Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-08-03
HIS FIRST NIGHT IN MANILA.
A voLUNTEER's ADVENTURE.

N ADH
An injury, received at Cavite, few
days after our troops entered Manila
incapacitated me for further service
was furloughed and might have come
home on the transport to San Fran
cisco, but / wanted to see little more
OF life in the Philippines.
Two American friends of mine, with
an eye to future business, had bought
a number of houses of departing Span.
ish residents on n street leading of
the Escolta, and at their request ]
hired a native servant and went to
live in one of these houses, to look
after the property and hold down the
claim" for them, as they say in Ne
braska, till they could take possession
themselves. The casa, or house, where
1 became thus domiciled was a typical
Spanish structure of Manila, built
around an enclosed open patio, or in
ner courtyard, with strong walls and
grated windows. The roof over the
wider front portion of II was of CORFU
gated iron, as is common here on ac-
count of earthquakes; but the lower
portions at the wings and rear were
provided with roofs of red earthen
tiles.
Having the whole house to choose
from, selected two rooms on the sec
ond floor, fronting the street. The
Spanish family who had lived here
had left much of the old furniture,
curtains, bamboo chairs, bedsteads,
colchons and other articles not worth
moving away. Even the braZiers for
cooking still stood on the gallery out
side the door. l had but to fetch in
my personal belongings and begin my
bachelor housekeeping.
You get mozo, or native male SER
want, for four dollars a month here,
and this boy" does everything for
you, even to laying out your clothes
and fetching in your meals. For an
indolent life at moderate cost, Manila
is the ideal city, in time of peace. The
mozo does all the small buying, and
1t is often necessary to trust him with
several Of the big silver dollars which
constitute the medium of exchange
here.
Although l found the old casa shut
up, it was far from being wholly I'M
occupied and empty. A Chinese
'chow" dog, with a black tongue,
curly hair, and tail that was still
trying hard to keep in its peculiar
curl, was in the patio when / unlock
ed the outer door and entered. The
whether to bark at me for an intruder
or whine for food, and she watched
my face with sad, longing eyes, per-
haps pleading for her three little pup
pies.
A dirty, lean, white cat, with
broken tail was also peering out from
under a rank banana stalk. The
whole patio was now overrun with
neglected flower plants, shrubs, pep
per-vines and a "fire-tree"
Mosquitoes had bred in the little,
half dry pool of the fountain, and
lizard three or four feet long was
squatting on the rim of it. There
were five more of these long lizards
about the court and late that after
noon they began to "sing." l thought
that half dozen locksmiths had en-
tered and were filing keys below, till
my new mozo told me the noises were
made by the lizards.
The first night after taking posses
sion spent down at Cavite with
some friends; but the mozo remained
and availed himself of my absence to
smuggle into the patio two toughlook-
ing game cocks of his own; for all
these native "boys" are incorrigible
cock fighters.
He also kept yeeping turkey there,
for what purpose / never knew, and
raised ''hongos' -mushrooms-in
dark back room Of the ground floor.
Still, he was very good mozo, as
Manila mozos go, and was usually on
hand when he was wanted.
The old house had still other deni-
zens which / did not learn about till
the second night, which was the first
that actually passed there. Any
one living In Manila-even a newcom-
er of a few weeks experience of the
city and its nhabitants-would have
understood matters better than l did.
At Cavite l had lived either In bar
racks or at a hospital.
A very diminutive kerosene lamp
furnished what light I was to have In
the old casa. After a stroll up and
down the street outside. l went In,
locked the great door, assembled to my
new quarters, and sat down to read
an old copy of waverly which had
found its way to the Philippines on a
war-ship.
Something about the queer, musty
old place gave Inc a singular sensation
--ionesomeness, perhaps. 1 forgot IL
In the narrative Of "Callum Beg" for
a time. Then I heard Florencio, my
mozo, coming up the stairs from the
patio. He brought in drinking water,
opened my bed. and laid pair of
clippers beside IL. As yet the mozo
and 1 had much didiculty In under
standing each other. He spoke Taga-