lovely nautilus spreading its sails on the surface,
and the huge devil-fish sprawling at the bottom of the shallow pools,
with its many tentacles thrown out on every side.

With innumerable ants, swarms of mosquitoes, lizards everywhere,
rats by the million, mice, myriads of langoustas or grass-hoppers,
long cockroaches, squeaking bugs, monkeys that stole everything they
could lay their hands on, the fear of the deadly bolo, the dread
each night of waking up amid flame and smoke, earthquakes, tornadoes,
dreadful thunders and lightnings, torrents of water, life sometimes
seemed hard; each new day was but a repetition of yesterday, and I
used constantly to rely upon the assured promises--Psalms XCI:

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty.

"I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress: my God:
in him will I trust.

"Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from
the noisome pestilence.

"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt
thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

"Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow
that flieth by day;

"Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the
destruction that wasteth at noonday.

"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand;
but it shall not come nigh thee.

"Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the
wicked.

"Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most
High, thy habitation;

"There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh
thy dwelling.

"For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all
thy ways.

"They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot
against a stone.

"Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the dragon shalt thou trample
under feet.

"Because he hath set his love upon thee, therefore will I deliver him:
I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

"He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in
trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

"With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation."

Looking down from my window every day into the faces of six or more
dead bodies that were brought to the cathedral, I knew that "The
pestilence was walking in the darkness."

FILIPINO DOMESTIC LIFE.

CHAPTER TWENTY-T