The San Francisco call., 1910-09-18

a'native village up the valley, where a
company of infantry had been stationed
to guard the water supply for Manila
The natives. you see, had a habit of
throwing the bodies of victims of
cholera into the rivers and wells. there
by making life most unpleasant for
those whites who had to drink. Such
things are not mentioned in the society
reports of the press.
OF course the wife could have re-
NAMED behind. but she did not. She
was possessed with the archaic belief
common to the army that the place Of
the wife is by her husband. So with
him she plunged through the jungle to
the camp. She was the first white
woman in the place and the only other
one of her kind was 20 miles away The
situation was decidedly pleasant. The
house was like an inverted waste
paper basket, a three roomed bamboo
shack set up on bamboo poles. One
room was dubbed the centipedorium
because-well, because every time the
bride went in it she found centipedes
and other things. There were other adj
vantages. There was no stove and the
cooking had to be done over hot Goals.
Also the water had to be boiled and
parboiled; not. alone the water for
drinking purposes. but also for wash
ing.
There was SO much cholera" she
explained.
One boy lieutenant who had been
pitched neck and crop into the place
nigh went gray haired with the horror.
1t was all new to him and unseeming1y
horrible. In fact, before he put a Gig
arctic to his lips he dipped the end in
a solution of carbolic acid. No green
things could be eaten all the food had
to be cooked.
The meals were served with wire
nettings over the dishes and above and
about them and around them was the
one thought-cholera. There we're
other delights. The Moros were out.
!. A sentry had been boloed. The roads
poured down in torrents.
There came night when the very
soul of her was tried TO its uttermost.
The rain had fallen ceaselessIy Pools
were under the house and cholera was
unusually on the rampage. The rain
came down in such gusts that she had
to fasten down the windows, thereby
making the house too dark for reading
purposes. So the day long. while her
doctor husband wandered about
through mud and rain with chlorodyne
in hand, she peered through the Stats
gazing at the bamboo palmtrees whip
ping to and fro before the fury Of the
storm. At the appointed time she pre-
pared dinner. She produced her row of
cans. In her girlhood days there was
a household joke, What we can not
eat we can" Now as she gazed at the
canned milk, the canned butter and the
canned meats she wondered If she
could eat all they can. Somehow or
other the feeting thought of the
girlhood days made her choke. You
see it was the rain and the storm and
the centipedes and things which got on
her nerves.
Her husband came in forzdinner and
rushed away again. Whereupon little
Mrs. Army Woman went to her trunk
and for the first time unpacked all the
finery of the days that had been.
Il found a dress which had worn
at dance at the Presidio the last
time" she said. "and 1 cried and L
cried"
Before leaving the husband had
pushed a chest against the door, lock-
ing her in completely. this being
deemed the safest plan. Therefore on
leaving he had to crawl through the
window, and as he hung on the window
sill she bent forward and kissed him.
Then she heard him drop with a splash
Into the disease infested nools below