THE NEW HOME.
SO it came to pass that Alila went to a new home. It was not hard work
to get ready, for there was little to move. The old buffalo that had
grown up with his young master was able to carry on his broad back
everything owned by the entire family. He could easily have taken more,
too!
The women rode on ponies and the men walked beside the buffalo. No one
seemed to feel sad, although it had been an easy, happy life on the
little farm and the sugar planter had always been kind.
Their fellow workmen were Tagals like themselves; they would find many
Chinese labourers on the hemp plantation, at least they had been told
so. But they did not care for that.
There are many Chinamen in the Philippines, and they agree very well
with their Tagal neighbours and the people of the many other tribes.
Alila has a cousin married to a Chinese merchant in Manila and some
time he is going to visit her.
As they journeyed onward they passed a party of Americans. Alila's
mother called:
"Come nearer to me, my child. Stay by my side."
She had a fear of white faces of which she could not rid herself.
The Spaniards had been cruel to her people, she well knew. And now
that these others from far-away lands had taken the power from the
Spaniards, she felt that they, too, would be hard and unkind.
Poor ignorant mother! She did not understand that it meant such
different things,--schools for _all_ children instead of a very few;
work for any one who desired it; better care for the sick in the
cities; fewer taxes for all. Yes, all these and many other good things
would be done by the Americans to make Alila and Alila's children live
more wisely and therefore more happily.
When the sun was setting that night, the hemp plantation could be
plainly seen. It was a beautiful sight, those rows of small trees with
their large, glossy leaves, shut in by woods of a larger growth.
The plant from which is made what is called Manila hemp belongs to the
same family as the banana and the plantain. The leaves all of them look
so much alike it would be hard for us to tell the difference.
It did not take many days to get settled. The neighbours were very kind
and gave the family shelter and food until Alila and his father had
finished building a cabin. This time they made the roof as well as the
sides of the hut of split bamboo, and the boy's mother and grandmother
helped in preparing it.
Alila had never before seen hemp gathered, and he had much to learn.
He was soon very quick in separating the fibres from the pulp and
spreading them out to dry before packing.
The boy sometimes wonders what journeys the bales of hemp will take.
To what countries will they sail? To what uses will they be put? His
father has told him that nothing else in his island home is shipped in
such quantities as Manila hemp. It makes stout cordage and sail-cloth;
it is woven into mats, carpets, and hammocks; while the finest hemp is
made into delicate dress goods for the rich ladies of the island.
Yes, people all over the world have heard of Manila hemp, and when he
is older, Alila says he will bear it company and seek strange sights
across the oceans.
He had lived in his new home but a short time when he had an exciting
adventure. Not far from the farm there is a dense forest. One night
Alila's father said to his friends:
"Let us go on a hunt for wild boars. There must be plenty of boars and
deer, too, in those woods."
The other men were ready for a little sport. They had been hunting in
the forest many times before, and knew the best course to take.
"May I go with you, too?" whispered Alila, who was listening at his
father's side.
When all agreed that it would make no trouble to allow the boy to go
with them, since he was brave and strong, he was greatly pleased. They
would be gone several days. What new, strange creatures should he see?
What dangers should he meet?