Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-07-17
i A JAPAN Toy.

- 2s.Aor'a san, as war toy, isnot to %
pulled around by q string In other r.c
sqects she Is much like the toys that a1n,,sa
children of the men who 20 abont tbe
world on fighting ships.
instead or pulling R string You In1,st
only look at . SSakura san and she laughs
4md R Mfs heT Tich red part you
see q row OF even, beautiful teeth. For
eight years they were ivory white and well
worth trip to the teahouse at Mukojima
to see. During that time o Sakura san
worshipcd the Christian God ut the Epis-
copal mission church in the foreign con
cession and waited the arrival of the
Charleston and Ishida. II the Charleston
ever came to the Asiatic station again, o
Sakura san knew the American ship
would drop anchor at the beef bone reef In
Yokohama.
For the month the little teahouse girls
toeth have been blackcncd a rich, ivory
black. To the inquiring wayfarer who
stops at the tcahouse that means that Q
Sakura SAN s name is o 1shida sauna, the
would not think of inquiring for the rest
of the story. There are SO many Ishidas,
and they are rather an embarrassing lot.
But this Ishida-Ishitln Otogira was his
full name-wns really destined for great
things from the very way that he joined
the Houscboys' club in Tokyo. His father
had not been II noble sn,nurai, and there
was therefore M chance for him in Japan.
| Tho charming littlG'.t s:Gkura san S father
had not beer noi'ie samurai either. He
had been only Il poor shoemaker and was
found one morning stabbed to death IN
tho highway, where !; s;lmurai had pinned
an arrogant note to his clothes saying the
shoemaker had been killed for brushing
| against Il two Swordeu man.
! There seemed little chance indeed for
! Ishida and O Sahura san until the officers
of the Charleston came along and engaged
| him as ward officers attendant. 0 Sakura
san was against the project mt first, but 1T
| was explained to her that the Charleston
was impregnable in war and that q grand
/ career would open to Isllda in great
America 1t mado no difference there
whether one's father had beea Ii soldier or
| fishmonger.
OSakura san did not understand how
officers who came to the teahouse in white
duck trousers were transferred from ship
to ship, and she really believed Ishidu
when no said the Charleston would be back
in two years. Then, just as the ship
sailed, she joined tho mission church and
4 gave up tho Shinto temple at EXON, and
she tried to pray in English for the safety
of the Charleston and Ishida whenever
( n
Tho Charleston today is poking her most
through the foam of the Pacific again OF
her way to Manila to relieve Dewey
Barring the treachcry of II Spanish spy O
u broken shaft or n rivct racsing typhool
she will again drop anchor at the beef bon
reef before long, but the news TINT woul'
have sent thrill through the slender
graceful, girlish form of O Sakura sa
: will fall like q withercd cherry petal @
= = her feet.
: : She will not even go down on the hatob
:. at Yokohama to watch the boats from th
:. !. ship come and go, hoping that ii Ishida
. not with this bcatload he may be wit
!, the next.
:, The Charleston officers will get or
: nights shore leave to go up to the 1owt
:, festival at Tokyo, just rs they did eigl
years ago. Thc,pctals Of the cherry bio
= SONS arc falling again like pink snow
e flakes ut Mukojimu, in the outskirts
;. tho capital. For two cong, lovely, en-
:, powered miles the drive up and down tt
east bank OF the river is q continuous arc
~ way of flowers and from carly lantel
: light until the geishas have sung the mig
~ to sleep, the tinkling of samisens and tt
- babel of the great flower festival float bat
to the center of the city.
The larking soldiers who go cNreenil
IT, up the driveway in rickety rickshaW
> their faces flushed with frequent drafts
= saki, are a bit more cocky when they me
- "a foreign officer than they were eight yea
r. ago They have Port Arthur and t
~ Yalu to remember.
~ But o Sakura sun, the little war toy
the teahouse, seems just the same.
doesn't remember Port Arthur or t
~ Yalu AS she gracefully brushes the cher
81 blossoms from her shoulders, il q shade
= fits across her face it is because she,
mambers Ishida-Is and sometht