, 1899-03-08

Wink mere anu anyways some new, I'M
discovered thing or wild thought comes
to you. What stories could those silent,
sealed cells tell, could they but utter
the cries of bye-gone years. On some
nights when the heavens are particu-
larly bright and the ocean is calm, you
may look down from this wall and see
in the bay the exact representation of
the heavens, myriaos of stars, scintil-
lating shafts of light and here and
there a small fleecy cloud floating
along, forever changing, never for a
moment still. A little farther out and
your gaze rests on Dewey and his world
famed fleet, when in the fore part of
the evening hundreds of lights glisten
and culver, and far up on the mast
heads red and white lights flash back
and forth messages of watchfulness
both for those on land and sea. Of n
sudden all those fiery points fade away
and when you" eyes become accustom-
ed to the darkness, you can discern
NAAooS oIN'DlhS
as it were, yet ever w~atchful, for o
! those powerful search lights begin to
flash over the entire bay and into the
insurgent lines, pointing out almost
minute things for miles, and how
quickly the insurgents drop their in
trenchment tools, II they happen to be
working at the time, and slide into the
friendly shade of some tree, for they
fear the name Dewey. Between the
fleet and the wall the dark hulks of
former Spanish men-of-war rise out of
great holes punched everywhere, the
effect of unerring aim, their great,
gaunt, rusted frames telling of victory
and the horrible destruction of SPANS
prided armada. One views these wrecks
with mingled pride and awe, the mag
n%ificence of the undertaking and the
daring success which followed has
scarcely if ever been equalled in the
annals of marine warfare. Several
miles beyond the fleet you can see the
arc lights of Manila, and especially one
grand cluster which designates the ia
nous Lunetta, Manila's pride driveway,
and behind this, while you cannot see
them, nevertheless you know there are
hundreds of men constantly on the
alert for the slightest move.
Some 300 yards from the left of the
wall you can see the town of San
camped and intrenched and now and
then catch the far off sound as it comes
over the water of 40 o'clock and all
is we'll" The town of Cavite is still
and quiet with here and there the tow
er of some old tottering cathedral ris-
ing itself vi of the gloom, spectral in
appearance, with its bells Ginning a
doleful refrain, especially is n inter-
esting which Dewey has torn and shat
tered with a whirling siX-inch scream
er. In the lower part of these cathe-
drals are rows of sealed vaults contain
ing the bones of priests and dignitaries
OF the state, whose resting places will
soon be torn away by incoming civil
lZatlon. The once historic Cavite with
Its old walls, parpets, dark holes, mon
uments and cathedrals will soon fade
away as did those of the Greeks and
Romans in ages gone by and only the
memory of what has been, will remain.
Already the narrow. oyer-topped
spanish streets are changing in aspect
The slow, listless life Is transformed
into one of quick energetic prosperity,
Inc characteristic of Western America,
In all it is a grand sight as you stand
IN n spot and drink in all this beau
ty OF an ancient type soon to fade and
crumble away, together with the min
gled thought that here Americas flag
floats triumphantly, symbol of the most
beautiful land and grandest people on
Gods green foot-stool. Now | had not
intended to draw that out quite so long.
We are all quite proud of our battal-
ion. When We first came to Cavite the
Pennsylvania regiment was simply go
ing to leave us in the shade, but so far
u boys have a little the best of it, and
Wyoming boys one stirred up will
come pretty neal coming out on top.
The other night Company F as it
marched in review had the most perfect
line | have ever seen-not a mans
body or rifle was a hairs breadth out
of position. l wanted to yell and throw
my hat in the air. That one parade
was enough to repay Captain O'Brien
and Lieutenant Roose as officers of
Company F for weeks to come. Since
then the other companies have done
just as well . There is a sort of rivalry |
which puts the men on their mettle.
Company + has one OF the finest
bake ovens on the islands, which, by
the way, they made themselves, and
the meals they serve out some days
are truly fine, and indeed it makes
ones heart happy to know the men
have some pleasures. The boys from
Laramie are all well and in moderately
good spirits, looking forward to the
day when we will start on our home