Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1901-01-18
JAPANESE GRATITUDE.
An Americans Experience After he
Had Tried TO Save
Drowned hoy.


player, who has just returned from an
extended business trip through China
and Japan, tells an interesting story
ABOUT the japanese, says the New York
Sun.
"In the latter part of August" he
says, 81 was travelling by rickshaw to
Hiashima, small place in the interior
Of the island, where there is factory
with whose proprietor | had some busi-
ness. Just before we got there we
passed through small farming viii
lage of couple of dozen houses. AS
we approached this village / noticed a
little knot of people outside of rice
Geld who seemed to be very much ex-
cited about something.
81 told my man to hurry up, and
when we came to the crowd was told
that little boy had been drowned In
one of the irrigation streams in the
rice field. He was lying on some straw
on his belly and his parents were burn
ing incense and crying softly while the
relatives and neighbors exhorted the
gods to bring him back to life. OF
course | did not know how long the
boy had been in the water or what the
chances of saving him were, but did
know that all the incense and eXhorta-
tion wouldn't do him any good, while
the application of first aid to the in
jured' might. So l jumped down,
brushed the exhorters aside and picked
the boy up.
81 saw at once that he was gone, but
still had seen wonders worked on
drowned people, and | sailed in for fair.
Well, | worked for an hour, kneading
his stomach until got all the water
out of him, and then rubbing him from
head to foot in an endeavor to get the
blood circulating. | kept lot of the
villagers working, too, and II there had
been any way of saving the little fell
low we would have done it. But he
was past help, and so l finally gave
II up.
81 had accomplished absolutely moth
ing except to get my white fannels
covered with mud, and / wasn't sure
but that the villagers might resent my
interference in their method of saving
the boy, in view of the fact that had
failed to bring him back to life. ]
started to get back to my rickshaw
when an elderly man motioned me to
stay a moment. l turned around and
saw coming from every direction men
and women with white cloths and
bowls of water. They put the water
down alongside of me and. then went
to work on my soiled clothing. In a
very few minutes they had me looking
quite respectable again. wanted to
do something in return for this cour-
tesy, so as the mother and father car
ried their dead boy away gave my in.
terpreter some money and told him to
take it to the parents with my compli-
ments and tell them to use it for the
funeral of the little fellow Then |
jumped into the rickshaw and we went
away on our journey.
81 finished my business at the fac.
tory and later in the day on the re.
turn trip passed through the same vii.
Eage where tried to save the boy. Well,
sir, the tip went ahead that was COM
ing, and every man, woman and child
turned out to greet me. They formed
into two lines, through which passed
in my rickshaw, and as | passed they
bowed very low. The mother and fa-
ther of the dead boy came out and
prostrated themselves on the ground
in front of me. was quite touched by
II all and felt that I would have given
almost anything to be able to save that
boy. They would have detained us il
I had let them, but | still had long
Journey to make and so insisted on go.
ing ON.
"Well, sir, not satisfied with the
demonstration they had made in my
honor, what did the parents of that
boy do but trudge over to the factory
I had visited and try to find out who
was. The head man there told then
the name of the representative Of my
firm at Banto and at their request hi
wrote letter which l have just re
eived here in New York. The letter
IS in japanese, but our man at Bantt
translated it for me and sent on botf
the original letter and the transla
ton"
This is the letter referred to by Mr.
Morse:
when gentleman from your New
York Office came around to this vii
lage on his last visit to the mattinl
district he passed boy drowned in tn,
ditch by the road. AS soon as he lool
at the corpse he went to him and ex
erted his utmost efforts to rescue tn
boy with every possible means Unfor
tunately, the corpse being found un
recoverable at any way, he went away
leaving the parents of the boy with
certain sum of money in hand, and thel
he looked as if he had done nothin,
in It.
"The family being very poor farme
in the country had felt the blessing a
if they metz with a light in the dark
ness. A few days ago the parents o
the child proceeded to my residenc
here and heartily expressed their graft
tude, asking me to send their best re
CARDS to the gentleman, with as mucl
words of thanks as possible. ] shal
feel obliged to you if you are goo
enough to deliver their words to tn
gentleman"
A PrOtracted Spree.
Magistrate What's your namer
1. nebriate-Smith.
"What's your full name?"
"That 'sh the name alwaysh Civ