and vegetables and all that the market called for was an unexpected
disclosure. There were unfailing resources up the river or a multitude
of indications were inaccurate. The General's palace is more spacious
than convenient; the dining room designed for stately banquets, but
the furniture of the table was not after the manner of feasts, though
the best the country afforded, and the supply of meat improved daily,
while the fruit told of the kindly opulence of the tropics.

There was a work of art in the palatial headquarters that the
commanding general highly appreciated--a splendid but somber painting
of the queen regent in her widow's weeds, holding the boy king as a
baby on her right shoulder, her back turned to the spectator, gloomy
drapery flowing upon the carpet, her profile and pale brow and dark
and lustrous hair shown, her gaze upon the child and his young eyes
fixed upon the spectator. This picture has attracted more attention
than any other in Manila, and the city is rich in likenesses of the
queen mother and the royal boy, who, without fault have upon them
the heavy sorrows of Spain in an era of misfortune and humiliation;
and it will take some time for the Spanish people, highly or lowly
placed, to realize that the loss of colonies, as they have held them,
is a blessing to the nation and offers the only chance of recuperation
and betterment in Spain's reputation and relations with the world.

The governor-general's palace, with General Merritt for General, was
a workshop, and the highly decorated apartments, lofty and elaborate,
were put to uses that had an appearance of being incongruous. The
cot of the soldier, shrouded in a mosquito bar, stood in the midst of
sumptuous furniture, before towering mirrors in showy frames, and from
niches looked down marble statues that would have been more at home
in the festal scenes of pompous life in the sleepy cities of dreamy
lands. There was no more striking combination than a typewriting
machine mounted on a magnificent table, so thick and resplendent
with gold that it seemed one mass of the precious metal--not gilt,
but solid bullion--and the marble top had the iridescent glow of a sea
shell. This was in the residence of the General, his dining and smoking
rooms and bedrooms for himself and staff, the actual headquarters
being next door in the residence of the secretary-general. Here was
a brilliant exhibition of mirrors, upon some of which were paintings
of daint