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1HE IRR1GAIION AGE, 



THE GENTLE FILIPINO. 

 I have chases the fierce Apache 



Through his God- forsaken land: 

 I have tracked the daring horse-thief 



Where his footprints marked the sand; 



I have summered with the robbers 



Down at Conep-by-the-Sea, 

 But the gentle Filipino say, 



He beats them all for me. 



He beats them all for me, my son, 



*The whole immortal lot, 

 In his slushy, mushy country, 



Where the climate's good and hot. 



I have tracked the red and yellow, . 



And I've tracked the wild and tan 

 But the gentle Filipino is 



The high, low, jack and game. 



With his timid little manner 

 And his sweet and loving smile; 



And his easy way of swearing that 

 He loves you all the while. 



With a white flag on his shanty 

 Hanging out to catch the eye, 



And his little rifle ready 

 To plunk you by-and-by 



For to plunk you by-and-by, my boy. 



To shoot you in the back, 

 And to slip away as swiftly as 



A sprinter down the track, 



To come around when they plant 



Just to drop a little tear. 

 For the gentle Filipino is 



A tender-hearted dear. 



He's as gentle as a kitten, 



And his pastime, as a rule, 

 Is to shoot the flag-of-truce man 



As a sort of April fool. 

 And if he can find a tree-top 



To climb to with his gnn, 

 And pick ofi the lad that's wounded- 



Then he knows he's having fun; 

 He knows he's having fun, boys, 



A grand, good time all 'round 

 They look so awkward tumbling 



From the stretchers to the ground.. 



And it is such fun to shoot them 

 And kill them where they lay, 



For the gentle Filipino loves 

 His sweet and childish play. 



And I know I am a blacksmith, 

 'Cause the pamphlets saj's I am; 



But I think I'll keep a fighting 

 Just the same for Uncle Sam 



Just the same for Uncle Sam, boys 



And just bear this in mind: 

 And that the watch-dog's better than 



The cur that sneaks behind. 



And I'll try to bear up somehow 

 Under this my murd'rous taint, 



For the gentle Filipino 



Is a darned queer kind of saint. 



JOSEPH L. AGNELL. 



Company E. Fourth United States Infantry. 

 Manila, P. I., March 19, 1901, 



A WOMAN'S WORK. 

 When breakfast things are cleared away 



The same old problem's rising, 

 For she again pits down to think 



Of something appetizing. 

 The dinner she must soon prepare, 



Or give the cook directions, 

 And great is the relief she feels 



When she has made selections. 



When dinner things are cleared away 



The problem that is upper 

 Is just the same with 'one word changed 



''What can I get for supper?" 

 She wants to give them something new, 



And long is meditation, 

 Till choice is made, and then begins 



The work of preparation. 



That "woman's work is never done" 



Has often been disputed, 

 But that she's worried is a fact 



And cannot be refuted. 

 The worry over what to eat 



Is greatest of these questions, 

 And glad she'd be if someone else 



Would make the meal "suggestions." 



Pittsburg Dispatch. 



