Typical Japs.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 238, 12 October 1904, Page 4

Typical Japs.

■ . o Miss Jlelon ilyde sends from NikWo, Japan, tile following sketches! from Liiu to the San Francisco Argonaut :

Some days ago the stuoji of my study opened, over, sb Uitttiev and a, rosebush covered with tight light; green buds appeared. The suoji were pushed back further, and Shiu, our •soldier, followed his gift. From his lour s*.n a day ho had bought it, ft nd it is quite useless to protest. They are too proud a people to allow benelits to be quite one-sided, and one must be resigned to havingi a potion at least of one's gilts returned in some pretty way. The rosebush being in green rbud was also Japani ese, for not lor tho world would I I hoy deprivo you of the pleasure 0 f seeing tho buds show streaks of red, and gradually bloom Into perfect iiowors. We liadn't seen Shiu for many days, but in answer to various things sent into tho barracks litUo letters had como out, invariably containing: "1 a m very strong and well, and always busy; please I*; augustly free from anxiety about , mo." And all the time, for fifty days, the boy had been in the hospital ill. '''Why didn't you let m» know. ?" "I thought you might be troubled," ho answered ■imply, He said tlioy might soon ba off now. He Wa s anxious to maVoEusKiaii soldiers "taste Japanesoguns." 1 hopod he was a good shot, and without any braggadocio he said he was a very good shot. He told of the gratitude of the soldiers and the delight at the coming of [in American corps of nurses, and that if they were wounded they all wanted to be ir.ireed by them.

"We soldiers all feel much stronger lor tlid sympathy of America and England, and all Americans aro fine peoplo," he announced in a burst of genuine, enthusiasm. Just outside tho door his swordbelt and his little sword were ly|Lng. lie never comes armed into my presence, which must bo a bit of the old Samurai in him. They always left their swords in the vestibule of a friendly house; but tho ollicers of to-day do not remove theirs when entering a room, They ore too foreign to bo interesting to mo. I'or tho old customs oho looks to tlie common peoplo, bless them ! That little sword mado me think of unpluasiant things, and as tho Japanese just here was a little beyond me, 1 the help of a young Jainaneso s'irl friend. She Jislwiud, shook her head doubtfully. "Hut It is the Japanese spirit," she smld. Nevertheless, she told Shiu that I wanted him to promise that whatever came ho would not kill himself, even if taken prisoner ; that the soldiers had beoh drawn from the best of tho Empire; that thoir Emperor hod none too many to reswvo like them, and thut their lives were too precious to tho country to to recklessly taken. Motionless and silent as a liuddha sat Shiu for a long time, looking straight toforo him. What was lie thinking of ? Finally, ho looked up, and said, seriously : "I myfelf will not kill."

UeJiiyama, coming in. after Jic had gone, scouted the idea. Not kill himself ? Why, of course he will kill himsolf. Ho must. Ho can't Ik* takin prisoner. Why, even all the ofliccrs' cooks took their kettles and pots and pans and ov«n» and a special kmlfo for themselves. I, too, if I had not had you to take care of, and gono w.ith that' general as cook, would June takun sucli a knife. Then, if wo hud been twenty, pei'luups and a hundred and fifty Ltu.sttuui.') hud come, and wo could mot kill thorn all, or escape, I would do so "—and he drew an imaginary knife across his abdomon. Argumont and expostulations were in> vain. . ( " You know those RiisWns. We do. Wc catch them ia l'ekin. Thoy are 'cruel-cruel' to thoir prisoners," . , "Not gone yet*" I asked the Bon of the houso of ShaShln when I wont to sea about some photographs. *■' Not yet. I wait for the red paper. When It comes I go. It may not come.' l '■' l don/I understand,' 1 I Baid,

" No," he answered. " They wanted 200 men from Uinsa Kyobaslii. They drew 300. The holders of the first 200 went. The third hundred wait. My number is 272. When in Hint company 72 die, then I go out in my turn to die—perhaps." And the brown eyes looked uttDalt'onlngiy, even smilingly, into mine. Wo who nro privelegod to bo in Japan at this timo may new again be so close to tho realities of life. What goes on day • after day ; near us l , around us, an every side, is so remarkable, so unparalleled, that we wonder if we live in a real world or if lit is all an unimaginable dream, There is a strange excitement and exaltation im it. One can almost feel Uio Yamata Damasi'iii enter into one's soul—can almost imagine oneself saying, as the Japanese women have said and ore saying every day to their men off to the front: "Go, give your lives for your Emperor us I give you—gladly. I do not expect to see you again I"