| Show A WRONGS the Nat national lonal review for august conf coarns taina A reminiscence of manila sy hy frank T bullen which recites things interesting and arousing amusing one of af his acquaintances described was a halfbreed half hilf breed sold der after telling of their meeting the writer goes on to cay atay after a while my friend grow grew confidential bout about a the difficulties of his life lahore until I 1 interposed with the innocent remark you dont seem to love the spaniards over much then a change came over the man dreadful to ee e from a meek spiritless creature be became to td all appearance a bloodthirsty I 1 demon with distorted features I 1 that would have served as a model for a statue of hatred with a string of those unutterably horrid blasphemies in which spanish speaking people axe are so proficient he assured d me that no death could be sufficiently dreadful no torture that could be devised painful for the punishment of that thrice accursed race in his opinion lon his vehemence was wae painful to witness the epithets hissing hi asing through his cien clenched ched teeth and his eyes glaring like those cd a maniac presently he calmed down somewhat omecha ome wha and taking I 1 lay arm he pointed along the coast to alo tf low point where I 1 could just distin aish it a few twinkling lights there ll 11 he be mid afes aes ues the little village where I 1 was barn my father was waa spaniard who boasted that his race ww too noble for anything inythe ng so degrading ing as work but who thought ft quite ot fit and proper that my mother a native of 4 luzon should I labor abor both for him gachis cold his miserable merable offspring I 1 was the youngest youji gt of five tour four boys and a girl eh each of whom se as soon as they grew old em enough to walk let alone borki bere rere e taken away from my mothers zoe ride she never saw them again for y for roe me my batner f was waa killed old enough to know what bafo benoie 1 I ww waa his arimes i iroe were I 1 at the thought that be received his 1118 deserts it atthe the bands of one of my mothers deopke who waylaid MIA him and hacked val sm to pieces one night ster alter a ho he had brutally flogged my poor mother and left her bleeding and insensible on the floor of our hut after this act of righteous justice we were left in peace for many years I 1 grew up into a strong healthy lad as passionately fond of my mother as she was of me and able to help her so that her hard life was no longer so bitterly severe as it had been she was a cripple having hid had her leg broken by my father before I 1 was born and been left to die or recover as ix might happen just like a wild animal the one fear that never left us both was that I 1 should be torn away from her as we had seen so many others hurried to manila by the soldiers for what purpose we never knew but they never came back again but by some strange oversight which I 1 do not even now understand I 1 was overlooked until I 1 was 20 years of at age the ever present terror was no less than it had been but somehow I 1 felt a proud confidence quite groundless in my ability to defend my liberty or escape it if ever I 1 should be seized and I 1 vowed to our ancient gods that nothing should keep me from my mothers side another tie dame also to bind me to my little home homb still closer if that had been possible the daughter of one of my mothers oldest fri friends endig was left an orphan and to save her f from roin the fate that in such a village as ours so near manila always overtakes our young women mother contrived to give her a shelter with us I 1 tell fell in love with her and we were married although I 1 was sorely put to it to pay the priests fee which I 1 was bound to do to have bave even the shadow of right to my own wife our marriage made no difference to our mode ot of living as we still occupied the same little but and all tolled hard to get a bit of food she was almost sua as fond off my mother as I 1 and although we had a hard struggle tor for a bare existence we were free and very happy our people want so little beside liberty then then how can I 1 tell you and he suddenly burst into a passionate fl flit t off weeping chich seemed as it if it would tea r him to pieces I 1 was distressed myself to see his agony but could offer no comfort at last he calmed down and proceeded in spite of the gloomy pru prospect W of difficulties in finding food for another mouth I 1 was waa overjoyed when leeula whispered to me her nope s and went about my work feeling bigger and stronger and swelling with importance but it was only the next day after I 1 had heard the news that as I 1 was returning home for the siesta leeque sprang out from a bush near the hut looking mad remd with fright hide hide she said the so soldiers idlers are in the village im sure take you away from me I 1 was stunned for a moment and unable to think before I 1 had recovered myself sufficiently to form any idea of where to go or what to do those internal infernal wretches had surrounded us then too I late ate I 1 made a dash for liberty fighting like a tiger but what could I 1 do in a minute I 1 was overpowered aed hand and toot foot and thrown into a stupefied heap on the ground ay they ml III used my poor girl my leeque before my eyes and tut ait the sight eight I 1 went mad I 1 remember no more until I 1 found myself in a filthy den in cavite my head shaven and my whole body aching and smarting with bruises and cuts they had bad been flogging me to hasten the recovery of my reason all my spirit was gone I 1 was no longer a man but a thing ahling and the happy past waa only a foolish dream impossible ever to have been real well with hundreds of at other unfortunates uke like myself all wolfish with hunger beaten spit at and tram pled upon continually I 1 was drilled and made into a soldier we driven like eattle cattle to fight to shoot down our own countrymen wherever they goaded to desperation had risen against their hellish masters you may perhaps wonder why we did not sooner soonee 3 die than consent to march ainest those who were fighting for foi our rightist rIght isk who were brave enough to stand against their oppressors I 1 cant answer you except by saying that w were no longer human beings we evea spied upon and betrayed one another in the hove hope of being flavo flavored ired with EL a ut lit tie more consideration a full meal or of so now and then pay we had none or any hope or release except by death and I 1 believe chait quite as many of VW were killed by our own officers abd by the spanish soldiers ihnat alwa always s fedt with us as ever we had the m misfortune to slay of our unfortunate 11 I 1 to tell you what I 1 have sem seen during this last ten years reproduce for you the scenes as they have occur a red I 1 believe you would die with hoi bor for I 1 have often heard that in your country you are really free and choose Y your 0 ur 0 own wn rulers who govern with jw t tice lee and truth and that you may reamy enjoy your lives without fear of beahe being robbed or beaten but not even babaa himself could surpass the knutten I 1 cruelty and rapacity of the in these islands even thedr own oo 00 thymen fare little better at their h handar than the natives oa tives they seem to haw no humanity left except that iff vile full of lust greed and cruelty ak have heard heaird that in their own cornut cou WV there axe are great and good men ens english fifie men and Amer americans loans have told me 96 I 1 1 how haw is it that none of them ever aoa here we were a gentle kindly croaa simple idour in our wants peaceful and babp ha py in our lives and they have made ot 1 f islands a very inferno for hundreds hundreds hundred 0 ot ai years I 1 pretend to worship their aka but in im my heart I 1 hate bate him for it if were not as they are why does he ia kaff thiem them continue to blight us 1 I never hard olf erf my mother OT or wife again years ago I 1 lost the lat faint hope that I 1 ever should and I 1 longer think of the possibility of gu aut a thing I 1 am now better off atea thousands of my fellows for I 1 often oft long spells like this on board lan en alte and american ships where I 1 am wei fed and kindly treated because y you A men with bearta he arta and the long sile do dio not hurt me for I 1 do not think lt t just bask like a well fed animal bat it makes the starvation ashore bwy hard to bear when I 1 have hame to 90 y boi akar to it again of course it is impossible for me te 10 indorse this poor wretches sad story baek nog could I 1 venture to reproduce it in V own words bristling with blasche end and cursing cur sings if if it sounds harsh of exaggerated it may be remembered r that my version is as milk aad wat to vitriol COMP compared with the corrosive virulence of his words As far an ae J batt iatt concerned my previous experience te ft c cuba toad bad prepared me for soane so testimony about spanish rule althou although gb I 1 never heard before so go much baw ing detail L |
