Mexico weekly ledger., 1921-09-15

soItor OF me Ledger, who Is teaching
Journalism in the College of Agricul-
ture, of the Philippines Island, writes
the following interesting letter of her
"Trip Gro the Pacific and her ex-
periences since landing:
College of Agriculture,
Los Banos, LAguna,
Luzon, P. /,
July %, 1921.
My Ledger Friends
The days drift by. l am already in
fected with the virus Of the Orient,
that disregard of the passing of time
which infects one as soon as he sets
foot on Eastern soil. The Tropics
the land Of well-meaning and ever-in-
tending.
Here l sit at my desk overlooking
Iaguna Bay with jagged mountains
beyond her further shore and turning
my head ever SO slightly, l see Bana-
hAo's lofty head wreathed with chit
fon clouds. The winds and showers
come. marching down Mount Maquel-
ing, erich with legend) and the
bananas bow obeisance and the acacia
tree scatters her poppy-red petals in
the billowing grasses.
Los Banos is a paradise of tropical
beauty. I live on a foothill Of Mount
Maqueling and the college buildings
stand in the valley below. The col
lege is worn-well equipped, and af-
fords instruction to nearly six hun
bred students. In this department of
the university, we have the boys in
various degrees from savagery up
most of them barefoot, some wearing
chenales, and many wearing pineapple
b1ouses, and two thirds of them dress
shirt-tail-out. In Manila, the uni
versity boys are CLOSED over with an
American veneer and are more dam
dified. / think we come nearer the
real heart of the Philippine people in
our contact with these boys out here.
] have twelve dialect groups repre-
scented among the 1876 boys under my
care. l also have a few Chinese and
japanese.
In spite of the discomforts of pion-
Ger life, the nibbling of the knick-
knickks and the branding of the mos
-quitoes land the various NEGOTIATIONS
] have undergone, the malaria that
looms ever in the foreground, a dreary
spectre,-I can not repent my adven-
ture. My trip out to Vancouver open
ed up new worlds to one who knew
only the Middle West and a bit of the
South. The great Canadian plains
whose utter desolation and dreary ex-
panse weigh and depress, neverthe-
less fascinate. And later those superb
gray and buff rock castles towering
above the pine clad bases and capped
and laced with snow. The pines, the
frs-the many-fingered firs-tht
flowers, the noisy mountain rivers
the reckless falls, the placid lakes, the
blue mountains the wilds of British
Columbia, the gorges, more green
rivers, the lockwood finging her stars
out among the first, the ferns grow
ing out of the rocks-I am neither
naturalist nor artist.
As the train drew into the yards ]
looked toward the harbor and saw
the Empress of Russia cleaning
white on the blue water under a blue
sky. She was late in sailing, so
had two days in which to enjoy Van
couver with the ruddy checked Brit
fishers.
Aboard, on the twenty-seventh Of
May, I watched the filling of the hole
and the closing of the matches accom-
panied by the unintelligible shouting
of the Chinese sailors, and at ter
o'clock we silently slid out of the har'
Dor, the lights of Vancouver twink.
ling behind us.
/ was never really sea-sick, tho ]
did experience that dull swimming
head with inability to think connect.
eddy. But the rail was not for me. ]
reserved no space there. At last
Japan, mixture of heavenly beauty
and squalor, the immaculate and filth
silk and rags. There vas the beauty
of the miniature mountains of fan
tastic shapes, folding in the smooth
waters of the harbors; there were
twinklink fishing fleets on the black
ocean of night; there were curious
sail boats, both alert and listless, wet
and glistening in the sun.
Ashore, we dashed past diseased
street jewellers, rischa men pressing
swarming like magots , beady-eyedi
Muscular, and stepped into shops to
marvel at pieces of carved ivory, sat
suma and other choice pieces Of art
1t is this cuirouh iuxtaposition of de-
graduation and art, misery and ebautyl
which is the first impression Of japan,
Bonnie Cline, a Missouri boy now
working on the Japan Advertiser as
the Yokahoma representative, met me
in Yokahoma and together we went to
Toxic where several former class
mates, now on the Advertiser, dropped
out Of the rush long enough to give
me agunabe party at a quaint funny
tea-house, and to show me other de-
liphts Of Tnkin. had also a perfect