Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-27
JUST HUMAN NATURE

81 fear that Imy stay in the tropics has
made me useless said an army officer
who recently came to Washington after
three years of duty, in the low attitudes
one year in Honolulu and two in the Phil
ippines. most Of the latter service having
been departmental duty in Manila.
The officer Had Jtst left the War De-
partment at ! o'clock, and. although the
afternoon was balmy and pleasant. and
many men were .cafrying their overcoats
on their arms ,he had his heavy ulster but
toned tight. with the collar turned up about
his ears. and ais face looked pinched and
blue. II
''Br-r-r. I'm 'colde' he went on to say.
since the transport upon which returned
to the states got twenty degrees above the
line. Which. by the way. is the devil of
the tropics, saving your presence. Now,
ly well padded with fesh-my irreverent
companions In arms call 1t 'blubber.' but
don't notice them. / was born and brought
up in the far north. and, before went to
the tropics could stand the bitterest sort
OF cold without being In the least bothered
by 1t. I've served in northwestern posts
where the temperature not fnfrequentfy got
down to forty degrees below zero. but the
ntpping cold OF these posts never feaZed me.
And here am now on sunny afternoon
in Washington. with the thermometer stuck
somewhere around the 60 mark, and, with
this heavy blanket on: my teeth are posi-
lively chattering-b-r-r!
No. had no fever down in the islands
not even touch Of It. My health was
great all the time I was down there, and I
never had to report at sick call even once
But l got used to what the enlisted men
call the dopey' weather Of the tropics.
that's all. The medical men will tell you
that the blood OF white men born in the
temperate zones becomes thinned out when
they live In the tropics for a spell, and
that afterward 1t takes them a long time
to again acclimatize themselves when they
return to the temperate zones. And very
right the medical men are in this.
Anyhow, when the transport that
brought me up pulled into the harbor Of
San Francisco, I was SO cold that l al
most shook my frame to pieces, and yet
the temperature of San Francisco when
got back month ago was higher than it
is right here in Washington at the present
moment, and I've been hearing men say
all day that the weather here has been ex-
cessiyely warm for the season-b-r-r
There Is sonnet thing peculiar about the
effect OF the tropics upon men from this
corner Of the world. 1 was enormously
fascinated with Honolulu and the Hawaiian
there. Then. when went down to Manila,
where the climate and surroundings are
still entirely different from those of Ha-
wall, l enjoyed the first year Of 1t i'm
mensely. Then gradually began to weary
of the tropics. I missed the procession of
the seasons-the expansive. glowing spring,
the hot yet endurable summer, the haZy
and dreamy autumn, and the sharp cold
and the snow of my own. my native land
Il began to hate the palms! Last Christ
mas, Tor example. how willingly would L
have exchanged all of the gorgeous royal
palms of the whole Philippine archipelago
spruce tree, or for glimpse of a bit of
holly or mlstletoe growing-or even spread
out invitingly in United States market
stall!
THE lotus life began to prey upon me.
The succession Of turquoise skies began to
make me sore when the season arrived for
the skies to become overcast with coppery
snow clouds UP here in the states. The
warm, very wet rains Of Manila made me
wrathful when ] thought of the brittle snow
and the sleigh bells up in the state where 1
was brought up.
1.-THE inactivity of the people, their method
OF taking things easy, their everlasting
'manana - inferential, not spoken - their
s1estas, their constituencies procrastna
lions - their don't observation-disclosures to
put 1t more effectively-began to get on my
nerves as the last year of my stay in
Manila wore itself away. longed to get
back to the land where folks were stepping
out and doing Something all the time l
wanted to mix, up again with hustling, ag-
gressive men, lively. vivacious, animated
women-not dreamers. not mere amiable
human sloths of the Land of the Always
Afternoon! And wanted to get move on
myself! The steamy, hot redolence of the
tropical flowers, even, that had captivate6
me when I first got intosthe low ATTITUDES,
began to Cypress me. l. wanted to see
strong, cold-resisting chrysanthemums, late
American autumn roses that bloom fra
gravity right in, the teeth, almost of frosts
big Window-sill geraniums apple bios
soms-hardy open-air blooms, with modest,
normal aromaS. Yes, grew to deSpise the
insistently sensuous fragrances Of the gor-
geous tropical flowers, and longed for the
arrival of the day when should leave them
all behind!
WELL we are all mere children and hope
lessly disconnected children, at that, are
we not? Here am back, with the holidays
right at hand; tons of holly and mistletoe
within few minutes walk: all of the old
familiar sights and sounds of the temperate
zone around me-and yet 1 find myself
sneakily longing-twenty times an hour-to
be back in the tropics 1 miss the natural
splendor, the color Of the Orient east il you
please-the world up here seems common
place! And you are all too Internally busy
II you must have i'll want my two-hour
nap in the middle of the day, and l can't
get it. of course! I want the dangerous,
spicy airs again: and, above all, want to
get warm-b-r-r!
do you know where 1 should like to be
tonight? Well, l should like to be in the
front room of my little bungalow -on stills
in Manila, stretched out in the big bamboo
easy chair that had nodded itself to my
conformation; a gentle. warm drizzle fall
ing unsteady on the roof. the plate of man.
goes and plantains on the table, the che
roots and pipes scattered about should
like to be sprawled out in that bamboo
chair, in Japanese silk shirt, white lounging
trousers and slippers. reading French
novel or a volume of Lafcado Hearn's IAN
anese sketches!
Eheu! how utterly useless the tropics
have made me, and how 1 wish 1 were back
in the tropics-b-r-r"