The San Francisco call., 1899-02-26

wheel cart. made entirely of wood, ana
it looks about as graceful as a pear III
balloon.
The rumor that we are to be attacked
has been persistent and the signal was
to be the lighting of fires about the city
The other night l was in the city quite
late and. as l drove homeWaru, sure
enough a fire famed up in Malate. To the
excited minds of the Spaniards the lnsur-
gents were charging down upon the
gates. Just at the moment the ire was
observed 1 was passing a Spanish c4uo,
and was amazed 10 see the inmates pour
ing out through doors and windows, yell
ing at the top Of their lungs, 'Cochero,
"Cochero.o Hatless and without coats,
they swarmed into the rickety, tumble
down coaches.
Sefzing the opportunity for a little fun,
stood nm In NV cab. waved my sword
and shrieked: 'Insurrectosi" 'Fuego!"
meantime urging my frightened driver to
fee for life. The mad rush of twenty
hacks and forty horses dashing through
the streets to the accompaniment of a
hundred bowling men, discounted Ben
Hurs chariot race. windows were
thrown up on every side and the shrfll
treble of the wo1nens voices was added
to the deafening din. At every jump the
cowardly Spanfards imagined they felt
the prick of Aguinaldo's saber.
About the only amusement is driving.
We have several theaters here but no
actors, and as for mixing with the native
Spanish, it is out of the question. The
drive is on the Paseo de Lunetta, a really
nrettv avenue sweeping along the water
front lust outside the fortifications.
Fashion-for we do have fashion in
Manila-makes the proper hour for driv-
ing from to o'clock in the evening, and
between these hours there is constant
stream Of carriages and pedestrians prom
enading along the avenue.
The rainy season is about over, and
bright sunny days, with occasional
showers in the afternoon, are the rule.
Warm hardly expresses the weather. We
feel that it is quite fresh and chilly when
the thermometer gets down to 20 degrees.
Anywhere from S5 degrees up is the usual
thing. I notice that the climate is es-
pecially hard on women and children, and
the air is sure death to the soft and
blooming compilations I remember to have
seen in San Francisco. Our own regiment
the Twenty-third Infantry-is fast be-.
coming seasoned, for the most of us
served a rugged apprenticeship in Ari-
Zona- We have neither yellow fever nor
cholera, but there is undoubtedly danger
from smallpox unless the greatest precau-
tions are taken.
Nothing / ever saw before ranks with
the Filipino. He looks mixture of Chi
nese, negro and monkey. The men aver
age shade under five feet in height, and
their women are certainly the ugliest lot
of humanity on earth. In color they run
all the way from cheese to ebony, from
the palest bleached-out yellow to solid
chocolate. Once in a great while you see
one, rear view, that looks rather attrac-
tive-pretty head. graceful shoulders; but
when the subject Of your admiration
faces you the charm is rudely broken.
They have the tendency to adipose that
seems inseparable from female life in the
tropics, and at q they are about the same
height lying down as they are standing
erect.
The usual time of marriage is Is years.
The young women have rather graceful
figures and are usually clothed in sin
gle garment. Milliners are unknown to
the Filipino maiden and her hair is coiled
tightly about her head and held by pin
or some similar ornament When a young
man wants to marry her he has to go into
a period of serVitude to her father
The Spanish ladies or half-castes-mes-
tizos-are often good-looking, but as a
class they are dead failure for beauty,
They have no favors to bestow on Los
Americanos; they stare ungraciously at
the bluecoats, and seem to regard US as
closely related to His Satanic Majesty.
We do not lack for literature-such as
it is There are already two American
dailies published here-the American and
the Times. There are three weeklies-the
Manila Outpost, Uncle Sam and the Amer
ican Soldier. In addition, there are five
daflies published in Spanish. I send you
an extract from the Times which may be
of interest to Call readers who are anx-
fous 20 visit this country for commercial
purposes:
Now that President Mckinley has
concluded TO permanently retain
the Philippines, many citizens of
the United States, men of all
classes, capitalists, manufacturers.
professional and laboring men. will
think of coming here to speculate
and better their fortunes, would 1t
not be wise to sound a warning
against undue haste.
This city is not ready to accom-
modate large or even a moderate
influx of strangers at the present
time
While 1t is true that as soon as
everything is Strengthened as to the
policy of local and territorial gov
ernment, there will be ample room
for American capital and brains
there is yet nothing definitely
settled and no one should think of
coming here, unless provided with
capital enough to live for at least
three months. There is room here
for factories of all kinds, but the
most pressing need of this city at
the present time is good large
American hotel and rooming and
boarding houses, and men with suf-
fcient capital can find good-pay-
ing investment by building or buy
ing even now.
Havana could not have rivaled Manila
In filth when Admiral Dewey startled the
sleeping Spaniards on the first morning
of last May: but it is being rapidly
cleaned up and will in time be in fairly
good sanitary condition.
T. FRANKLIN SCHLEY,
First Lieutenant Twenty-third United
States Infantry.