d
wardrobe. When she had gathered up a full bundle, she rushed off to
a place of safety, deposited it and came back for more. Meanwhile I
had gathered up some silver and other valuables, and locked them in a
trunk. Ceferiana helped me to carry this out, and as we were returning,
the sweep of the flames seemed to be almost engulfing our house. For
the first time Ceferiana gave a thought to her own possessions. With
a wail--"Ah, Dios mio, mi ropa!" ("Oh, my God! my clothes!")--she
sank down on her knees, beating her breast, and bewailing the loss
of a wardrobe made up chiefly from my cast-off garments, but even
then far richer than that of most girls of her class.

About this time the American men began to arrive on the scene,
and though they would not permit us to return to the house, they
chivalrously rescued Ceferiana's possessions as well as mine.

The lady who lived with me had some time before discharged a servant
for a cause which we others considered not very just. She was timid,
and as her husband was away, she was unwilling to permit the servant
to leave the premises for even a brief time. Filipino servants simply
cannot be handled in that way. A certain amount of time for recreation
and pleasure is their just due, and they will have it. Adolphus,
robbed of his _paseo_, reported that his grandmother was dying, and
demanded an evening off to visit her. His mistress happened to take a
walk that evening and beheld Adolphus the perfidious, not sitting by a
dying grandmother, but tripping the light fantastic in a nipa shack,
eight by twelve. She forthwith discharged Adolphus, and even levied
on the services of a friendly constabulary officer to thrash him
with a _stingaree_, or sting ray cane. Adolphus retaliated by forging
her husband's name to some chits for liquors. She had him arrested,
prosecuted, and jailed. He had just finished his sentence when the
fire came. He was almost the first person to appear, and worked like
a Trojan for two hours, his services being of no mean value. I think
the reader will agree with me that Adolphus showed a Christian and
forgiving spirit.

The End

NOTE

[1] Since the writing of the above sentence, one American woman has
been murdered in Batangas, one young girl violated in Manila, and
knowledge has come to the writer of three cases of attempted assault
on American women, which were kept out of the newspapers.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Woma