The times., 1899-07-20
The Fiiipino Poe.-I,nurentc.

decorated with the American flag and
verses Of Scripture on the outside. and
with astrological calculations and poems
OF certain sorts on the inside. 1t is the
work OF Robert Stevens Pettet, and from
| the somewhat eursory examination which
we have been able TO give it, we cheerful
ly recommend him as poet laureate to
Aguinaldo. That is, in fact, the only use
which can be conceived for him. while
as to his production. it might be a good
plan to ship the entire edition TO the in
digent Chinese to be made into firecrackers.
II is not known just what Mr.. Pettets
antecedents are, but he seems to have been
bitten by the anti-expansion bug. which
is worse than the melanolestes picepes in
moral effect. To use Sunday school phrase
ology. the Hobson bug merely demoralizes
physical beauty. while the anti-expansion
| bug causes interior deformity in its vic
tim, and his brain and feelings become one
sided and unhappy. The chief haunts of
this bug thus far appear to have been
Philadelphia and Boston.
| The work was sent to The Times with
evident intent to have 1t reviewed. 1t
|
to its literary quality, which is unique The
poems which take up'a largo part of the
pamphlet are mainly parodies or revised
editions of well-known war songs and
national lyrics, but this is an exception:
Cease, cease your words of canting,
| Cast the hypocrite's cloak;
Stop. stop your unctuous ranting,
| What law haven't you broke?
This. of course, is addressed to the
American people 1t is supposed that the
author and his sympathizers spent their
Fourth of July in denouncing their country
after this manner:
| By our private and public example breed
in children utter disregard for all the prin-
| ciples of morality, while with a cantng and hy-
| pocritical, if not a blinded and selt-deceived
| spirit. strive through the medium OF pre-
cept to infuse into their already polluted souls
the principles OF liberty, benevolence, and prog
| ress
The cynical laughter Of Satan reverberating
| through the cavernous recesses of hell-emerging
| through private door in the Capitol at Wash
/, ington-re-cchoes through the length and breadth
| OF our unfortunate land, loud enough to be
! heard by all not totally deaf to the con-
| siderations of truth and decency.
This is rather a serious indictment
against the rest of us, but it is nothing to
some other things in the pamphlet Mr..
Pettet reiterates the old charge that
American soldiers are acting more like
human wild beasts than like citizens of a
civilized and humane Republic.
II the nation finds out that anything of
the sort has taken place it will be bad for
| the guilty ones, but the fathers and
mothers of this country are net likely to
believe that their boys have been trans
formed in any such grewsome fashion un-
less they have some proof besides the as
sertion of a gentleman who sings:
Our President, over the ocean,
| Keeps soldiers who now home should be;
| We witness Columbia's abortion,
Things foul and things monstrous ser.
a man who is guilty of numbering his
mother tongue like that naturally would
suppose that other people were murderers.
1t is barely possible that should he sing
the following song in the army camps of
the Philippines, just after hot skirmish
with the Tagals, he might get something
that he would not like, but he might not
be lynched:
Thy lightuings from tue heavens hurl,
| With dGenchng floods and fires TO curl
| That all may know who dwell in thee,
That right foreyermore shall make
| Advance. and wrong forever quake,
Till beggars at thy feet iIl,
| And bloody legions homeward call,
| Smitc us. Lord, yea, smite US all,
For we forget yea, we forget.
This would be cheerful reading for the
plucky volunteers who are now having
their first experience OF tropical warfare.
Fortunately, it is not likely to reach them.
One OF the oldest features OF the book is
4 table of events at the end OF it, in which,
among the events of the war, il is recorde
that st. Michael in person controlled the
battle of Santiago, and neither Sampson
nor Schley, which Will doubtless be well
come news at the Navy Department There
also appears the Information that Mr.. Pet
tet saw his sisters ghost about five years
ago. though he does not explain how this
affected the course of hostilities. Mr.. Pet
tet will probably name his eldest daugh-
ter Luzonia and his eldest boy Agunaldo,
and sing them TO sleep with these ditties,
but apart from the wrong done to innocent
children, that is all the harm that his ef-
forts are likely to accomplish.
Again there is a chance for Hobson to
make himself truly great! A fatal case of
kissing bug is reported from Chicago. Now
il the hero of the Merrimac will come
home and let the medical fraternity make
him up into serum this awful insect vista
tion might be checked. 1t is a patriotic
duty he owes to his kind. He should re-
member that before his osculatory advent
the kissing bug was an unknown quantity.
Another trusted official has gone wrong!
The clerk of the Chicago Board OF Educa-
tion is reported to have levanted to other
climes with his cash S34,5OO short. Before
his fall from grace and employment in the
public service he is said to have been Z
newspaper reporter. We do not believe it.
If true he would hardly have sold out SO
cheaply.
The Strikers WhirIiGig.
(From the New York Commercial Adyertiscr)
There is 4 curious revelation OF the operation
Of strikes in the fact that men are said to b,
coming over from Philadelphia to take places
on the Brooklyn car lines whoswere working oI
the Bfookiyn lines before the great strike o
1895. Philadelphia men took their places then
and 4 strike in Philadelphia made places io
them there later Now another strike here bring
them around the circle. 1t is an instructive ex
ample Of the needless waste and friction Of in
drstral machinery. These men have spent iiy,
| 90, lsgL &,