28 chapters
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28 chapters
Out of the Golden Gate. Chapter One.
Out of the Golden Gate. Chapter One.
The passengers threw small coins into the bay, and those aquatic, human bodies would gather them before they could reach the bottom. The city seemed like one vast tropical garden, with its waving palms, gorgeous foliage and flowers, gaily colored birds and spicy odors, but mingled with the floral fragrance were other odors that betokened a foreign population. It was my first experience in seeing all sorts and conditions of people mingling together—Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiians, English, Germans a
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First Glimpses of Japan. Chapter Two.
First Glimpses of Japan. Chapter Two.
While I watched all these new things, I was eagerly on the lookout for the wreck of the Morgan City, on which my son had sailed. Nothing was visible of the ill-fated ship but a single spar, one long finger of warning held aloft. As we passed on, watching the busy boats plying from shore to shore, the Chinese on the boat chattered and jabbered faster with each other than before; we fancied they were making fun of their little Japanese brethren. We arrived at Yokohama about 9 P. M., and were immed
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From Yokohama to Tokio. Chapter Three.
From Yokohama to Tokio. Chapter Three.
Yōmeimon Great Gate, Nikkō. The bells, the first tones of which came down through that magnificent forest of huge trees and echoing from the rocks of that wonderful ravine, will ever sound in my ears as an instant call to a reverential mood. The solemn music was unlike any tone I had ever heard before; now it seemed the peal of the trumpet of the Last Day, now a call to some festival of angels and arch-angels. As the first thrills of emotion passed, it seemed a benediction of peace and rest; the
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KOBE AND NAGASAKI.
KOBE AND NAGASAKI.
From Nikko we returned to Yokohama and thence by steamer to Kobe. The U. S. Consul, General M. Lyon, and his wife met me. They gave me the first particulars of the wreck of the Morgan City. Nothing could exceed their kindness during the two days of my stay there. Their familiarity with the language, the people, and the shops was a great help to me. And when we returned home, I found the little son of my hosts the most interesting object of all. Born in Kobe, cared for by a native nurse, an ama,
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Japan in General. Chapter Five.
Japan in General. Chapter Five.
Horses may be judged, in part, by the mouth; but the Japs may be wholly judged by the leg. It did distress me to ride after a pair of legs whose calves were abnormally large, whose varicose veins were swollen almost to bursting. As a rule, the men trot along with very little effort and, seemingly, have a very good time. They cheerfully play the part of both horseman and horse, of conductor, motineer and power. I never could get used to the number of Jinrickshas drawn up in front of the railroad
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In Shanghai. Chapter Six.
In Shanghai. Chapter Six.
At one point our hearts failed us. We came to a dark bridge; it looked so forbidding with its various windings, so frail in structure, so thronged, that we were timid about stepping upon it. Being assured that it was safe we ventured across. While it shook under our weight, we did not fall into the filthy frog-pond beneath. When we reached the center, there were a number of sleight-of-hand performers who were doing all sorts of curious things; bringing out of the stone pavement living animals, b
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Hong Kong to Manila. Chapter Seven.
Hong Kong to Manila. Chapter Seven.
The waters swarmed with craft of every fashion and every country. How beautiful they looked, our own great warships and transports! No large ship can draw nearer to shore than two or three miles. All our army supplies must be transferred by the native boats to the quartermaster’s department, there to be sorted for distribution to the islands where the troops are stationed. This necessitates the reloading of stores on the boats, to be transferred again to medium sized vessels to complete their jo
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Iloilo and Jaro. Chapter Eight.
Iloilo and Jaro. Chapter Eight.
Immense caravan trains go out from here to the various army posts to carry food and other supplies, while ships, like farm yards adrift, ply on the same errand between port and port. Cebu and Negros are the largest receiving stations. In the center of the town is the plaza or park. Here, after getting things in order, a pole was set, and the stars and stripes unfurled to the breeze. The quarters of our soldiers were near the park and so our boys had a pleasant place to lounge when off duty in th
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The Natives. Chapter Nine.
The Natives. Chapter Nine.
My next door neighbor was considered one of the better class of citizens, and through my window I could not help, in the two years of my stay, seeing much of the working part of her household. There were pigs, chickens, ducks, and turkeys, either running freely about the kitchen or tied by the leg to the kitchen stove. The floors of these kitchens are never tight; they allow the greater part of the accumulated filth of all these animals to sift through to the ground below. There were about fifte
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Wooings and Weddings. Chapter Ten.
Wooings and Weddings. Chapter Ten.
In contrast to this was the wholesale matrimonial bureau which was conducted every Saturday morning. I have seen as many as ten couples married all at once. I never knew which man was married to which woman, as the men stood grouped on one side of the priest and the women on the other. I asked one groom, “Which is your wife?” He scanned the crowd of brides a moment then said comfortably, “Oh, she is around somewhere.” I used to go to the cathedral on Saturdays to see the various ceremonies. The
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My First Fourth in the Philippines. Chapter Eleven.
My First Fourth in the Philippines. Chapter Eleven.
I prepared other dinners at various times, but this first spread was to them and to myself a very great pleasure. Letters from home were full of surprise that we still stayed though the war was over—the newspapers said it was. For us the anxiety and struggle still went on. To be sure there were no pitched battles but the skirmishing was constant; new outbreaks of violence and cruelty were daily occurring, entailing upon our men harassing watch and chase. The insurrectos were butchers to their ow
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Flowers, Fruits and Berries. Chapter Twelve.
Flowers, Fruits and Berries. Chapter Twelve.
The banana grows everywhere, and its varieties are as numerous as those of our apple; its colors, its sizes, manifold. Some about the size of one’s finger are deliciously sweet and juicy. They grow seemingly without any cultivation whatever, by the road as freely as in the gardens. Guavas are plentiful, oranges abundant but poor in quality. The pomelo is like our “grape fruit,” but larger, less bitter and less juicy. Cut into squares or sections and served with a sauce of white of egg and sugar
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The Markets. Chapter Thirteen.
The Markets. Chapter Thirteen.
The houses of the rich, while not cleanly and not well furnished, always have one large room in which stands a ring of chairs with a rug in the center of the floor and a cuspidor by each seat. You are ushered in and seated in one of these low square chairs, usually cane seated. After the courtesies of the day and the hostess’s comments on the fineness of your clothing, refreshments are brought in,—cigars, cigarettes, wine, cake, and preserved cocoanut. Sometimes American beer is added as possibl
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Philippine Agriculture. Chapter Fourteen.
Philippine Agriculture. Chapter Fourteen.
They have a camote, something like a sweet potato. Although it is watery and stringy it does very well and is called a good vegetable. They raise inferior tomatoes and very inferior garlic. It was a matter of great curiosity to the natives to see an American plow that was placed on exhibition at the British store. I am sure when they can take some of our good agricultural implements and turn the rich soil over and work it, even in a poor way, the results will be beyond anything we could produce
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Minerals. Chapter Fifteen.
Minerals. Chapter Fifteen.
Bolos are of all sizes and shapes and are made of steel or iron to suit the fancy of the person. Some are of the size and pattern of an old-fashioned corn cutter, handles of carved wood or carabao horn; sometimes made with a fork-like tip and waved with saw teeth edge. It is an indispensable tool in war and peace. There were none so poor as not to have a bolo. They made cannon, too, and guns patterned after our American ones. And sometimes cannon were made out of bamboo, bound around with bands
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Animals. Chapter Sixteen.
Animals. Chapter Sixteen.
Carabao and Riders. I used to spend most of my time threatening my driver that he would have to go to a calaboose if he did not stop abusing the animal. The horses are only caricatures. They are so small, so poorly kept, and so badly driven that one burns with indignation at the sight of them. There is no bit and the bridle is always bad. The nose piece is fitted tight and has on the under side a bit of horny fish skin, its spikes turned towards the flesh. These are jerked into the flesh of the
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Amusements and Street Parades. Chapter Seventeen.
Amusements and Street Parades. Chapter Seventeen.
Little boys often came with tiny birds which they had trained to do little tricks. One had snakes which he would twist around his bare body. And never was there a day without a cock fight. Sometimes the birds were held in check by strings attached to them, but it was a common occurrence to see groups of natives watching their birds fight to the finish at any time of day, Sundays not excepted. And they will all bet on the issue if it takes the last cent they have. They do not seem to enjoy it in
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Festivals of the Church. Chapter Eighteen.
Festivals of the Church. Chapter Eighteen.
It may be that these people need to be terrorized by the priests; certain it is that, when a priest walks through the village or when any of the people see him, they kneel and kiss his hand, if he is so gracious as to honor them with the privilege. The people bow down before him and reverence him though he may at any moment lift his cane and give them a good whack over the head or shoulders. I never saw this done, but several of our men told me they had seen it; and one captain told me that he s
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Osteopathy. Chapter Nineteen.
Osteopathy. Chapter Nineteen.
A Filipino general and his wife came again and again to see me; they brought a magnificent sunburst of diamonds which they urged me to accept with their greatest love and affection. I declined positively and absolutely. They seemed very much downcast that I would not accept this little token of their deep affection. They went home, but in about two hours came back, brought the diamonds, and again urged and urged so strongly that I finally consented to let the wife pin the elegant brooch on my dr
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The McKinley Campaign. Chapter Twenty.
The McKinley Campaign. Chapter Twenty.
W hen Governor Taft and other members of the peace commission were expected at Iloilo and Jaro, there were great preparations for several weeks before hand. The guests came to Jaro for a morning reception at the home of one of the wealthy citizens. The house had been beautifully decorated and the refreshments were served in the large room at the left of the hall; the buffet luncheon consisted of every kind of cake and sweetmeats, champagne, wine, and beer. The Filipino guests were in the large f
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Governor Taft at Jaro. Chapter Twenty-One.
Governor Taft at Jaro. Chapter Twenty-One.
I was the only American woman there until Mrs. Taft and other ladies with the peace commission arrived. Not wishing to sit solemnly in line gazing at these newly acquired sisters of mine, I ventured some remarks in Spanish about the weather and the coming guests. There was little response. My curiosity getting the better of me, I made bold to examine the gowns of these women for I had seldom seen before such handsome material, rich brocaded satins, cloth of gold wrought with seed pearls and jewe
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Shipwreck. Chapter Twenty-Two.
Shipwreck. Chapter Twenty-Two.
With innumerable ants, swarms of mosquitoes, lizards everywhere, rats by the million, mice, myriads of langoustas or grass-hoppers, long cockroaches, squeaking bugs, monkeys that stole everything they could lay their hands on, the fear of the deadly bolo, the dread each night of waking up amid flame and smoke, earthquakes, tornadoes, dreadful thunders and lightnings, torrents of water, life sometimes seemed hard; each new day was but a repetition of yesterday, and I used constantly to rely upon
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Filipino Domestic Life. Chapter Twenty-Three.
Filipino Domestic Life. Chapter Twenty-Three.
The irons used for pressing clothes are like a smooth, round-bottomed skillet, the inside is filled with lighted sticks and embers. The operator, who sits on the floor, passes this smoking mass over the thing to be pressed. The article, when finished, looks as if it had been sat upon. One Palm Sunday I visited five different churches in all of which were palms in profusion, woven into almost innumerable forms; fishes, birds in and out of cages, trees, fruits, flowers, crosses, crowns, sceptres,
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Islands Cebu and Romblom. Chapter Twenty-Four.
Islands Cebu and Romblom. Chapter Twenty-Four.
The cathedral of Cebu, built of stone, is especially fine. It has for its Patron Saint, a babe, Santa Niña. The story is that at one time there were a great many babies stricken with a malady; the parents vowed if the Holy Mother would spare their children they would build this cathedral. One of the largest prisons is at Cebu. We were shown many of the dungeons; there were then confined within those walls many very bad Insurrectos. As we were eager to visit one of the large estates, we were give
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Literature. Chapter Twenty-Five.
Literature. Chapter Twenty-Five.
There may have been books here, once, but nothing was left when our troops occupied it except a few pictures on the walls, a few tables and desks, a few chairs and sleeping mats. Carabao Cart. There was a little story in connection with the bell tower on one side of the plaza in Jaro; this tower was about eighty feet high, had a roof and niches for seven or eight good sounding bells. From the top of this tower one could see many miles in every direction; when the Philippine army fled from the to
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The Gordon Scouts. Chapter Twenty-Six.
The Gordon Scouts. Chapter Twenty-Six.
If I have any courage I owe it to my grandmother. I will perhaps be pardoned if I say that all my girlhood life was spent with my Grandmother Bronson, a very small woman , weighing less than ninety pounds, small featured, always quaintly dressed in the old-fashioned Levantine silk with two breadths only in the skirt, a crossed silk handkerchief with a small white one folded neatly across her breast, a black silk apron, dainty cap made of sheer linen lawn with full ruffles. She it was who entered
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Trials of Getting Home. Chapter Twenty-Seven.
Trials of Getting Home. Chapter Twenty-Seven.
“Mrs., you no got husband?” “No.” “You no got all same boys.” “Yes, I have three nice boys.” “Why no then you three boys not come and help poor sick mother go home to die?” Captain John E. Weber, of the Thirty-Eighth Volunteers returning home on transport Logan, insisted upon my taking his state room. The quarter-master, who had refused me so many times before, thought that he could not allow it, anything so out of the “general routine of business;” but Captain Weber said, “On no account will I
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