The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-05-31
MANILA LETTER.
An oskaloosa Soldier Writes
From the Philippines.


a letter from you at this place severa1
days ago, but have been quite busy
since. In fact, / have been working
too hard and am in the hospital rest.
ing up at present, though shall
soon be all right again. The sun is
very hot at present. / am acting
q~uartermaster sergeant now and it
takes a good deal of hustling in a
troop, more than in a company, In
my opinion. A troop @. NJ. S. has
all the extra Announcements to look
after, besides looking after the chow
chow, not only for the men but for
the horses, too. Most of the time !
am company clerk. AS said, / am
temporarily in the hospital in an old
church and monastry combined
Naic is a small village opposite Cor
regidor Island south on the dividing
line between Manila Bay and the
China Sea. We are resting up from
u exertions from our trip south
and getting u horses shod. One
= squadron goes to the extreme south
ern end of the island. The rest of
us will soon be disposed of. I.hope
our squadron will go to Manila for
rainy season. We have done a great
deal of work already, but l don't
look to be mustered out soon, per-
haps inside of a year. / went down
to church this morning, as we are in
a wing or vestry room off from the
main service room. The main serv-
ice room is a swell affair. 1t is in
the form of a cross. The long-way
it is about 800 feet and one bench
running lengthwise of the church on
each side and two in the middle of
the room. The main congregation
kneel on the bare floor, which is of
very expensive tile. The benches
are for old people and little children.
Near the door are two expensive
al about as high as a PERSONS
waist, filed with holy water, in which
everyone dip their fingers and make
the sign of the cross on passing.
Over the door of the entrance is the
choir gallery, in which is the most
magnificent pipe organ I have yet
seen. There arc windows 20 feet in
length, in which is beautiful stained
glass and wonderful curtains, and a
chandelier too beautiful 10 describe,
in which burns a thousand candles.
The altar cannotbe beaten for beauty
even in the States in our largest
cities. The pulpit resembles a thea
tire box set in the side of the wall on
the corner overlooking the entire
room. There are pictures OF the
wall which l presume cost thousands
of dollars. All the fixtures and rail
ings are brightly FURNISHED and are
rubbed and cleaned every day. Even
in the top of the chanting ceiling,
which is about thirty-fye feet above
the floor, imagine the beauty of a
pipe organ in such a room. There
were, l should Judge, about three
thousand people in the church, but
they would be hard to estimate on
account of no seats and their irreg-
ular formation. The service is sim
liar to the Catholic service at home
as near as i can Judge. This morn
ing it was Good Thursday ~seRvice.
: At the exit each man helped himself
to a small piece of bread and a small
drink of wine, which was set outside
on a table in the sun. The women
and children have to pass it. This
must be pretty hard on them, as they
look wistfully at the table as they
pass. But the men have got them
pretty well trained in everything.
The service is in perfect harmony,
but sounds a little odd to a stranger,
There is a choir and they conduct
services continually this week, as ii
is fasting week, l believe.
The opposite of our wing is the
tower, which is $50 feet high, which
one can see from miles around.
There n five bells. They are very
large, and they them very sing
ularly sometimes making them sound
like a caliope. Then there are the
extra buildings around. Then re-
member the limits of the city do not
cover one-half section of land. From
the tower of this church one can see
the towers of more than half a dozer
others equally as grand in every re.
spect. They are, in fact, in some OF
the towns, the only stone or frame
buildings e
The church, as / understand it
owns a great deal of the property
and is the controlling hand among
the natives. In fact, the difference
between this system and ours of the
United States is that there the people
own the church and here the church
owns the people.
/ saw a very funny incident tn,
other day. Several people wer'
squatting on the ground when
priest walked near and stopped
They all sprang up and kissec
his hand and returned to their or
iginal positions seeming to thinl
they had only done their duty. Thi
Is only one of many similar action
one sees, in fact, it seems to me +,