The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1900-03-24
FROM THE PHILIPPINES.
Ed. M. ClitherO Writes of a Sol
dicr's Life In the Islands.

oy AMBROSE Kelly from Ed. N.
Clithero, who is serving Uncle SAN
as a private in Co. A., U. S. w., in
the Philippines. The letter lis des-
criptive of life and scenes in the
faraway islands, and in part. is as
follows:
MAC, p l., jan 20, 1900.
Mr.. A. Kelly,
Friend Ambrose now find few
spare moments for myself, so | will
write you to let you know | am
lucky enough to be living and en-
! joying the best of health pos
slble under the circumstances We
had fine trip from Honolulu to
Manila, and landed on December
22d, camping until the 26th; then we
started on the warpath and have
been on the march ever since till
yesterday, when we pulled into the
little town of Mac to patch up
little. On Dec. 9th, for three
hours, first experienced that funny
feeling of being under fire, but it is
as the saying goes, one soon gets
used to it. That was the hottest
tight we have had since we arrived
on the islands. We have skirmishes
from one to four times some days,
but they do not amount to any
thing. We get few "niggers
every time we get close enough to
them, but they are hard to catch; it
is like hunting rabbits. You see,
this country is mostly all trails run
ming in all directions. The wagon
roads are few. Anyone but
a native will get lost in going
u short distance, and so you can i'm
agine the kind of time we have. OF
course, we have lots of fun and ex
citenent as far as shooting at the
'niggerS' goes, but anyone who
thinks soldering IN these isles is
snap makes bad guess. A man
has got to be as tough as broncho
to stand it without getting sick. |
will give you kind of an idea of
the way we do business. In the
first place we take three days ra-
tionS in our haversacks, consisting
OF hard tack, potatoes and canned
meats. Each of US carry IA blan-
ket and half OF tent Zone tent ac-
comodates two men and every sol
der carries one-halD, then we have
q poncho which is "a rubber combiua-
ton and is used as coat when 4
rains, and as bed at night. When
on the march we camp out in the
| open air and do not put up our tent
unless it is raining. "A Il person
wants in this country is something
10 keep the dampness Of the ground
from the body aud you can lie down
aud sleep quite comfortable at night.
| The climate here is fac. In addi-
| tion TO the above list we have to
! pack our Cragh rife and 200 rounds
OF ammunition. You will wonder
perhaps where we get our supply OF
fooi from. Pack mule trains follow
| up the regiment as that is the only
| way to get through these narrow
trails. As for the natives
/ believe they are the lowest type OF
people that live. | think they are
about 1000 years behind the times
! They don t wear hardly any clothes,
! and "a family will eat out Of one
dish together with their fingers. A
knife and fork is unlnown TO those
people. They occupy no more OF
ocd than raboit-Slpep on the
| floor OF their hut without any
clothing to cover them. Their
houses are built cut OF bamboo and
raised from the ground about six
feet. The floor is made with round
bamboo; it would break my back to
lie on it al night. They live on rice
aud bananas; bread they have never
seen. Of course this is the poor
class OF people. A lot OF fruit grows
ON this island, but it is nothing com
pared with the name it gets 1t is
wild, and doesn taste like our home
fruit. Tnis is the land Of churches
Every little village or town has a
church that costs thousands OF dol
lars. They were built by Spain and
some OF them would do credit to
| good sized towns. But the churches
are the only modern buildings The
nativeS build entirely OF bamboo,
| thatching the roof and sides, with
doors in different places TO let in
daylight Manila is supposed
to be fine city, but it is principal
| ly built of bamboo-and sight TO
see. They have railroad here
about 100 miles long. wish you
could see it. 1t is the most old
fashioned thing imaginable. Manila
harbor is fine one It. is a deep
bay thirty miles from the mouth
down to the dock in Manila and it is
landlocked with an island that is
called Corrigedor There is BAT
terry on this island. This is where
the first shot was fred at Dewey
when he entered the harbor on the
north side of the island. We sailed
in over the same channel and viewed
some of the old ruins OF the Spanish
war vessels in the bay. 1t is quite
sight The talk here SENS to be
that the war is about to a finish, but
we don't know as much about this
as you do in the u. S. We predict
leaving here in time to be back for
tha 70 N alact;ono Tho Iorua arnnunt