The National tribune., 1902-12-25

fish in the Philippines. Those in the
market are caught in the Pasig and other
muddy rivers, in the shallow and muddy
waters of the bay, where they are taken
in bamboo traps, or in artificial ponds
walled in by dykes in the marsh lands OF
the bay shore. They are all mud hsh,
of poor flesh and for the most part quite
bony. But a course of fish was necessary
for the Christmas banquet, and so 1t be-
came part of the menu.
Now add to these items bacon and
beans, bread baked in our own constructed
company ovens, coffee with condensed milk
purchased from the Commissary and can
ned butter about the consistency of oleo
oil, and you have the elements of the
feast with the exception of the conciud-
ing course of pies made of dried apples
and dried peaches, and, finally, just taste
of plum pudding, being generous division
on the part of few of the boys of the
small cans of that article put into their
Christmas boxes by thoughtful mothers,
wives and sweethearts.
Not a bad Christmas dinner, hear you
say. No. indeed. and not badly was it
eaten and enjoyed, with the inevitable at
ter-dinner speeches ON the part of some
whom the inveterate' jokers permitted to
speak at ALL There was no mistletoe nor
holly, no fir nor pine nor cedar branches for
decoration, yet some effort at adornment
w
Der of the queer little cone-like bouquets
that are to be bought in that land where
flowers are almost unknown, each bouquet
being topped with 4 few of the sweet
scented ylang-ylans blossoms.
A CHRISTMAS EVE 'BALE"
On Christmas eve l attended ''baile''
at the residence of the Swiss Consul. He
had n beautiful home, as such things go
II, r.lI T,t. h,.r.a ~ hon ta
ward in the northwestern portion of the
city, and OH this occasion it was crowded
with the elite of Filipino society, with n
few foreigners and about a score of Amer
lean officers. The FiiipinOs. of course,
were of the Mestizo class, the class with
mixture of foreign blood in their veins.
These are the wealthy aristocrats of the
islands, the dictators to the common peO-
pie, and, be it said, the class responsible
setting up Government where they
should perpetually rule as n small and
dictatOrial Oligarchy. There were not
very many OF them present on this special
occasion. Already the first cordiality be-
tween them and the Americans had. dis
appeared. They were openly organizing
an army for no other apparent purpose
than to fight us, and they had so far
progressed that they We're throwing off
the mask and openly Boosting that they
were going to drive us into the sea. There
fore sociability between the Americans
and Mestizos had waned somewhat. yet
there were still many who attended func-
tons like that of the Swiss Consul.
With few of these l danced that
night, also with several American ladies
and some of the foreigners. danced but
little, however, because l was on the sick
list and officially had no right to be there
at all. A few days before l had caught
severe cold, which had given me bron-
chial trouble, and the Surgeon had put
me on the sick report and relieved me of
duty, advising me to stay in quarters. He
looked very grave, but as l did not feel
SO and had little faith in the pneumonia
theory, l attended the ball Christmas eve,
and went to another ON the following
night. l learned that Surgeon was not
all-powerful. He could order me off the
Adjutant's duty roster, but he couldn't
give me pneumonia.