to American tinned fruits and vegetables.  I ate rice, fish, and bananas with the best grace I could; and when, after a month of boarding, I decided to set up housekeeping, and one of these ladies surreptitiously and with fear and trembling presented me with a can of concentrated lye, my gratitude knew no bounds.  My Filipino servant, named Romoldo, whom I had dubbed “The Magnificent,” was set to work cleaning up my prospective dwelling; and I went out and secured the services of a trooper of the Tenth Cavalry to supplement the deficiencies in Romoldo’s housecleaning instincts by some American brawn and muscle.

The trooper, a coal-black African, had picked up a great deal of Spanish, which he spoke with the corruption of vowel sounds peculiar to his race and color.  In addition to collecting the stipend agreed upon, he incidentally borrowed two dollars (U.S.) of me.  Now, I was brought up in Missouri and knew enough of the colored race to be sure that I was bidding a fond adieu to the two dollars when I handed them to the trooper.  But I was not prepared for my henchman’s persistence in having the extension of time made formal.  I was willing to forget the two dollars and have done with them, but the African would not permit them to rest in peace.  He presented himself regularly every two weeks to ask for another fortnight’s extension.  Finally, when the regiment was about to leave the Islands, I insisted that he should accept the two dollars as an evidence of my good-will toward the United States Army and the defenders of the flag, and he was graciously pleased so to do.

The trooper’s muscles were strong as his habits of renewal, and he and Romoldo scoured the floors of my new establishment until the shiny black accretions of twenty-five years of petroleum and dirt had given way to unpolished roughness, and then I set to work to get a new polish.  Then we took hold of the furniture—­heavy, wooden, Viennese stuff—­and scrubbed it with zeal.  My landlord came to look in occasionally and was hurt.  He said plaintively that they had had no contagious diseases, and he asked why this deluge of soap and water.  I basely declined to admit the flat truth, which was that the floors and chairs were too greasy for my taste, but attributed our energy to a mad American zeal for scouring.  He said, “Ah, costumbre!” and seemed to feel that the personal sting of my actions had been removed.

In due time the house was clean, and I moved in.  The sala, or drawing-room, was at least forty by thirty feet, with two sides arcaded and filled with shell windows, which, when drawn back, gave the room almost the open-air effect of a gallery.  It was furnished with two large gilt mirrors, a patriarchal cane-seated sofa, several wooden armchairs, eleven majolica pedestals for holding jardinieres, and two very small tables.  These last-named articles “the Magnificent” placed at the head of the apartment in such a position as to divide its cross wall into thirds, and then