DEAR AUNT LAURA: This is a pleasant day here and there is enough breeze to offset the rays of the sun. The days are never very hot and the thermometer ranges near 90° in the shade during the hot part of the day between ten-thirty and three-thirty. One always needs a blanket at night, especially from midnight to daylight. The night dews are heavy, and the last time I was on outpost I slept near and under a bamboo thicket from which the dew fell so much on my poncho that I thought it was raining. The most uncomfortable time is just before a storm or after it, as then the air is very humid. Angeles is a good-sized town, having a large church and a number of well-built houses. The town is on one side of the single railroad track which runs from Manila to Linguyan Bay and along which our troops have been fighting and slowly advancing. There are three streets connecting with a square on one side of the town. These squares in all the towns are near the church, and some of the best buildings are here. General McArthur, in command of our brigade, — consisting of the Seventeenth, Twelfth, Ninth Infantry regiments, two batteries (3.2 calibre), twelve guns in all of the First Heavy Artillery, and troop of the Fourth Cavalry, — has the best house in town, and it is the finest house I have seen in any of the small towns outside of Manila.
I have been with the regiment since the twentieth of September, but have not gotten entirely acquainted with my brother officers as yet. Those that I have met seem to be good fellows, and the colonel is certainly a fine man. His name is Liscum, and he was formerly one of the volunteer brigadier generals who were appointed last year. The Ninth has the centre of the town, with the Twelfth on the left and the Seventeenth on the right. There is a string of outposts all around the town in the important positions and a guard of one hundred men with some artillery guarding the railroad bridge which was partly destroyed by the insurgents when they retreated from the town. The brigade has been here nearly a month and it has been attacked heavily at least once. General Wheeler is here, and I had the pleasure of meeting him when he made his round of the outposts the other day. He is a very vigorous old man and makes his staff officers ride to keep up with him.