The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-06-25

for the Dutch. An English factory
was built the goods landed and all the
steps taken to build up English inter
ests. After having been here q year or
more the ship was about to sail for Eng
land, and now was presented to Adams
trial such as comes to few mortals.
Iyeyas, after Is years of persistent re-
fUsals for him togo home, and as persls-
tently held honor and promotions before
hinl-after having induced him to mar
~ and raise a family here-suddenly
and voluntarily sent him permission to
go home for some great service rem
derel.
How he must have been torn by his
conflicting desires and interests On
the one hand this land of the Orient,
which had been his home for Is years,
its picturesque beauty, with it's soft air,
and its tropical vegetation, must have
taken deep hold of his heart. The
people of Japan had received him, a
shipwrecked sailor, and made him a
lord in the land. He had been treated
and loved by them, with depth and
warmth unknown to the cold climate of
his native England. One of their
dark-eyed daughters had given him her
heart, and all the best years of her
young life. Two children with hair as
black as ravens wing, called him
father, and climbed over his knees. All
the fortune accumulated in long years
was here, to be left behind him, and
with the best years of his life and his
youthful vigor gone, he was to go out
into the world empty handed. More
over, no word of tidings had reached
him OF his family for seventeen years.
The shadow of the dark-winged angel
might have covered them all within that
long, weary time, or, worse still, he
might find that his wife, weary with
waiting and watching for his return, at
last, when no tidings came, hope being
dead within her, had given his place In
her heart 10 another-whispering in
other ears the sweet words which had
so often been his, and that his children,
| his blue-eyed and fair-haired boy and
| girl, had learned to call a stranger by
the fond name of father.
On the other hand, what if his Eng
lish Mary cherished the hope that he
would come again and what if she
kept every word and look of his en-
shrined in her heart and if she with
his children still knelt, morning and
evening, and lifted up their supplica.
| tions to Him who holds the great waves
and the fierce winds in the hollow Of
His hand, to protect their wanderel
and bring him home to them again
These conflicting emotions must have
wrung a proud and sensitive spirit
such as that of Adams. He who had
looked danger and death in the eye IL
many a wild storm and wilder battle
strife without faltering might well have
broken down and wept like child un
der this trial.
But his bitter conflicts of loves, o.
doubts, of desires and of hopes, lie
buried with his ashes under this stone
column, now before US, and in the OBJ
liviOn of three silent uHspeaking cen
turtles of Japanese night. He decided
to stav with the certainties of the lanc
of his adoption rather than take the
chances of his native land. The ship
departed, and as her white sails recedec
from Adams sight, he had put all tina
was dear to him in his youthful anC
better days behind him forever.
He went on with his work-perfectec
ship-building, drilled the tycoon's sol
diers, taught the arts and sciences anC
educated his children, elevated anC
bettered the condition of his retaineri
and followers. He embraced the Budd
hist faith, built this embowered tempt,
of To-ka-son, and twice year he came
here to worship. And here, after 1
third of century of great usefulness
and influence, he was buried with i'm
perial pomp and ceremony, loved, hon
ored and mOurned by the people Of al
empire. Here his people have come
generation after generation, to this day
to offer up prayers for his soul at a lit
tie shrine, which has this inscription il
Japanese characters
1.-THE brightest bliss is surely thine.
0 thou who prayest at this shrine "