is in the square. Oh my,
though, but I wish you had n't reminded me of that hen, Mrs. Lathrop,
her tail never will come in straight again I don't believe, an' she's
forever hoppin' off her eggs to look out of the window since she had
that scare."

Mrs. Lathrop frowned and looked very sympathetic.

"But about this book," Susan went on after a second of slightly
saddened reflection. "I'm goin' to tell you all about it. Elijah 's
goin' to write a editorial about it, too. Elijah says this business of
downtreadin' our only colony has got to be stopped short right now as
soon as he can call the government's attention to how to do it.

"Well, the book begins very mild an' pleasant with Hongkong an' it ends
with the Philippine accounts. Seems Hongkong ain't Chinese for all it's
named that an' growed there--it's English--an' as for the Philippines
there's eight millions of 'em, not countin' the wild ones as they can't
catch to count an' ask questions. In between Hongkong an' the
Philippines the man who wrote the book runs around that part of the
world pretty lively an' tells who owns it an' what kind of roads they've
got an' who'd better govern 'em an' all like that. You might think from
hearin' me as he sort of put on airs over knowin' so much himself, but
it don't sound that way a _tall_ in the book. It's when he finally got
to the Philippines as any one can see as he really did begin to enjoy
himself. He enjoyed himself so much that he really made me enjoy myself,
too, although I can't in reason deny as I felt as I might not of been
quite so happy only for that firecracker. The kind of things he says
about our doin's in those countries is all what you don't get in the
papers nor no other way, an' if the United States really feels they're
in the right as to how they're actin' all they need to do is to read how
wrong they are in that book where a man as really knows what he's
talkin' about has got it all set down in black an' white. I don't
believe it's generally knowed here in America as Dewey took Aguinaldo
an' his guns over to Manila an' give him his first start at fightin' an'
called him 'general' for a long time after they'd decided in Washington
as how he was n't nothin' but a rebel after all. I never knowed anythin'
about that, an' I will remark as I think there's many others as don't
know it, neither, an' I may in confidence remark to you, Mrs. Lathrop,
as that book leads me to think as the main trouble with the Phili