The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-05-31
MANILA LETTER
An 0skaloosa Soldier Writes
From the Philippines.

a letter from you at this place seyera
days ago, but have been quite busy
| since. In fact, have been workinf
tco hard and am in the hospital rest
ing up at present, though / shall
soon be all right again. The sun il
very hot at present. am acting
quartermaster sergeant now and il
takes a good deal of hustling in {
troop, more than in company, ir
my opinion. A troop @. M. s. hal
all the extra accoutrements to looB
after, besides looking after the chow
chow, not only for the men but foi
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 small village opposite Cor
regidor Island south on the dividing
line between Manila Bay and the
! China Sea. We are resting up from
our exertions from our trip south
and getting our 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 agreat
deal of work already, but l don't
look to be mustered out soon, per-
haps inside of year. / went down
to church this morning, as we are in
wing or yestry room off from the
main service room. The main serv-
ice room is swell affair. 1t is in
the form of 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
vases about as high as q person Is
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 ! have yet
seen. There are windows 70 feet iii
length, In which il beautiful stained
glass and wonderful curtains, and a
chandelier too beautiful to describe,
in which burns thousand candles.
The altar cannot be beaten for beauty
even in the States in our largest
cities. The pulpit resembles thea
tire box set in the side of the wall on
the corner overlooking the entire
room. There are pictures on the
wall which 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-five feet above
the floor, imagine the beauty of a
pipe organ in such a room. There
were, 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 can Judge. This morn
ing it was Good Thursday service.
At the exit each man helped himself
to a small piece of bread and small
(, drink of wine, which was set outside
on table in the sun. The women
| and children have to pass it. This
must be pretty hard on them, as they
look wisttully 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 little odd to e stranger
There is choir and they conduct
services continually this week, as Il
is fasting week, / believe.
The opposite of our wing is the
tower, which is $50 feet high, which
one can see from miles around
There are five bells. They are very
large, and theyr them very sing,
ularly sometimes5 masking them SOUND
like ealiope. Then there are the
extra buildings around. Then re.
member the limits of the city do no
cover one-half section of land. From
the tower of this church one can Sc,
the towers of more than half dozel
others equally as grand in every re
spect. They are, in fact, in some o.
the towns, the only stone or tram,
buildings seen.
The church, as / understand it
owns great deal of the propert,
\ and is the controlling hand amonl
the natives. In fact, the differene'
between this system and ours of tn,
United States is that there the peopl
own the church and here the churcl
owns the people.
saw very funny incident tn
other day. Several people wer
squatting on the ground when
priest walked near and stopped
They all sprang up and kisse,
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, 1t seems to me &
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