The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-11-08

late departed We're Dut Nhuntllle eNtl'
ians. This was too much for the of.
ticer. for It was obviously dead
against the blue book to give a mill.
tary funeral to civilian" so the pad
res were informed that hereafter the
troops would not take part in the obse-
quies except in a private capacity, AMI
the arms were taken from the soldiers.
Church and state are so closely knit
in Spanish lips that this has been an
invariable custom, and the Spanish
priests are very wroth, and here was
sown the seed of discord i'm the area
dian peace of the bailiwick. Twas ever
thus in the history of ell great nations.
Religion is the rock upon which they
split, and Guam was as the rest.
Soon the glorious Fourth of noisy
memory drew near, and the patriotic
lieutegant determined that the new
Americans should make a proper start
in their celebrations of this great day.
so he called them together and told
them of his plans. 4 holiday is always
dear to the indolent natives heart and
especially a new and. American holt
day, so they set enthusiastically To
work. and there was much comforting
among the leading citizens. 1t soon
became evident that there was an OPP
position party. This was headed by this
Spanish priests and their cry was that
the United States would give the ISL
ands back to Spain, after all. and that
! then all those who had taken part I'm
the American holiday would be black
listed and would suffer accordingly In
spite of this dire threat this party
was decidedly in the minority, and the
| rest set about a proper preparation for
| the affair. \ committee of three was
| appointed, consisting of the half-caste
| American. really the best man on the
! island; the Americanized native. AMI
| the Japanese trader, our naval officer
! president over the whole. First the
| august body evolved a scheme of deco
ration and soon the walls of the palace
were decorated with colored paper
scrolls and festoona inclosing startling
and very home mad, representations
! of the American flag End the shield
with 1716-lS19 in large figures. At Pitt
! also the same chaste ornamentation
1 was carried out. In the streets trium-
! phal arches of bamboo and flowers
We're erected at different points in the
line of march, and things took on a
very festal appearance. In the mean
time the malcontents hello aloof, wouli
not decorate their houses and whis-
pered ominously of the awful things
the Spanish would do when they re-
turned in avcnginE wrath, and, though
they damped the ardor OF some, the
rest laborcd all the more for the cause.
THE GREAT DAy-.
At last the fateful morning came,
and at sunrise the native buglers ac-
- Il
was, of course a holiday for all, and at
noon a salute of twenty-One guns thun-
dered forth. This was fired from a
lot of ancient iron mortars or coehorns
of about the vintage of 1850 that We're
found lying around the palace yard. All
the more modern guns were removed
by the Charleston or by the Spaniards'
so the salute was fired with these. and
though rather ragged, made laudabls
amount of noise. Then the population
assembled in the plaza, when the lieu-
tenant read the Declaration of Inde-
pendence in English in his. best quar-
ter deck style. The Guaminos received
this with tumultuous applause, though
it is certain that not more than six
people in the crowd understood a word
of it. He was followed by the official
intcrnreter who read the Declaration
in Spanish. Meanwhile several of the
high contracting parties were pledging
their new-found patriotism in copious
lbations of tuba (cocoanut rum) and
gin, and were consequently getting
more and more enthusiastic.
| The procession next took place and
was truly an inspiring affair. 1t was
composed of the naval officer. the COM
mittee leading citizens, the troops,
specially given their arms for the oc-
casion. and some buffalo carts filled
with six beauteous little brown maid
ems of the city, arrayed as goddesses of
liberty. The number of goddesses was
made so great to avoid dissension, for
each leading citizen was positive that
one of his numerous progeny was the
only proper goddess. AS it was, the
perfect love and harmony of the pa
geant was somewhat marred by the in
judicious efforts OF one goddess to bite
off the ear of one of her rival deities.
OPENED THE GALL.
At o'clock followed a grand din
ner in the palace, at which the flow
Of patriotism and tuba was superb,
and soon the committee, the Jap eX-
cepted, found other fields for exertion
and the naval officer was left alone
to face the next feature of the pro-
gramme, which was the grand dance
or baile. The smooth floor of the pal
, ace had been waxed, the musicians
were present. while the wealth and
beauty of Agana clustered against the
| walls, but things did not start, and
the fair ones began to frown and the
gallants to murmur together and things
| f1,A ~,
was a bachelor confirmed, and not a
= dapcing man at all, but he came nobly
I to the rescue, and, seizing the nearest
: nut-brown maiden, started for the mid
| die of the floor in a series of motions
[ that We're a noble effort to suit his
| step to the unusual terpsichorear
evolutions of his partner. The ict
was broken, and from then on tbs
bale was a bowling success. r.. ..-
= In the meantime, one of the lost com
mitteemen had, i'm his promenade
5 come across the soldiery resting il
= the plaza, and the thought occurred
$ to his somewhat mudded brain tina
= a further salute of five guns woulC
= now be apropos, so the coehorns wer'
: once more loaded up by his order, ant
! soon the dreamy music of the dance
g was punctureo by loud "vivas! an(
), the crash of artillery, Hastily leay
I ing his fair partner and the baile il
i the care of the Industrious jap, tn,
lieutenant rushed forth In time 4
e change the five guns TO the twenty
! one of the national salute, and To con
4 duet the now PROSTATE and limp bu
E enthusiastic committeeman to a. place
/ of seclusion. ,...-- .......... a..
2 The glorious day wound up with