GENL. NOGIS LOVE OF HORSES

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1741, 5 May 1913, Page 5

GENL. NOGIS LOVE OF HORSES

INTERESTING ANECDOTES. Much has been written in the Western Press concerning the manner of General Nogi's death, but nothing has been written more in keeping with tho spirit of that sacrifice thuii u tiny, unpretentious brochure by one Kinya T'amaru, entitled "General Nogi, His Personality and His Death." Tho pamphlet is full of significant and beautiful anecdotes concerning the dead General. Of these, one of tho. most delightful concerns his love for his horse"lt is well known that General Nogi was very fond of horses. When ho was once put on tho retired list ho gavo one of his three chargers to General Sato, who valued it highly. Some time after when they met, General Sato asked him if he had not regretted the horse. '01 yes,' said tho donor. 'They say that after a man has divorced his wife he always feels sorry. I don't know what it is, but I feel somehow like that.'" Tho story is typical of a man who held that a soldier.should buy as good a horso as ho possibly could.

The stern soldier bail all the truly .Tnpannso pulsion for ilowel'S. and during half his life he was a constant visitor to tho famous private garden of Tokio, called H.vak.loi-eii. Himself a poet, lie was fascinated by the beauty of the plum-tree, with its gnarled stem and rich white or led blossom, which has been for centuries a favourite • heme of tho iroets of Japan. Of this aspect of General Nogi's character, too, Kinya 'famaru has an anecdote to tell: "Like others he loved tlie plumtree most. Late one night in spring he knocked at tho gate of tho Hyak-ka-en garden. The master wondered who the ardent lovo of tho blossoms might be. He found the General standing outride and apologising for his late visit. The host was agreeably surprised, and «m----dnefed him to the garden, and made special arrangements for lighting to show up tho beauty of the blossftms—tho branches and (lowers in tho still night, time reflecting the soft light, are indeed poetical. The General's gratification was unbounded." The little book is one of the most beautiful tributes to a noble spirit that have yet appeared in English.