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The master was angry, declared he would not have his authority questioned and left the party. A ball was given in the town of Jaro by the officers who were there and in the town of Iloilo. Army, navy, ladies, and nurses from the hospital were invited.
There was, first, a broiled fish, fresh from the river, with boiled yams; then a few roast plantains not more than a dozen, I think; then the roast rib of a cow; a few handfuls of boiled rice; and yes, I think that was all, except a bowl of jaro' the latter being a kind of native beer.
There was a little story in connection with the bell tower on one side of the plaza in Jaro; this tower was about eighty feet high, had a roof and niches for seven or eight good sounding bells.
I know that one young officer was offered $100,000 to marry the daughter of one of the richest men in the town of Molo, and it was a great wonder to the father that the young man could refuse so brilliant a match socially, to say nothing of it financially. There happened to be a young Englishman in the regular service whose time expired while he was at Jaro.
One blind woman, who lived on the road from Iloilo to Jaro, had collected seventy-five "mex," only to have it stolen by her sister. Complaint was made to the military commander, but it was found that the money had been spent and that there was no redress to be had. About three miles from Jaro was quite a leper colony, shunned, of course, by the natives.
None of the inhabitants of Jaro attend, as yet; they fear to do so, since they are under the strict surveillance of the padre, and are in the shadow of the seminary for priests, the educational center of the island of Panay. The Protestant minister is a graduate of this institution and is subject to all imaginable abuses and insults.
A good sized garden shovel on one side and a big canvas bag on the other expedites bank transactions in the islands. At the time of the evacuation of Jaro by the insurrectos, our officers chose their quarters from the houses the natives had fled from. The house which we occupied had formerly been used as the Portuguese Consulate.
I took a tiny bird that was never known to so much as chirp, but he grew fond of me, would perch upon my shoulder or would turn his little head right or left as if to ask if I were pleased with his silent attentions. The last morning of my stay in Jaro I went to the window and set him free but he immediately came back and clung to my hand.
I used often to see a family straggling along with anywhere from ten to twenty children, seemingly all of a size, going to locate at some other place. One family came to Jaro the night before market day. They had about six dozen of eggs. I said I would buy all of them; the woman cried and said she was sorry, as she would have nothing to sell in the market place the next day.
From early dawn until 9 A. M. carriages were carrying these delicate creatures to their secret stations. Not one of them in the whole village of Jaro but was on the watch. They supposed, of course, that I would be so interested that I would take a prominent part; that executions were common festivals in the United States.
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