I was skeptical of complaints about the rice ration until I saw ours this afternoon — crumbs mostly. Even our chickens refused to eat it! (We might trick them by mixing it with palay.) Schaer thinks his hogs might eat it. A friend who tried to cook it said it refused to soften and expand, and might be "petrified." I intend to preserve some for posterity to prove I'm not exaggerating. Fortunately we have a small stash of real rice — but what about those who haven't?

"All I want for Christmas is a good bombing," said a lady to me this morning while waiting for a streetcar. People sharing the same wish will be disappointed. A friend said in church that he would walk out if the priest followed Bonifacio's directive. "Don't be silly," said another, "I have yet to meet a pro-Japanese priest in Manila."

What's news? Plenty — all over the place, and good too, but progress is slow. Berlin is said to be 40% destroyed. Bremen got 1,200 tons of bombs. Incidentally Captain Jimmy Stewart was in the lead plane over Bremen — his second trip.