Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-24
A REG|ME|MALI HYMN
Sung With Great Effect on
Christmas Day
BY LITTLE3 FILIPINOS
WITH ALL POSSIBLE PoMP AND
CEREMONY.
No Wonder the Army Officers Present
Found It Difficult to Keep
From Laughing.

christmas is associated in my mind Win
one of the most ridiculous incidents it was
ever my fortune to witness declared an
officer of the army of many years active
service, after extending the compliments of
the season to a Star reporter. Il don't be-
lieve l ever experienced twenty minutes of
such agony in my life as did few years
ago on one of the islands of the Philippine
archipelago, where 1 happened to be sta
toned with a volunteer regiment 1t was
during the time we were pacifying the ma
tives after their futile rebellion against
American rule. The volunteer outfit with
which l was serving at that time was made
up of a pretty good lot of men from the
middle west. They were almost all men OF
some little education, and when schools for
the native children were established it nat
urally fell out that our enlisted men should
be detailed as teachers. They made good
teachers, too, and put the rising generation
of FilipinoS through a course that will make
them better men and women.
But the ability of the American volun-
teer soldier to educate extends outside OF
the school room, and the efforts of our men
were directed in other paths than those
mentioned in general orders. To be abso-
lutely truthful, more mischievous lot of
men than those Of the volunteer regiment
I was serving with would be hard to find.
They were good soldiers, and good fellows,
too. Lots of them were worth more money
than / ever hope to be, and many Of them
were doing their trick at standing by the
colors more for lark than anything elSs
l could figure out. The outlandiSh things
those fellows would do to amuse themselves
would have tried the patience of a much
more sanity man than our commanding
officer, who was an old regular, graduate
of West Point, and one of the finest sol
diers that ever walked the face of the
earth. He has medal of honor for gal
1antry in one of the many Indian cam
paigns through which he fought and. while
a stickler for discipline, was the kind of
man who knew that men We're not perfec-
ton and made his rules accordingly. While
he froWned visibly at some of the FRANKS
of the men he was just much amused
as any of US and enjoyed their little jokes.
A Great Occasion.
Things went on nicely during the fall
and early winter, and about the time
Christmas fixings began to appear in the
stores In the states here the enlisted men
of my regiment became imbued with the
idea that it was up to them to show the
little Filipinos what real Christmas can
be. They talked the matter over among
themselves and finally determined to have
a Christmas tree and Santa Claus and all
the other fiXings. They were up against
snag when it came to dressing the tree. but
in some way the colonel heard of their
scheme and signified his intention of join
ing in and making the celebration regi-
mental OF course all the officers followed
the colonefs lead and came in too. We
for ornaments for the tree and arranged an
elborate program for the festivities. OF
course the children heard of 1t and they
were on tiptoe with expectation. Some
body did some very good press work for
that entertainment, because the fact that
we We're going to do things was noised
about the whole island, and before we knew
it the bishop in charge of the Catholic do
cese sent a dignified priest down to our
town to help us out on the religious end
All of which was very much appreciated
and all of which led to the ludicrous
sequel.
Most of the regiments in the regular
army, as you probably know, have a regi-
mental hymn, and in derision thereof most
of the regiments in the volunteer service
adopted , songs song which :, they they sailed their
Time" and such other gems served the
sacrilegious volunteer for inspiring music,
and they were accustomed to sing these
hymns on the most inauspicous occasions.
Our regiment had such hymn, and it was
certainly the limit. Its music was easy to
learn and the words were simple. 1t was
therefore not unnatural that the Filipino
children should pick 1t up. They did not
understand the words of the hymn little
bit. Their education was such that they
could not translate what they knew in
English back into Spanish, nor could they
translate much Spanish into English. They
learned our hymn in no time and sang it
with will whenever they thought the &C.
casion demanded some such demons tration
They had an idea it was the national air of
the United States, 1 believe.
Learning the Hymn.
at so happened that the priest that had
been sent down to look after the spiritual
welfare of our charges did not know q word
of English. He was a fine man, well edu-
Gated and with very good idea of his own
dignity and Importance. He taught the
children something of the Christmas spirit
and as we were going to be so kind to
them, he suggested that they do some little
honor in return. In looking about for some
genius thought of the regimental hymn and
its opportunities for harmony: The propo-
sition was advanced to teach the children
the hymn in parts, so that when the proper
time came they could all sing it with fine
choral effect. This idea pleased the priest
who did not understand the hymn in any
way at ALL and who laboriously taught the