The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-17
PIONEER DAY IN FAR MANILA
UTAH MEN IN THE PHILIPPINES
HOLD A CELEBRATION.
Only a Dozen Present, But the Cele-
brants Made Up In Enthusiasm
What They Lacked In Numbers.
BY IKE RUSSELL.

Manila, July Sold the oath
come to the Utah men in Ma
Mia? Did they celebrate? Well this
is a whole week since, and it seems like
the morning after. And it is the first
day have been in mental and moral
condition to push the wet end of lead
pencil. We of the heart of Gods coun-
try, who are estray, did not have any
Saltair, nor was Emigration canyon
smiling down on us from the eastern
sky. We had no Utah maidens-but we
did have a hot time. If our mutual
friend, old Nicodemus, is under con-
tract to keep the ovens of he'll hotter
than the benign rays of the heavenly
sun keep this old city, then our friend
stands a good chance of dying before
we do, from working overtime.
The Utah people in Manila number
about a dozen souls and myself There
is Major Stanton of the pay depart
ment; John Rogers, who spends his
time planning theatrical surprises upon
the good people of Salt Lake when he
shall be again twirling his legs around
the box office chair of the Grand. There
is Shelly. who has laid aside the gun
Swab and primer to assist Major Stan
ton in dishing out cash to the fighting
men. There is Carlos Young, who hits
the type machine in the office of the
supreme court, and who 'hablas"
Spanish to the various culprits. There
is Frederick Garfield Waite, who was
once PAGER of the streets of Zion. and
addressed hizzoner of the various
courts. There is Lester Young, who,
for some reason, has come back here
after going home with the Astor bat
terry. There is Don c. w. Musser, who
edits the morning Wind Bag with such
force that all Manila feels the breeze
There's Sergeant Aspen, who holds
position in the quarternaster'S and
there is Horace II. Smith. He is one
of the nobleSt examples of self sacri-
ficing, unpretending patriots that ever
left the streets of Zion. In almost the
beginning OF the present war he was
shot through the thigh, and hadsto have
q. portion of the bone taken out. For
over four months he has lain on his
back, unable to move, but for all that
he has ever been cheerful and resigned
hopeful and patient, never complaining
and always ready to smile. 1t is scarce
ly week since he first saw the outside
Of the hospital, and be is just learning
the secrets of pair of prutcheS.
On the evening of the oath,
as old sol took his daily toboggan slide
adown the sides of the great mountains
across the bay, lighting their prismatic
peaks with a fading glory till they
looked like the spear points of the
army of Magellan, there collected in
the casa" of Judge Waite all that
were able to of the Utah folks. John
Rogers was away down south,
paying soldiers iR the southern
isles. Mr.. Shelly was in the hospital,
with a fever. Mr.. Smith was net able
to leave his cot. But the rest of us
We're there and Utah was the order of
the evening. Memories, mellowed by a
year OF fond cherishing, flowed out in
a way that was a great testimonial to
the way in which Utah is cherished by
those who had the privilege of claim
ing her as their home.
Mr.. Harold M. Pitt, who for years
was the manager of Bradstreets in Salt
Lake, was toast master, and he told
some great tales of the people who
fioated out to Utah in search of for
tunes in the seventies and eighties, and
how they fioated away again, but all
ways with a desire to so back to Utah
to lay down their weary bones. Then
Major Stanton toasted Utah, in a way
that only Major Stanton can do it. And
so amid the feasting, and the popping
of champagne corlks the evening wore
away-the old church bells of Binondo,
the same that called the Spaniards to
church, while Miles Standish was call
ing his army by name to go forth on
hike" against the Plymouth Indians
rang out the solemn hour of midnight;
proclaiming the oath at an end, and we
all caught the last train home and
dreamed of twenty-fourths as they
used to was"