The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-12-09

! is Juggling at the trail ropes OF o.z-
inch Hotchkiss on a rocky slippery
frozen mountain path or hiking along
1 80 miles day with SO pounds OF
weight on him, he relieves the monot-
ony of the business with burst OF
song, and his favorite ballad is the
one quoted above, of which a free
translation is as follows:
Our gracious sovereign
Shall reign thousand years
Until the little pebble
Grows into mighty rock
Covered with ancient moss.
Bobby is the most cheerful and Will
ing marcher that ever carried a KNAPP
sack and a gun. Away back in the
dim past there must have been
Good Roads Association in Japan
which did its work well. With good
roads everywhere it is only natural
that the japanese should have taken
to pedestrianism. Generation AFTER
generation of long distance walkers In
Japan have evolved the Japanese sol
der of the goth century, who astounds
the European experts by his march
ing.
If you have ever carried a 10-pound
rife, a 20-pound knapsack and a cart
ridge belt full of ammunition, haVer-
sack and canteen, aggregating a total
of so pounds, on long march, you
know what it is-and if you have not
had the experience words cannot give
proper idea of it to you.
The first five miles are comparative
ly easy. The next five are hard, the
next distressing, and then it becomes
torture, but not to Bobby. His pedes-
trian ancestors have bequeathed him
pair of superb legs with muscles like
steel and the most marvellous wind.
Infantry companies travel stretches OF
five miles at the double quic.- just for
fun.
In all campaigns of European and
American armies it has been impossl-
BILE to make the infantry soldier carry
his knapsack when it tires him on a
forced march. The line Of march OF
European troops is always streWn
with knapsacks discarded by exhaust
ed infantry soldiers
Such is not the case with the Japan
csc army. Bobby never t---ows MS
knapsack away No matter how fast
he has to travel, nor how far, it stays
on his back until he goes into camp.
Bobby has no little contempt for his
brother, the cavalryman. He knows
that after a month or two of campaign
ing he will be able to outmarch the
cavalryman and leave him far behind.
The cavalry may clatter Dravely for
ward for the first few weeks, but that
is ALL Then the horses begin to go
lame, get sore backs and break down.
The Japenese Bobby laughs at the
troubles of the cavalryman, for he
knows no troubles of any kind himself.
Even his feet do not give him any Sc
rious trouble. If his shoes become
painful or wear out, he puts on pair
of straw sandals and then he is COM
Portable and able to march even bet
ter than before.
Commissary carts with several weeks
supply of rations accompany each bat
talon These carts are drawn by pom
les, but there are a number of coolies
with every cart, and il the horses
break down the coolies are able to pull
the carts quite as we'll. The coolie is
the man behind the man behind the
gun in the Japanese army, and al
ways insures a good dinner when
camp is reached.
Shelter tents are carried by the men
for emergency purposes, but are sell
dom used, as the commissary carts
are generally at hand with the large
tents, each of which houses some 20
men. The diet of the Japanese sol
der is a simple one, consisting large
ly of rice, beans, dried fish and salt
vegetable pickles, washed down with
tea ad libitum
1t is surprising how cheerful the
Japanese Bobby keeps under the mo-
notonous conditions of campaigning.
He is. in common with all Japanese
people, the possessor of wonderful
Unborn philosophy, a certain quality of
mind which enables him not only to
meet any crisis with calmness and
power, but to endure with patient res
ignation, and even cheerfulness, those
long periods of watching and waiting
in camps and fortified places that are
the most trying experiences of a sol
der in warfare.
To while away the time Bobby has
a variety of sports and pastimes. Of
the more strenuous forms of sport he
is most given to fencing and wrest-