The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-12
cHRrsrMAs IN MaNrLA.
A strange, Half Sad Time for the American
Soldiers and sailors There.

cssary. In view of the fact that the newspapers
had been p%roclniming daily for two weeks that
yesterday would DO Christmas, the weather
CONSIDERABLY took the hint. and the thermom-
eter. mindful, no doubt, OF the old truth that a
green Christmas makes . fat graveyard.
dropped almost out OF sight. The mercury
went Town nearly to the 75e mark, and one
thought OF winter and overcoats. The con.
vent bells wero aware of the day. and be-
gan to gossip about 1t long before the
gun OF tho Sixth Artillery got ready to
proclaim across the darkness that day would
begin very soon. They call that gun the sun
rise gun. prompted. OF course. by ancient ira
dition, but they fre II Just after midnight, as
many In Manila will swear. Just "a obey sound
of retreat, and have evening parade In the
middle OF the afternoon. before the sun has
begun to tinge the peaks OF the Sierra Mari
veles with sanguinary glory. The clamoring
bells kept their scandalous tongues waRging
until tho day was full born and aftor, and even
then occasionally some bclatod monk or sleepy
friar would suddenly realize what day 1t was
and try his best to renew the racket.
Racket was all it was; it couldn't be called
anything else. The melody has been tangled
out OF all these Manila bells for years. Their
voices are cracked and qucrulous now and
they arc old and cross and disappointed and
b~ad-tempered. They hang around churches
that arc moss-grOwn and musty and not for
years have they seen anything clean or heard
anything sweet and true. so over the green
over-rcd roofs and dow tho narrow streets.
sometimes one by one in mockory Of their an
Client solemnity, sometimes DANGEROUSLY all
together. they shout their useless gossip and
bear their idle tales. For now nearly
all Of the pomp and show that once
attended their clangor is gone. Those
who were wont to heed their noisy
calls are occupied with matters OF more in
slant Importance. or perhaps have fed to
Spain. Night before last little professions of
Americans wandered through the dark streets
asking one another where the mass " was to
be said. But no one know. and no bell from
any idle tower b~estirred its tongue to tell. But
when midnight came and the last of us had
given up the hunt and gone home. leaving only
the statuesque %sentries pacing lonely along the
streets. the bells began oil together in a SYM
phony Of jangles to tell the now useless story.
SO Christmas began in Manila. Then came
the gun. that cataclysmic gun that makes one
leap from his bed and dash to the window. ex-
| pecting to see old Taal come dancing up from
his southern province and settle on the Arch
bishops palace. s%pouting fire and smoke and
red-hot lava all the way. Smack behind the
gun came the bugles. and just as on the first
hIOihihb NIch h"p 'hihb vas uDh'' uhu Juob as
on every morning since. Casa Todos turned out.
To some noises one becomes accustomed. The
roar of elevated trains disturbs the sleep OF
few New Workers. | have known men who
could sleep through all the tumult OF n foggy
| night on the East River. But never a morning
brought that gun and those buglcs out in
Manila that did not bring us with them. Sick
or well. the complaint of can't get EN- UP. l
can't get EN- M" had never to be said about
this casa. The new call will be Il can't
keep 'em up. l can't keep 'em up" It's
the buglo OF the Sixth Artillery that
starts. Tho report OF the gun has hardly set
the echoes rolling down tho Gallo Noyalcda
when the call begins. Sometimes you hear
only the last part of it. because the first has
been lost in the echo OF the gun. But hardly
has this regular finished his work when the
other fellows take it up. The Signal Corps.
quartered in the same barracks. and sleeping
under arms many nights because their COM
mander believes insurgent rumors. turn out
soon after the artillerymen, and then in the
next street Wyoming blows Il buglc. Montana,
Just around the corner. follows suit. From far
down the Noyaleda Washington complains
that the Sergcant's worse than the Corporal
and over in tho Gale Real North Dakota makes
reply that the Captains worst of ALL" BY
this time even the Fourteenth has been walked
up. and its bugle is adding to the call. but Casa
Todos has found out that it is not an earth
quake but only ~reveille. and has gone back to
the sleep Of the just.
But yesterday we stayed up. First it was
Christmas. and we wanted TO see what had
been put in our stockings. We had nailed them
outside tho window so as to give old Santa
Claus Il fair chance, there being no chimney in
the house. Oh. well. some other time will do
to tell about what was in our stockings. A few
nnn 7 ,,,nnll l,n,.. eu,J thnr anal
with hydrogen and oxygen and such things.
Now | know there was n lot Of argon. There's
no telling what another year will disclose. Be-
sides. this wasn't to be about what we got on
Christmas Day. Anyway we didn't get nearly
so much as some people got. There was the
Twenty-third, for instance, it got nearly the
whole Spanish arm in Manila. til tho business
of the Twenty-third TO police part OF the walled
city. and that night. the night before Christmas.
the Spanish soldiers started out to celebrate. 1t
was all right for n little while. but then the
Twenty-third had to take them in and put
'cm to bed in their churches. But We
stayed up because We were going out to visit
the fleet-thc whole leet-evcry shin In it. Just
set down on paper that conveys no sort Of idea
OF what we intended to attempt. If you have
ever spent al! summer with a fleet Of memo
war and have friends aboard every ship in the
fleet, you'll understand what it is to try to call
on more than two Of them. Mt the outside, in
one day. Well. we started early in Il special
steam launch. The sun could hardly be seen
when We reached the first ship. say nothing Of
being over the foreyard. but they made it n
special day and a special occasion. Thny low
ernd away the foreyard so the sun shouldn't
have such n hard time getting over.
I'm not going to try to tell how we did il.
but we got around the wholc squadron. One
ship helped us ont Il great deal. The ward
room mess had had n smoker the night before.
You know. Al last it vas the Olympia. and
| there the Admiral had been giving II tilHn to
all his commanders. They were all out on the
quarterback together. and there they took us.
Lucky dogs. they said we were. but TINT was
| because Of the p. i. c." part OF il, Curious.
wasn't 1t. how all those men wanted to get
homer They had done their work. and would
be glad to stay II there was more work to do.
but-why. don't you know. that wasn't any
more like Christmas than II was like what va
think heaven will be.
n,ty asta,Ju, yyup ~, ri. =, aa Tn AlooiI.