The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-30
and. though foreign military attaches looked

biiu' tNOukn tOTBlRU nlllUhTy httbCneB looked
with politely yelled Interpretation upon the
battered SLOUGH hats aud at the bare brown
threats showing through the gaping flannel
shirts. and noted the utter lack Of military Or
nament in the Rarb OF officers and men they
could not but see how free and unham pered
were their movements, and how service
able and convenient was the rough dress
Even after the brown khaki uniforms
were received and issued to the men and they
had strutted about in them n few days. pleased
as four-year-ods with new toy they speedily
drifted back to the use Of the old blue flannel,
with Its roomy chest and sleeves. They never
felt comfortable on the march without the long
laced Logging The Fourteenth regulars, a
splendid body OF men. and few OF the volun-
teers were picturesque in the extreme in a
tropical parade uniform OF their own devising
blue flannel shirts with the crammed car
fridge belt and knife at the waist trousers OF
white drilling or light blue tucked. into the
long brown leggings. and the whole topned by a
light. high-crowned. broad brimmed straw hat
Topped up. after the manner OF Roosevelt's on
one side and encircled with black silk ribbon
with the designation OF the regiment In gold.
For over three weeks after the battle Of Santa
Ana my men marched and fought and slept
In the trenches ia their old blue shirts and
trousers with hardly change OF any kind. and
were hearty and merry as schoolboys all the
time. but with the LIST OF March the weather
grew hot. and by April II was far worse than
anything ever experienced in Arizona. and
then Old Sol began to get in direful though not
deadly work. Heat prostrations were many.
but heard OF no fatalities. We used to strip
the leaves OF the banana tree and put them in
our campaign hats with q fall down the
back Of the head and neck They served us
well. but, all the same the exposure was great.
ArNri Ia fha hot of . a
about Manila. and where we were serving up
the Pasig. and where Lawton and Macarthur
were hammerng at ARuinaldo's field works on
the lines OF the Bagbag. the Qungua. and
the Rio Grando de Pamrangas. the sun
beat down untempered by the breezes
from the bay as In Manila. and there was no
lodging II. Foreign residents. you know.
and even the natives shut up shop every day
and retire indoors and stay there until the sun
ia well down in the west, but no such shelter
could our fellows seek The sun by day, the
dews by night and the exhaations OF the rice
fields at all times had they to stand as best they
could and stand them they did CALAMITY and
uncomplainingly. What is more. l believe
they would gladly stand them all again II they
could " stand off, the drenching rains that cool
the air for an hour or so each day now and then
turing nature into a steam bath until sunset
and all the fields to food. without dry stitch
on them. perhaps. the stalwart fellows stretch
themselves on their rude hunks at night and
sleep rs only tired soldiers can, yet thousands
Of them seem to mind 1t rs little a mild
shower. They are nearly all vigorous young
fellows who were e sound" to start with.
or course we hear Of hundreds Of officers and
men physically broken down and returned to
the States. but the percentage is slight as COM
pared with the war Of the rebellion. and very
many men are simply tormentcd TO sleepless-
ness by an annoying skin disease. an itch. that
is obstinatey prevalent around Manila yet
yields to treatment after few days at sea. and
is gone entirely by the time the patient sees
the Golden Gate Once last winter there was
cause for anxiety. The smallpox is said
to be endemic in Manila and the ma
tive takes it lightly and soon RECEIVERS.
but it is oddly fatal when 1t strikes the Anglo
Saxon. and there were grave faces everywhere
when we heard Of its appearance in the ranks
of Funston's gallant regiment. the Twentieth
Kansas. Yet so promptly was the matter met,
so complete was the isolation enforced and so
strict the quarantine established that the
malady never spread beyond the battalion in
which 1t first appeared. and in less than a
month it was stamped out entirely.
Now as to the Filirinos. I know nothing of
the people except the nsurgent tribe. the
Tagals. aud a most active and enterprising toe
they make. lhelr leaders are SklIIeu ana. as n
rule. highly educated men. They themselves
have all attended school as children. and the
priests the Filipino officials. and Filipino au-
thors declare that nine tenths OF them can
read and write. They are superstitious They
are suspicious OF everything Spanish or Ameri-
can. and credulous to the verge of idiocy whore
Aguinado'S prowess or personality are con-
cerned. They are fanatica and die bravely.
yet on almost every dead or wounded soldier
our surgeons found the amulet. with all its
absurd. cabaistic scrawls and writings. sold
them by their priests and warranted to render
thom bullet proof. Devout Catholics they are.
too. Clearly are they In their ways. but most
ingenious and plausible liars Incompatible
sneak thieves and unexcclled cockfiGhters.
| About their homes they bow and scrape and
| do homage to the American soldiery declaring
! Themselves Muchos Amigos" but look out for
| a shot or stab in the hack the next minute.
| In the field they have the patience and stealth
| OF the Apache. Even old Indian fighters found
| themselves ambuscaded and surrounded by
| the little warriors on more than one occasion
last spring A flag Of truce means no more to
| a Tagal than to a Modoc. and. take him by and
| large, as our sailors say. he Is pretty much
| what Kipling described him half devil and
| half chid"-a creature who respects nothing
| less than force and strong government. peo-
| pie that must be soundly thrashed for their
| trcachery and utterly subdued before peace
can be possible for moment.
| CHARLES KING. Brig. Gen. U. s. V.
1 ~ IT n