The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1904-02-06
BY A FLAG.
Philippine Natives Deeply Imprel
By Being Made Owners Of
Stars and stripes. f

The frlendliness with which T.
Moros of Mindanao received
American soldiers and sailors has r.
quently been remarked, but America :
occupation of their island, the secons
largest in the Philippines. has yielded
few incidents more pleasing than one
related by Florence Kimball Russell
In the Criterion. An officer stationed
on the southeast coast of the island
had occasion. she says, to make a
reconnaissance into the mountains
back of Davao, and stopped overnight
in a little village of Bogobos The
chief of these natives did the nom
ors" with savage dignity.
"The town was dirty beyond be-
lief. The people were lazy, even in
their curiosity. But one item of in
terest was pointed out to the Amer
leans by their host--a collection OF
human skulls which decorated his
dwelling, indoors and out. These
were trophies of war, he explained 10
the officer.
1.-THE next morning, on leaving, the
officer thanked the chief for his hos
pitality. and asked him to return the
visit. The savage accepted the invita-
ton. A short time later he arrived
in Davao, accompanied, not by an es-
cort of a paltry half-dozen, as the Of
ficer had been, but by the major part
of mis- tribe. He was evidently not
going to be outdone in ceremonial OBJ
servances; and he and his followers
remained long enough in Davao to
cause the official larder sadly to need
replenishment.
During this visit the Bogobos were
one and all delighted with the mill
tary life of the post, the drills and
parades and routine of daily life.
Then, too, the cleanliness of the bar
racks impressed them, and the per-
sonal neatness of the khaki-clad SOL
diers, not to mention the very desir-
able thiAs to eat evolved by the COM
pany COOK.
But perhaps nothing so filled them
with awe and admiration as the cere-
monial raising and lowering Of the
garrison flag. They never missed the
opportunity of seeing it, especially at
evening, when the i%mprovised band
played The Star-Spangled Banner
and the flag 1uttered slowly down the
staff, while the troops stood at atten-
ton with barred heads.
80 impressed was the chief that
on leaving Davao he asked the officer
to give him an American flag that
he might take the custom into his own
village. This was granted, and the
presentation of the stars and stripes
was made the occasion for a little SER
mon, in which the head of the Bogo-
hos was informed that he and his peo-
pie were under the protection Of the
great American government; that he,
as chief of the tribe, represented Amer
lean authority in his village, and that
it would become him to set an exam-
pie to his people.
Then, with great tact, he was
further informed that in the United
States the custom of decorating
houses with human skulls no longer
prevailed; that it had fallen into dis
with the more enlightened ma
tiyes' of the United States, and that,
in fact, they seriously objected to such
practices. Consequently it behooved
him, as a representative Of the Amer
lean government, TO keep abreast OF
the times in this regard. The chief
listened very gravely, but he made
40 answer.
ION a subsequent visit to the little
the officer was greatly sur
prised to see what weight his words
had carried, and what an effect the
st~ar-spangled banner had upon a saw
age mountain people. Soldiers were
under the green trees; sani-
.ation had been adopted; sweeping,
heretofore unknown. had become a
custom of the village; the skulls had
been removed from. the executive
mansion, and every evening the chef
and his standing army failed not 10
the flag as it was slowly and
very ~reverently lowered from a bam-
flagstaff where during the day it
1oated over a village it had redeemed
rom seemingly hopeless savagery."