. A story from the Philippines . , Antonio grinned and said, Antoniolikes Senor Billys Santa, Antonio want toride in Americano Santas sleigh. I said,Yes, little man, and so would all your lit- 52 A Story from the Philippines. tie American cousins. But Santa nevertakes any, as he cant take all, because thensome one or other would surely be unhappy,and that would never do. All must be loveand happiness on Christmas day. Andthen I described the Christmas tree; orrather tried to, for it is indeed beyond de-scription, my little ones. It is only dis-tance—heartaching distance from home andChristmas
. A story from the Philippines . , Antonio grinned and said, Antoniolikes Senor Billys Santa, Antonio want toride in Americano Santas sleigh. I said,Yes, little man, and so would all your lit- 52 A Story from the Philippines. tie American cousins. But Santa nevertakes any, as he cant take all, because thensome one or other would surely be unhappy,and that would never do. All must be loveand happiness on Christmas day. Andthen I described the Christmas tree; orrather tried to, for it is indeed beyond de-scription, my little ones. It is only dis-tance—heartaching distance from home andChristmas that teaches us how indescrib-ably dear it all is. Marchan had listened asattentively as Antonio. I looked up at her. She was standing verystill, with one finger on her lips for silenceand was pointing with the other hand. Ilooked in the direction she was pointing,and I saw the queerest looking group ofFilipino children. They had been attractedby our voices, and were looking with openeyed curiosity at our strange party. For of. ofee p rH— 0 PH -*-?0) o 1-5 O-u 33 h-1 aj O THE ;K PUBLIC LI il B Christmas Day. 53 course we presented a strange sight to theselittle savages. It was indeed unusual to seea Filipino lady and child with an Americansoldado, and talking in a friendly did not seem to notice that I hadceased to speak, but stood staring at us inopen-mouthed wonder. Senorita Marchan laughed a low, amusedlaugh. She said to me, And you call themyour Filipino cousins ? I shook my headin disgust and said, No, I am more choicein my selection of relatives. I would like tobe able to pick my cousins in these fairislands. I looked at these savage littlewretches again. There were five of were almost naked. One of them car-ried two bolos (swords) and the biggest onea spear. In strong contrast to them came apicture in my mind of five other little chil-dren at home; and I shouted to the young 54 A Story from the Philippines. insurrectos, Vamose—(Go away, quick)
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidstoryfromphi, bookyear1902
