Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-23
CHARLIE Taft, SECRETARY
AND T1RS TAFT I'M THE
PHILIPPINES

steamer-Walter Tracey. son of Judge
Tracey of Manila.
The chief things we did were the two
RS, riding and reading. and not the three
RS. j am very fOnu of reading and any
thing / can get to read interests rue very
much, particularly if it is about geog-
raphy. So I did read a lot and when
rode out it was on the small Philippine
ponies, little fellows. but quite sturdy an
imals. One time we went OFT to Baguio.
You go part way by a railroad and the
rest of the way on horseback up a steep
hill and when you get up on the top there
is a magnificent view. 1t is an old extinct
volcano. 1t took US three hours to get up
fectly fine. dandy road. so level and
smooth. Mr.. Forbes lives there and near
his house is this magnificent view 1 men,
toned. 1t looks out over the most beau
tains.
Fun at Baguio.
While we were up there 1 went down to
the gold mines. Its hard trip. You &C
down first to Kellys and then right down
the straight sides of the mountain direct
to the gold mines. They have native Fill
pinos as miners, who seem to do the work
well. and they extract a good deal of gold
from the mine 1t seems to be soft kind
of rock. easily crushed Some one showed
us great big bar of the refined gold
that was fine metal. We were there at
BaguO six days and had good times all
day, and in the evenings lots of people
came in and we sometimes played games.
There is a fort there called John Hay
and one evening we had a crowd in and
were playing great game. where all sit
in chairs placed in a circle except the one
who is it, and he stands in the center
and the trick is that two numbers are
called and the ones having those numbers
must rush across the circle and change
chair with the other person before the
one in the center ran rush into the va
cant chair. Gen. Edwards was 'it'' and
In trying to get the right chair he bumped
into one of the men, glanced off on chair
and sat down on the floor quite hard.
When father was it and blindfolded he
used to grab hold of the first one he could
and then holding the person with one
hand grope around with the other until
ne found the vacant chair and then he
sat in it. 1t was lots of .un!
The houses are really of good up-to-date
design, and in the windows they use
small bits of shell set into frames that
slide back and forth so you can open the
windows by sliding the frame in or out.
1t gives q very soft and agreeable llght
to the room and when closed Keeps OUT
the heat. ] rode on horseback lot and
played with a boy who was the son OF
the Major-D Doctor Howard OF the fort. L
kept my eyes open for stamps. as col
lect them and have a fine collection. but
the Philippines We're not very productive
for me in that line. Up there at Baguio
there was a reception one day to num-
Der of Igorrotes, who came to see father
and were dressed in their quaint cos
tunes They brought him some nice-look-
ing gold ore to look at. And then we went
back to Manila.
Why I Didn't Go to School at Manila
While we were in Manila mother wanted
me to go to school. but I.didnt-not be-
cause 1 didn't want to keep up my stud
les, but because there one has to get up
at o'clock in the morning. have break
fast at Z and then go to school at Sand
that makes long day. You see that on
the steamer going over and on the trans
siberian railway returning / did lot of
reading and studying, SO / thought If
mother would postpone my studying until
/ returned to America it would be all
right. And so she consented. After we
to Manila / rode all over the
place and saw so many interesting sights