band has improved It now beats anything that can be produced by the best orchestra in all Chinatown. In fact, it's leader has by careful attention and constant pratice brought it up to fair degree of excellence, and it will now compare favorably with the other bands down here This is the truth, as was my statement in the previous article al- ready referred to. There are few other things in which the regiment has great ly improved. l mean in its marching, guard mounting and manual of arms. Every morning and evening the boys are put through their paces and in competition between the First Califor- mia and any of the other regiments down here, volunteer or regular, 1 would willingly risk pay day on the boys from the Golden Gate and l never allow sentiment to influence my betting either. The enlisted man may have the hardest time in camp, the line officer may be the worst off in battle, but there is one poor unfortunate in every regi- ment whose lot is hard one, whether in field or garrison, and who, when he gets the best of it, receives nothing but the worst. This unfortunate individ- ual is the regimental adjutant. He is the recipient of every complaint. the re- dresser of every wrong, the man who must bear every kick and attend to every little matter that arises in the entire regiment and the only thanks he gets is the grumbling acouiescence of the disappointed party. Our adjutant, Captain Kelleher, has troubles of his own, but he manages to worry through them and still retain his health and he, together with the sergeant major, has at last succeeded in getting things so systematized in their department that, strange to relate, for once, at least in military history, things in a regimen tai adjutant'S office run as smoothly as clock work. I know that letters Of all sorts are being sent from this regi- ment and other regiments have gone beyond mere private eplstolary com plaint and have indulged in general pe- tition trying to impress on the nations Executive the necessity of calling them home and mastering them out.
 Now, would like the people at home to know just how the California boys feel on the matter. Firstly, they want to get home, now that the war is over; want to get there in the worst way. They feel that they have done their duty in every particular and done 1t well. If there are regular troops at home to take their places they feel that a great injustice will be done them If they are kept here in garrison when they have so much awaiting them in their business at home. Yet they will make no complaint, keep no wires hot, nor will they get up any petitions ask ing for their recall. If they must stay down here they will stay like men and make no complaint. They have proved that they can take the hardships of campaigning and take then cheerfully, they have proved that they can fight and fight well and they will not spoil the luster of the glory they have won by whimpering to get out of a contract which has not yet been half worked out. They want to get home, but they will wait patiently and in soldierly manner until the call comes to them from the other side of the water Incl dentally there are three things which have received no special mention. in any of the various and varied histories of Manila that have seen-beasts, babies and bugs. The fecundity of tk 2 islands in these three things surpass belief No household but has at least five dogs, no dog but attracts to his person and vicinity at least fifty different varieties of bugs, while for babies, the place can not be outdone. The dogs are of all sorts and colors; so are the bugs, but in justice to Manila motherhood I must confess that the ha hiac oanaro1l1y