The Washington times., 1907-08-25

ERHAPs Il is nothing much
to boast about, but there
are two or three fellows
who take some satisfaction
in the matter OF Allan
Kent's Insurance. To their
notion. the encounter with the Equi-
noctiaI Life partook OF the nature OF
an engagement between a battleship
and a feet OF dispatch boats. And the
result of the encounter is the story
Kent did not hear OF il until months
later, when he was a. in the noun
tains. safely ccnvalescent.
Kent was a man so comDaniOnabis.
50 genuine. so uniformly gentle OF
manner and kindly OF nature. that even
IN the Register Office. where factions
rose and fell as on other newspapers.
he was exempt from ali jeslousies
whatever good fortune came to him
Kents fame and friendships had null
dplied rapidly since he came from a
country college. ten years before with
the newspaper instinct and an artists
hand. Some noteworthy political car
toons which helped 20 cheer a national
campaign crowned his success as an
illustrator and earned him a long va
cation With newspaper luck. he hap
pened along into the Orient just in
time to be among those present az the
battle or Manila Bay. Thenceforth he
was known at home as a correspond
ent. with his pencil at hand 70 illus
trate the graphic stories he wrote,
who let no news escape him. from
Vigan to Sulu.
When things in the Philippines were
dull Borneo. Japan. China. India, Az
ghanistan, Madagascar and the Bosr
camps IN South Africa gave him ma
teriaL Thus the little journey around
the world that was to be finished in
six months grew to one OF three years
before his friends in the Register office
saw him again, a seasoned war CORE
spondent OF national reputation. but
stil the same modest, good fellow as
OF old.
And now the boys feared that they
had seen the last OF Kent. Rogers
stopped at the house every morning
and every evening to learn the latest
news. Rogers who had given up his
first chance in the Office, and hal
drawn pictures at the next desk 20 his
ever since. Ames, his old college chum.
who had brought him to town from
the Ozarks, and worked with him as
a running mate-reporter and artist
was living at the house. helping the
doctors. the nurses and the family 10
hold fast to the little rope that re-
manned.
For Kent, IT sessred, was sick unto
larie ana fever germs Of varieties I'M
known to American medical science,
had rebelled. The accumulated hard
shins and Irregularities Of life during
three years Of campaigning in the
tropics had broken him down at last.
Good news seldom came from he
sick-rocm during that protracted fight
with death. Rogers spent ten minutes
at the bedside one morning, feeling
that the last hope was gone. Kent
had recognized him for an instant.
long enough to say; Hello. Art. how
do YOU like the Islands? Worth 500 o0o. =
On and a war. do you think7'
Then once more ne fell into dellrious
campaigning IN the Philippines. HIS
eyes glIttering bright with fever, hts
skin yellow, his body enaeiated and
restless-in his speech Nalolos. Cavite
e Sulu, Zamboanga. uoilo, linus and
Tarlae mixed in inextricable confusion.
Sometimes he was riding across the
South African ~eldt. once he heard a
breech-holt snick' in the Khyber Pass;
but always he came back 10 the camps
in the Philippines. with snatehes. of the
soldiers parody on the old song. a
parody joculaF N form. but serious
enough, after ali, to the boys who
sang fl:
Then its home. boys. it's home we
ought TO be:
It's home, boys, home, in our own
cOuntree.
Where the ash and the oak and The
weeping willow tree
Amerikee~
A aust IS. 1902.