River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1900-11-29

by the courtesy OF MIS-. NJ. y. IoudI oo-
no the JOURNAL is permitted to pub
lish the following letter from her son
who is in the regular army in the
Philippines:
On BOARD THE GARoNNE,
Sept. 2, 1900.
Dear Mother:-
We left Nagasaki, Japan, day before
yesterday and are bound for Manila.
1t is getting hotter every day. The
boat is full of electric fans but still
we are too hot for comfort. had
great time In Nagasaki, or at least
that city was great sight to me.
We had to take on coal there and III
took three days. The streets of the
city are narrow and paved with peb-
bles, the sidewalks Of stone and about
two feet wide. They don have many
horses; the Japs pull the people about
ia two-wheeled carts; they keep dt
run. should think that they would
get tired but they don tNseem TO. or
course had TO ride in one OF those
carts just from curiosity jumped
ia and the Jap started off at run.
After he had gone some distance he
turned up still narrower street ana
the first thing / knew we stopped III
someone's back yard. | felt little
foolish, but tried again to tell MIN
where wanted TO go. After half an
hour more or less of shouting ana
waving my arms / managed to make
him understand. OFF we started
again, up another street which endeo
Just as / began to think we were near
ing the business part Of the city. l
don't believe China can be more
mixed up than Nagasaki. We saw sew
eral Americans there, and a great
many French and Russians. The
japanese don 3 wear m UGH clothing;
they seem more like animals, TO me,
than human beings. / wish you
could see them here; those we see at
home Il mean in the states) are quite
Americanized. / was soon tired of
their city and of them, too; was glad
when we pulled out of there. | tell
you, mother, there's no place like the
States.
We met the Oregon just as we were
nearing Nagasaki. She is a beauty
Our band'struck up "The Hot Time"
and you should have heard the cheer
ing.
We are all pretty tired. The weeks
spent on board the transport seemed
long ones: still 1 would not have
missed this trip for anything.
Sept. 19th.-Well, we reached Ma
Mia the It'll and stopped about seven
y miles beyond to land five troops;
have been lying here ever since.
like the country,-what I've seen of
it. l think l can be quite contented
TO remain here, as | suppose l shall
during the rest of my enlistment.
Many kinds of fruit grow here.
The cocoa-nut trees are loaded with
fruit and monkeys are numerous.
guess I'll have to bring monkey
home with me.
The Filipinos are not giving much
trouble at present, but occasionally
they attack a small squad of men.
They burned small village about
twenty miles from here night before
last and troop is ordered overland,
mounted, to cut them off They will
have a. hard ride but the boys were
all anxious to start.
was over to see my horse this
morning. l found him as bright as
ever-up on his mettle and full of
fight. However, few hard marches
will tone him down a little; he only
weighs $50 pounds. He is seldom
still; one ear goes forward, the other
backward, and he always keeps his
large, bright eye on me. The mo-
menU pull the pistol from the hols-
ter he commences to trot sideways
and throw his head up anxious to
start. He can jump seven-foot
ditch at walk I've never known
him to stop at hurdle. We used to
practice on some pretty high ones, so
l think my horse is we'll adapted to
the work expected of him.
Must close for this time.
Your affectionate son,
ARTHUR SHARBoNo.