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

AN OFFICIAL'S WIFE

freely of the different refreshments a Filipino host
has learned to provide for his American guests, so,
when he was brought up later in the evening and
presented to me in proper Filipino style, his ears
conveyed to his brain only the words " Civil Commission." " The lady of the Civil Commission " is
the form the Filipinos always use in introducing me.
The captain, for such was his rank, hearing these
words, gazed meditatively beyond me, and repeated:
"Civil Commission! Civil Commission! I'd like
to pitch Civil Commission into Manila Bay!" And
then he smiled benevolently on me, and was beginning to repeat his wish when he was forcibly retired
from the room by his brother officers, repeating:
" Pitch-Civil-Commission-into-Manila-Bay!" It was
irresistibly funny, but at the same time it was painful, for the Filipinos were horrified, expecting
I should feel insulted, and would include them in
my displeasure. My host implored me to command
him to put the offender out of the house, protesting
he would willingly do it, no matter at what cost to
himself. The Filipinos stand in the same awe of
our officers that they did of the Spanish officials,
and permit almost any rudeness to pass unchallenged, because they have not yet learned the American point of view. Everyone knows how universal
is the belief that the civil and military authorities
in the Islands are not friendly to each other. This
is the first time I have ever encountered any expresI75