The National tribune., 1902-07-24
THE STREET. "

| eigners, among them the wife of a Consul
| who could speak English little and in
sisted to me that she had American blool
in her veins. AS she had dark, coffee
colored skin, l was somewhat curious tt
| know how it got there, and she told me
she was full-blood Kanaka from Hawaii
and that made her an American now.
admitted it, and we touched glasses to oul
new blood relationship.
| Those few of us who could talk Spanish
| somewhat, having been diigent, in season
and out of season, in acquiring the Ian
guage, found ourselves the center of at.
| traction, as it were, and, moreover, the
envy of the less fortunate ones, who had
to play wall flower or else solicit our kind
ly services. One Of our hosts, an incorri
glble Joker, who was handicapped by an
inability to say anything in Spanish except
Isl, Senor,' did most of the introducing
of his guests, and it was an amusing spec
tacle.
Having learned the name of the lady to
whom the young officer desired to be i'll
troduced, he led the victim to the slaugh-
ter. Approaching the lady in his breezi-
est manner, his victim ciutched by the
arm, he would bow low and say:
'Senorita Sanchez, let me introduce to
you Teniente Barker. This is the drunken
reprobate l was telling you about"
The drunken reprObate, covered with
lady understood what had been said or
what may have been told her in Spanish
when the courtesy of the introduction was
asked, stood in confusion, uncertain what
his next move should be. The lady her
self, supposing the sentence accompanying
the introduction to have been an invitation
to dance, smiled sweetly and made mo-
ton as though to rise. Thus encouraged
the embarrassed young man offered his
arm, and in minute the two were lost in
the delights of waltz which has all Ian
guages for its own. Among the ones not
equipped to carry On conversation was the
Colonel.
am not wanting in due respect for my
commanding officer when l relate this in
cident. he had consistently refused to
have anything to do with the "dago Ian
guage," and always employed an inter-
prefer when necessary to talk to natives or
Spaniards. AS for the Tagalog language,
he would none of it, nor of the Tagals
themselves. He even was ignorant
Of the exact pronunciation of the
tribal name. Yet he was none the less in
cilned to be sociable. Him, too, the jolly
Major conducted to the presence of q very
pretty and apparently fun-loving Senorta,
and accompanied the formal introduction
with the statement that this was prob
ably the worst old soak in the army, get
ting away quickly before the astonished
Colonel could order him under arrest for
disrespect.
Upon him the young lady smiled with
inviting sweetness, as though she rather
dotted upon "Old soaks," and the Colonel
perforce had to sit down by her side and
make pretense of being sociable. The
lady smiled and said a few words in Span
ish, and the Colonel smiled and replied in
English, but the situation was embarrass-
ing. 1t was then the Colonel spied one of
S{fsa
what and was skipping from flower to
flower as it were like a busy bee slipping
honey, and hailed him with the command
| captain, come over here and talk Ter
gelager to this girl for me''
| The Captain obeyed, but in a few min
utes the Colonel was sorry he had called
for Intervention, for his prize soon van.
ished on the Captains arm in the mazes
of the waltz.
1t was here first learned the temper.
ate habits of the Filipinos. They drank
beer and champagne, men and women
alike, but not with the liberality and FIRE.
quency Of the Americans, and they never
took enough to become at all intoxicated.
1t was on this occasion that one of them
became drunk, as previously related, and
was ostracized for it by Filipino society.
Champagne was common drink among
the Filipinos Of the wealthy class. I
never saw it opened SO frequently or On
literally in America as in Manila, vet
there never was any carousing because Of
that fact among them. On another occa.
sion l had this fact impressed strongly
upon me by an incident. This occasion
was one where became, with several
others, an unlimited and unintentioned
guest at the coming-Out party of a young
Filipino senorita, a celebration of her 1St6
birthday.
In the afternoon Rugby football. game
was played on the Luneta between /. team
from our regiment, captained by the Can
tain Of one Of the companies, and a team