Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-08

December %, 1903
Christmas morning we were allowed to
sleep until $50 o'clock. Our breakfast con-
sisted of canned Willie,' as we call corned
beef, and bread and good butter. Then
reported to the commanding officer as his
orderly for the rest of the day. When IL
o'clock came we had dinner Well, every
one thought that we were going to have
turkey, cranberry sauce, plum pudding and
mince pie. celery and ice cream. But we
We're sadly disappointed, for we got only
roast pig. But we were all hungry and we
filled up on sweet potatoes, gravy, canned
corn, bread and butter and coffee. We had
a jolly time anyway. One would say, Pass
that plum pudding and dried bread was
handed over. Another wanted a piece Of
turkey, and he got a big sweet potato. We
laughed and Joked, and some OF us wanted
to know how old Ann was before she was
roasted, meaning the roast pig. Our ice
cream was sliced oranges, with promises of
getting all We missed when We returned to
Washington. For our supper we got fried
"spuds," which are potatoes and rice mixed
up.
Cheap Laundry Work.
1 washed two pair of leggins about five
days ago, and they haven't dried yet. So
now 1 give my clothes to native wome n
who washes them for 10 cents in Colombia
money. or cents in our money My clothes
are very clean and ironed WELL We must
do our own laundry work. but when we can
give 1t to washerwomen we do it. The nd
tives are very clean here. The woman who
does my washing is half Spanish and half
Indian and Is quite pretty. Water Is very
scarce sometimes, and the native washer
women go inland about two miles along the
railroad route. where the women and their
children gather along a flowing stream
where they work earnestly, some in bare
Ieet, others stripped to the waist, chattering
and singing quaint old songs, while some
smoke long cigars and old pipes-apparent-
~ all happy and thoroughly contented with
their lot
A Startling Discovery.
We have been waiting patiently for some
thing to happen, and that something quite
unexpected and serious nearly happened
We ran across a magazine in our camp
which the French contractors had left and
We discovered 1t in very startling manner
Two marines of our battalion tied a bunch
OF rags on pole and soaked it with oil and
hghted II. and then they proceeded to ex-
plore a cave close by our quarters. They
came across pile of powder in corner
One stopped to examine 1t while the other
held the torch. One declared that 1t was
COAL while the other insisted that it was
powder. Fortunately the powder was very
only dirt. after all, when the marine who
held the torch put the light close to the
powder ard even then they were not posi-
tive as to what IT was until one of them
took some in his hand and smelled It, Well
II was good thing for us that the powder
was very wet or We would all be on our
way 10 Washington in boxes six feet long
Then they found some piles of old dyna-
mite. 1t was also very wet. In another
corner they found another place packed
with boxes of dynamite They took a box
of 1t To the captain in command of the COM
pany. They also found some nitrogIycerine
in large quantities. The marines thought
that the glycerine was only Oil. A great
quantity OF gun cotton was also found The
captain was sitting reading paper when
a marine put n box of dynamite on the ia
bic. saying: Captain, hero is a nice box
of dynamite for you
The captain opened his eyes wide. and
stared at that box. then at the marine. 1t
was a picture no artist can paint!
Major Lucas Battalion.
A battalion of marines, under Maj. Lucas,
is c,mped five miles from us at Bias Obs
pc. Their place is not as comfortable as
our camp. l was sent out there the day
after Christmas. / saw many of the ma
rines whom l had left behind in Washing
ton. Capt. Wynne is there also but / did
not see him. There are about 375 marines
there, and We have ISL.
The Prices of Things.
There is one thing that you people in
Washington city are missing and that is
the fruit that we get here. l always keep
my knapsack full of sweet oranges, and
my chum buys bananas, and we share with
each other. We often chuckle when we
think how we had to pay cents apiece for
oranges at home, while here we can get
them for 8 cents dozen. The bananas are
hard to get, because they grow high up IN
the mountains. The natives bring them to
us. Lemons are cheap and plentiful. There
are two kinds Of oranges. Sometimes when
we go out scouting we come across beau
tiful orange tree and imagine we are going
to have feast. when to our disgust they
turn out to be very sour ones. They are
good to make drink out Of
Bread is very dear: common rolls sell for
30 cents dozen. l bought some coal oil
for the camp and paid 80 cents a gallon IN
American money.
JOHN 6WAIL, Jr., Drummer,
Marine Battalion, Company b.