The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-07-14
A Far Call From Washington, d. C.-Agana, the Capltal,
a Town of Thatched Native Houses-The Natives a
Study in Lights and Shades-By No Means a Bad
Place to Live-Governor a Man Who Stands For
Civic Decency.
tBy Paul L. Cheek, Superintendent OF
Schools i'm Guam.)

tnlS year. L stopped at OKlanoind,
Okla. n Berkeley, Cal, to visit rel
atives, and sailed on the u. S. Army
transport Thomas from San Francisco,
Cal, March 5. The Thomas arrived
at Honolulu, T. H., March II, and lay
there until noon March IA, discharg-
ing argoes.
Fellow Passengers.
Major William Il. Wooten, I. ). A.
Engineers, a native Of Lenoir county,
n. c., embarked on the Thomas at
Honolulu, at which city he had had
station for three years.
Those of us who were at the n
versity in the early nineties remem-
Der Major Wooten as a gigantic sub
stitute on perhaps the greatest foot
ball team ever at Chapel Hill, a
scholar of exceptional parts, and one
Of those rare colleSians who possess
the power Of getting things. or simply
understanding subjects, withOut ap-
parent effort. Whenever there were
gatherings on the campus, Wooten
hove in sight; everybody knew him;
everybody liked him. No one recOg-
nized him as particularly studious so
far as textbooks are concerned; but
he was, and Is, a master in dealing
with abstract questions; took del1ght
comic secHons-ready to clear up
n difficulty for n of his fellows in
the miracles of the subject; versed
III history anu llteIdluTc, Hc tlSu L
any other man OF any subject known
to college life and learning. If l mis-
AXE not he stood third in the class
of '93, and was the next year ap-
pointed to the Military Academy from
which he graduated second in his
class in 1898. He played on the foot
ball team at West Point, and upon
graduation from the Academy was
assigned to the Engineer Corps.
Among the notable engineering
projects in which he has engaged was
the building Of the filtration plant at
Washington. He served as instructor
at West Point; had station at Manila,
and was for a time at San Francisco
and Governors Island. In spite Of
the 20 years and more cor since his
distinguished college career ended, he
Is much the same as when he was at
Chapel Hill and possessed Of the same
qualities of goodfellowship hat char
acteriZed his college days-simple and
democratic in his tastes and habits.
Problems in engineering and con-
struction Of course he deals with and
delights in, but the life Of a soldier
has no whit lessened his interest in
literature, philosophy, history and
politics. He strikes me as first an
American gentleman and afterwards
a soldier, n at the best in both. He
came to Guam for a stay of 10 days
btSPCSllhS ~ lOl
Another passenger aboard the
Thomas, bound for Manila, was Lieut.
i. j.. j. Christian, grandson of Stone
wall Jackson. 1t seems to me a study
Of his face and unassuming character
n mOdesty brings out marked re-
semblances to his illustrious ancestor
General Gordon relates in his Rem
iniscences' that six soldiers, l believe
of the name Of Christian, and neal
relations of the young lieutenant
were killed in one engagement in
which General Gordon took part in thu
Civil War. Thus Lieut.. Christian
comes of fighting stock on both side.
of the house.
Arrives at Destination.
I arrived at Guam March &c. From
Washington, d. c., to Guam is a fal
call. You will pardon the concei
when l say it required hardihood OF
my part to quit the spacious American
capital for the Mariana Islands. in tn
Pacific, nearly 5000 miles from Sal
Francisco, where mail from the State,
arrives only once a month.
Guam to the lay mind is uninterest
Ing, small, uninviting, the averag
American, a bit arrogant, regardin;
all outer" places with a sort of pity
If not contempt. as not being 'Ameri
can" But a residence Of -four week
in Guam-on my part a residence no
biased by too long or too short
stay, perhaps-recals the lines Of tn
Duke, Senior" in "As You Like IT,
And this our life exempt from pub
lie haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in tn
running brooks,
I would not change it,"
The Capital.
Agana, the old Spanish and tn
present American. capital of the is
and of Guam, is five miles from Apr
harbor and the port of Pitt, and sit
uated on the west coast Of the islam,
Any number Of bull carts and apollo
getic chariots drawn by patient cara
boas the bulls are likewise patien
but better t%rotters than the caraboas
autos, and a few carriages with hors,
or ponies attached, meet the arriva
from the transport each transpo
day, which, by the way, is a red-lett'
day in Guam. BY these means tt
price Of transportation increasing a
cording to the mode, passengers fro