Unofficial letters of an official's wife [by] Edith Moses.

UNOFFICIAL LETTERS OF

on both sides, and Piang stated that the Moros so
loved the representatives of the American Government that should they leave Mindanao he and his
men would follow them to America. Judge Taft
politely answered that he would be glad to have them
visit the United States. Piang, emboldened by this
affability, made the following statement which I
shall give just as the interpreter translated it:
" After the American troops came here, a colonel of
the Spanish army arrived here and he says to me:
' What (lid you do with the cross and ribbon and
band that I gave you?' 'Pooh,' he, Piang, says:
'I threw them into the river,' and he, the Spanish
colonel, says: 'What did you do that for?' and
he, Piang, says:' When the American troops came
here, they gave me the American flag, and that is
all I wanted, and everything the Spaniards gave me
I threw into the water.' He, the Spanish colonel,
says: ' He, Piang, ought not to have thrown the
cross and band into the river, because the American
Government was just as bad as the Spanish Government,' and he, Piang, says:' No, the American Government, when they came here, have treated me
like a brother,' and he, Piang, says: 'When the
Spanish Government came it raised hell and fight
us all the time.'" With utmost gravity Judge
Taft thanked him again, and Piang walked off, followed by his betel-nut box bearer and slave, feeling,
I am sure, that he had made a good impression.
I04