at home in the states had celebrated it for him two days ago—­one day he had lost, and the other they had gained.  Jagor, the historian of the Philippines, before the days when Admiral Dewey grasped the reins of a thousand islands, and a thousand to spare, says in his “Philippine Islands,” that “when the clock strikes 12 in Madrid, it is 8 hours 18 minutes and 41 seconds past 8 in the evening at Manila.  The latter city lies 124 degrees 40 min. 15 sec. east of the former, 7 h. 54 min. 35 sec. from Paris.  But it depends upon whether you measure time by moving with the sun or the other way.  If westward the course of empire takes its way, Manila is a third of a day catching up with Madrid time.  If we face the morning and go to meet it Manila is ahead.  The absence of the right day for Sunday has long been gravely considered by the missionaries who have gone to heathen lands beyond the mysterious meridian that spoils all the holidays.  One might establish a bank on that line and play between days, but there is only one little speck of land on the 180 degree meridian from pole to pole.

It may be very well worth considering whether the United States should not reestablish the 31st of December in Manila, and assert that we hold title to the Philippines not only by the victories of the fleet and armies of the United States, but by the favor of Alexander VI, whose bull the Spaniards disregarded after it had grown venerable with three centuries of usage.  We quote a Spanish historian who colors his chapters to make a favorable show for his country on this subject, as follows:  “From the Spaniards having traveled westwards to the Philippines, there was an error of a day in their dates and almanacs.  This was corrected in 1844, when, by order of the Captain-General and the Archbishop, the 31st of December, 1844, was suppressed, and the dates of Manila made to agree with those of the rest of the world.  A similar correction was made at the same time at Macao, where the Portuguese who had traveled eastward had an error of a day in an opposite direction.”  It will be noticed that the authority of the Archbishop was carefully obtained and quoted, but it was beyond his prerogative.

The early history of the Philippines bears few traces of the traditions and romances of the natives, but they were in possession of an alphabet when “discovered,” and were then, as now, fond of music, singing their own melodies.  The Hawaiians were enabled to get their old stories into print because they suddenly fell into the hands of masterful men who had a written language.  The Icelanders were too literary for their own good, for they spoiled their history by writing it in poetry and mixing it with fiction, losing in that way the credit that belongs to them of being the true discoverers of America.  The Filipinos were spared this shape of misfortune, not that they lacked imagination within a narrow range of vision, but they were wanting in expression, save in unwritten