y of the Philippines. The old walls of
this inner city were built some four hundred years ago and could they
speak, the whole world would listen with amazement and horror. There
were seven gates in this old wall and they were closed and opened by
means of gigantic windlasses.

Then, too, the story of the old Fort Santiago almost rivals that of the
Tower of London. Here were found, when we took it, mysterious
underground passages, store rooms and magazines, dark and hidden
chambers some of which were nearly half filled with skeletons. The
stories that center around this old fort make one shudder to hear them.
Possibly they are exaggerated, but there are many today who believe
them. As an example, we are told that a woman had been walled up in a
cell, with only a small opening through which food was shoved in, the
day her baby was born and when the Americans came they found her and her
sixteen-year-old child in this dark room. The child had never had even a
glimpse of the sunlight.

When I climbed upon this old fort and saw the stars and stripes waving
in the breeze, where for more than three hundred years the Spanish
emblem had terrorized the people, I thought of the mighty changes that
the American flag had brought. That memorable day in 1898 when our own
General Merritt met the Spanish governor-general and arranged for the
surrender of the city, was one of the greatest days in the history of
the orient.

People in Manila slept but little that eventful night for somehow they
had gotten the idea that the coming morning would be their day of doom.
When the sun arose they hardly breathed. For a whole week they were
afraid to venture from their homes. But there was no pillage, no plunder
and no bloodshed. When the amazed people found courage to venture out,
their astonishment knew no bounds. It was almost too good to be true
that American occupation meant the dawning of a new, and for them, a
glorious day, and it is not surprising that such a report could be given
as Governor General Harrison submitted in 1919.

Soon after he came from the Philippines I heard Rev. Homer C. Stuntz
recount many of his experiences there and will give a single one of
these as memory recalls it. As Bishop of the Methodist church he had
been there about six months when one day a fine looking young Filipino
came to his home and asked for a private interview. He insisted on
having doors and windows closed and blinds all down. Mr. Stuntz said he