Manila, Luzon Island –Entry made in parlor of No. Calle Santa Elena, Tondo.
Clean day; generally hot; occasional cool breeze. Bible reading, prayer, cooking, breakfast & dish washing. Gave some time to reading.
About the dinner hour Albert Scott Co. D, 1st North Dakota vol. inf. called with a cigar in his mouth and acting strangely. Had a long straight talk with him. He confessed that he is on the back track. Returned to his opium smoking habit & uses tobacco. Says he is not backslidden. I take but little stock in such talk. Scott is unstable. This Scott is quite a different character in contrast to his brother Clayton who is a humble, zealous, spiritually minded Salvationist. May God give us many more such men, amen. Albert went away for a short time & presently returned with a box of sardines, some buns and 2 bottles of soda water. Made dinner of the same & caused me to share the same. After counseling him faithfully to get Christ to restore him, then to give up opium & tobacco & serve the Lord faithfully, I prayed with him before we parted. Requested him to pray but he refused. Scott is getting deaf. Expects to return to the United States in a short time. Has been discharged from Bilibid. I dared hope he would be a bright trophy of the saving power of Christ, but alas for hope in Scott’s case I have been disappointed. The fault is all his own.
When Scott left I went down to the post office. No mail.
The daily “American” is an uncertain quantity. I am supposed to receive it daily, but the clerk at the delivery window this p.m. said I get it “semi-occasionally.”
Returned home late & cooked supper. While in the kitchen, Private Geo. Schumerhorn of Co. D. 2d Oregon vol. inf. dropped in. His regiment is in fresh from the front. It formed part of the flying brigade –the right wing that did the fighting recently over at the town of Pasig & adjacent towns near Laguna de Bay. The Filipinos have disappeared from their & the regiment returned to the city. At present there is a lull in hostilities, but something decisive is likely to be done soon after the arrival of the reinforcements en route.
The Lord kept Bro. Schumerhorn saved in soul & safe in body.
Bro. S. brought sad news back. James Page, of Co. D. 2d Oregon vol. inf., was shot in the head & killed last Sunday by the Filipinos. Page was a backslidden Salvationist, hailing from La Grande, Oregon. Schumerhorn tried to persuade him to attend the Salvation Army meetings in No. 2 but failed. His opportunity on that line is forever past. It must be an exceedingly terrible thing to die a backslider.
Before Schumerhorn returned to his quarters himself, the writer & Rev. Owens prayed together in my bedroom.
I wrote & copied a leter to Ensign V. Post, 1139 Market St. San Francisco, acknowledging receipt of copying books, films, etc.
The battleship “Oregon” is in port. She arrived . .
Rev. Owens said thro’ the authority of Capt. Morrison of the ship “Vigilant” (now sunk in Manila bay) that the “Iowa” and “Texas” are also bound for this port. News of deep import if true, Morrison brought, which Consul Williams told him; viz., that Russia, Germany and France have formed a coalition against England. This union of the three great powers it is surmised will in some way affect the United States. The local newspapers have nothing to say of this important event. The military authorities exercise a strict censorship over the newspapers of Manila.