The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-05-24

boys. Fourth, Pedro with one
child in his arms and leading the
other. The mother did not ac-
company the body to the grave,
but after the procession was
formed she rushed forward and
threw herself ON the coffin and
took a last kiss of her child.
Mothers hearts are the same the
world around. Fifth, came the
neighbors-the men in their clean
white clothes and the women
with black skirts and white man.
tillas. The signal was given and
the procession started. The band
began to play, but strange to say,
not q dirge but lively piece of
music. After pause it struck
up, ga hot time in the old town. "
You ought to have seen Pedro.
He had a smile on his face and
walked as proudly as though it
was the grandest hour of his life.
Even the child in his arms seem
ed to partake of his feelings and
every now and then would clap
it's hands and shout. The ceme-
terry was reached and after a few
words from the priest, the body
was removed from the coffin,
showed into a kind of vault, lime
thrown in upon it and the crowd
dispersed. The band returned
to the home of Pedro and after
being treated to TUBA palm wine)
gave quite a concert. AT ten o.
clock Pedro paid them off and
dismissed them. That afternoon
Pedro told me that he felt very
happy; for, thanks to the aid of
his soldier friends, his child had
had one Of the grandest funerals
ever held in San Nicolas. | ask
ed him the total cost. "Four pc
Sos" he said. Two dollars Amer
ican.
From the above description, my
dear Paul, you may get an idea
how the people live here and
what peculiar customs they have.
The only natural thing about the
whole affair was the mother S
grief. This morning | spoke to
her but nothing | could say could
win smile from her.
There is a great deal of sick
ness here among the soldiers;b
thus far no deaths. We have
sixty men down with malaria, but
as the wet season is approaching,
we hope soon to be all well. We
leave here with two Maxim Nor
denft guns, and three two.inch
cannon next week to occupy a
rebel town ARGAO, to do garri-
son work there.
| have found a great deal of
curiosity among the boys here as
to how people live in America,and
as to what boys do over there.
One thing | can't explain to them
and that is, snow and ice. They
have no words for these things
in the Viscayan language, and the
Spanish words contain no mean
ing to them. One thing here |
know would surprise you very
much, and that is, neither boys
nor girls wear any clothes until
they are about 8 years of age,
The boys are taught to swim as
soon as they are able to crawl;
and, as for climbing, they could
give the monkeys points and beat
them. At every meal time there
is quite a crowd of boys about our
quarters begging for bread.
They never saw bread until the
Americans came here, and they
look upon it in very much the
same manner as you would re-
gard "lemon custard pie" 1t is
hot here in the lowlands all the
time. We sleep without covering
of any kind. A bed would be
useless here. / have slept either
on the ground or on boards for Z
months now. like the country
and the people and would like to
stay here until have made for
tune. | have filed a claim to a
vein of coal, but am afraid it will
be a long time before | can work
it.