Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1901-12-25


with the army that blazed the trails
that others might follow the flag in
our far eastern insular possessions,
the page was reached which bore at
the top the following inscription in
red ink: Sunday, December 25th,
Christmas" And perusal of the in.
cidents mentioned in the brief notes
of that page furnish us with the mater.
ial for an attempt at description OF
the first "Natividad" by far the great.
er part of us had passed, away from
the pleasurable environments Of home
life in our native land.
The diary tells that the day "came
on cool and clear and remained 80
throughout" which was true of that
climate, but in northern latitude
like our own it would have been sui
try, sweltering periou, to which our
warmest days in midsummer would
seem frigid in comparison.
While to the outside view peace
reigned in all that fair land, to those
who understood, the low rumblings Of
an impending conflict that would en-
gulf 1t in blood and misery, grew
palmer eacn day and the angry clouds
of war hovered ominously on every
horizon. The commanders of the In
surrecto army. which lay in force out
side the city. had requested permis-
sion of the American commander to
be allowed to parade their legions
bearing arms throug- the city on
Christmas day, which request being
refused, reports were rife that threats
had been uttered that the Insurgents
would carry their desire into effect
even il force were necessary.
To prevent just such an occurrence
a sturdy line of out posts maintained
vigilant watch on the great semi
circular line at the outskirts Of the
city, and though during the day
thousands of the little brown men, in
the blue and white striped cotton uni
form. passed our lines, not one OF
them bore arms and no attempt was
made by an armed force to effect
passage through the grim Gordon of
sentinels guarding the safety of those
within.
To the observant one, 1t is evident
that the Oriental peoples do not look
upon the Christmas tide as time of
festive rejoicing and it was matter
of much surprise to us all that the
greatest anniversary in the history of
the world is passed by them with
such evident unconcern. so far as out
ward demonstrations go. While II
was true that all labors had been sus-
pended and every native, from the
prosperous merchant to the pox-mark-
ed old woman who smoked cigars and
peddled fruit from basket, had don.
ned their best holiday attire. an op.
pressive quiet pervaded the atmos-
phere that almost removed the
thought that 1t was indeed Christmas.
From the rural districts hundreds of
caramettis and quilez came In, laden
with brightly dressed natives, and on
the muddy Pasig an interminable line
of native boats fioated down with
their human freight to swell the
mighty multitude. But. as far as one
could Judge, these outside visitors had
all come to attend divine services in
the many churches Of the city.
Among the native population, all
seemed so painfully quiet; even the
street venders ceased their discord-
ant cry of "red hot lemonade" and
lice cold peanut" while the multitud-
inous mendicant softened almost to
whisper, his assurance that He would
reward you in the way ahead for a
small donation to him in the right
now.
The first half of the day dragged
along in this undemonstrative way
and while the streets were jammed
with an endless throng Of soldiery
and natives. it all lacked that one abb
solnte essential to lively Christmas
noise. While 1t is true that the day
was ushered in with noise enough to
wake the dead by the bells and
chimes of hundreds of churches, which
were echoed by the guns on the moss
grown battlements of the Walled
City and re-echoed from those of the
ships of the fleet at anchor in the
bay, II was not the right kind of noise.
II was loud enough, to be sure, but 1t
did not cause the blood to leap and
tingle like the music of a bunch Of
cannon crackers and then no mortali.
ties were resultant from 1t. To the
boys in brown 1t was like hot drink
from which the principal ingredient
had been omitted. Everyone seemed
to have absorbed some OF this slug
gisp temper; the soldier policemen OF
the 18th Minnesota dragged them
selves painfully up and down the Es-
colta with rife lazily hanging by the
sling from the shoulder and the men
OF the gallant LIST Tennessee abandon.
ed their distillery for the time. hover
ing around their beautiful camp on
the Luneta as II the day were one OF
mourning rather than rejoicing.