The Harrison times. (Harrison, Boone Co., Ark) 1876-1938, 1900-03-31
A Harrison Boy In the Philippines.
MANILA. ?. |. Feb. 9. 1900

4 ~@N''s ''OANt 80 -
DEAR FATHER:
have just received four letters
from you, and as this is the first time
| have heard from home since land
ing here, the day after Christmas,
you can well imagine how pleased
was. 1t will give you an idea of
how active matters have bben here
when | say that since arriving here
have not even had time to write;
but YOU and mother have bsen in my
mind all the time-much more than
YOU would think.
ust now we are stationed at the
water works-where they pump wa
ter for the city of Manila-but we
have had several experiences on the
firing line since we got here. Only
yesterday took a small town with
the firing of but one shot, and we do
not know who fired that. A large
number of Spanish soldiers were held
as prisoners in the town and they
were glad to learn that the war with
Spain was over
There is some talk of sending about
1000 OF our soldiers to Cuba. and |
we are all anxious to go-it would
be so near home, you know. We
have some hopes of being sent back
home, but not sooner than the first I
OF next year. | received S41 20 yes
terday, which was payday with us,
and am putting by all oft | can to
ENJOY when get back home
You ought to see the sort of
young ladias they have over here in
this dilapidated eountry-cute little
thing less than four feet high, rather
slender, fair featured, brownish
black complexion, black eyes and
straight black hair; their lips are
thin, teeth white and regular, with
small cheek bones. Save for the
color, they do not resemble our
'coonS' any more than Indians do.
For clothes they wear short skirt,
usual colors being pink or red;
shirt waist, Il guess you would call
it, usually short sleeved, a piece of
hard finished cloth, blue or black,
nearly as long as the skirt, wound
around once and tucked in some
where at the waist They use no
pins. as | can see; they wear no J
stocking at all and generally go
baretooted and bareheaded. There {
is great difference in the quality of c
the goods used the style is much the {
same. With the "probie" class they !
are cheap cotton and often dirty S
rags. With the better class the ma &
terial is finer, often silk, and the I
waist receives most of the style and t
fancy work; some big, fluffy sleeves $
and fronts and others all fancy lace I
work. | saw a few hats at Santa l
Rita, but don't remember enough to
describe them. The shoes are like
men s-wooden soles with cloth up {
pers, like slippers, and sometimes '
Just soles tied with a string across |
the foot in front of the ankle and c
down between the great toe and the &
next one to it. They are not half so +
scarry as American girls, but when S
one with red mouth and red teeth, /
from chewing the betel nut, comes c
around and buns fellow for a chew I
of tobacco, one look into her mouth
as she grins is enough. They all
smoke cigarettes. About all the COW
ering for the head is a cloth made -
to tight roll in the form of a ring
and placed on top of the head for the
basket to set on, and that
is the way they carry their stuff.
They do most of the work and don't
have as easy time as the "hombre."
Their ways are so different from ours
that l cannot understand them; for
instance il they want a person to
come to them, they motion away in
stead of beckon. What they do for
pastime or pleasure, have no idea
whatever When first came l pit
led all the natives, but am now like
most Of the soldiers-hate the sight
of them; and whenever the kids
stand around and watch me eat, or
the men begin their much probe"
or 'in6rmo' talk, they get a savage
permission to "pranto."
oh, yes, l have had every little
noise make me start when sitting on
Dutnost ~, dark n,ubts NTH ,,na | I