The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1913-08-06

permitted to publish the following inter-
esttng letter from our young friend, Mid
shipman Kepler Davis, now cruising in
foreign waters:
u. s. s. ILLINOIS,
Woo, SPAIN, July II, 1913.
MY DEAR MOTHER AND FATHER We
are now in Vigo and it certainly is s typ
ical Latin town, just like the towns are
in South and Central America. The peo-
pie sleep from 500 a. m, to 7 p. m, and
part of the night. The mornings and
evenings are delightful, but the days are
terribly hot on land, although we have a
nice sea breeze blowing constantly OF
board, and also have our deck awnings
up. The starboard watch have their lib
erty ashore today, and we, the port, will
have our turn tomorrow. The anti
American feeling is very high here and
it is not safe to stay around in small
punches. The Spanish-American wal is
as recent 10 the Spauiards as this cruise is
to US. A Scotch Presbyterian minister
from England, who has been stationed
for Is years in Vigo, told mo this morn
ing that the Spaniards are still very re-
sentiul toward the English for capturing
Gibraltar. 200 years ago. They can not
even enter into a conversation without
bewailiDg their loss. The people inland
are possibly worse off than the MeXicans
themselves. Learning is unknown. They
live in wretched novels, are nearly
starved, are too lazy to work, and are
fully 200 years behind the times. They
ever light their cigarettes with flint and
steel as their forefathers did centuries
ago. The only thing that can make them
even condescend to look without disdain
upon English speaking peoples is "las
%monedas," money. l have not yet been
ashore as we came in but yesterday. The
trip from Antwerp was very uneventful
except that the GRUB" was rather bad.
We had a little rough weather when we
rounded Brest and a corner in the Bay of
Biscay. l am absolutely immune from
sea-sickness and can stand a pretty rough
sea. l am anxious TO get ashore and see
how much l can converse in Spanish.
We talk the court Spanish and have had
some difficulty in being understood by
side to sell US crockery, fruit, sardines,
etc. They became so persistent in trying
to sell us stuff this morning, and abso-
lutely refused to leave the vicinity of the
k-.k sLaN sA,NAaa.N Enuul -. arlnral a.,
hose to be trained on them. 1t was sure
funny to see them all scatter, but before
they all made their getaway many had
received their annual bsno (bath). We
very nearly had another Spanish-Ameri-
can war, but we all laughed at them so
much and made them so ridiculous that
they withdrew in disgust.
Marston, Phelps and | are going to Sc
vile for a few days when we get to Cadiz,
l enjoy travelling through foreign coun-
tries very much. l like the idea of sepa-
rate compartments very much. 1t is lar
ahead of the American plan. We get in
a compartment and have our little card
games, etc., all to ourselves. The officials
on the railroads salute us and are as re-
spectful as dust. The seats are extremely
comfortable and it is indeed lots of fun
travelling.
Vlgo is situated on Pontevedra Bay and
is the principal town on the coast. 1t eX-
tends over an immense extent of space
and numbers from 5000 to 2 $1,000 in pop
u~lslion. The buildings are typically
Spanish, and on a barren hill behind the
town stands an ancient fortress with the
Spanish flag floating over it. The for
tress is a mass of crude stone work with
outworks some hundreds of yards down
the hill. All the guns are being dis
mounted and shipped to Morocco, where
Spain is fighting the Moors. They are
the most particular people in the world
about hiding their iortresses, and we shall
likely be able to see very little of them.
This country seems to me more like my
Spain. l have not seen a single tree oil
any size yet, and we cruised along the
Spanish coast nearly all day yesterday,
The fellows that have seen Arizona tell
me that it is much like the former abso-
lutely barren and treeless. The people
in this section make a living by fishing
and there are a half dozen sardine can
ming factories 10 Vigo. We were a day
late in leaving Antwerp but we ran an
der forced draught and arrived here one
hour ahead of scheduled time. The bay
makes a most excellent harbor and often
times the British Home, or Mediterra-
mean Fleet, anchors in it; also sometimes
the Germans make a visit. The sailboats
have some of the craziest rigs have ever
gazed upon. They look more like Chi
nese junks than sailboats. The American
consul here does not look to be beyond
the early twenties and is a mighty fine
looking young fellow. The American
consul at Client was a graduate OF the
Naval Academy. We shall be here four
or five days and shall have boat, swim
ming, and drills part of the time. We
shall have our liberty tomorrow. The
stop here is more for the purpose Of drill
ing than sightseeing as there is absolutely
nothing to see. Almost everybody on
board is broke fiat so that they could not
do much on shore. A friend paid me
back 81 90 of the $4,000 he borrowed so |
am all right. | shall get the remainder
at Cadiz, and also draw $3l 90 from my
account. | shall not get any mail till we