The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-03-13

n UMORs instead of hours have
IN marked the passage Of the days
Of waiting You frightened the
handspring for a new Tot when you
wound your watch at night This aft
ernoon came a rumor unlike the others,
definite I'm shape electric in transmits
sion from lip to lip, having the mag
netic force of truth: "Komura has sent
Tor De Rosen. IL has come" Though
the words came from your servant. you
believed them as readily as you believe
an earthquake shock that you feel.
Tonight the whole nation knows that
negotiations are at an end and blood
shed IS about 10 begin The years OF
expectancy have eliminated i'm the de-
cisive step. The patient government has
a. last given the word. Where are the
crowds? Why is there no cheering?
Doubtless more people are watching
The bulletins i'm London and New York
Bshan here. Think of PicCadilly or
Broadway on such a night" says the
foreigner IN Japna there is little to see,
little TO hear. There is everything to
feel Two theories which YOU al hOma
may have from this description you
, would never have here. There is no
apathy; there is no doubt or fear. In
stead of going abroad 10 gather in pub
lie places and shout, the japanese so
10 the houses OF their friends and sit
over their hibachs charcoal buTners)
and talk little-very little. They know
that there is 10 be war and that is
enough Il is the war that they have
prayed for-almost holy war.
Preparations For War.
Throughout the land today ard yes
terday a shower Of pink tickets has
fallen. Each one called a man out Of a
kimora into a tunic, out OF getas into
military shoes. Il said. according TO
Japanese logic: The mikado has given
you life; now he calls upon you TO
give IL back" There is no weeping at
the farewell. I saw a reservist part
ing with his family at the railroad sta
ton tonight. He came in with his lit
lie boy. Olive-skinned. TOund-faced,
smiling-a live japanese doll Of three
years-thrOWn over his shoulders. The
women folk formed the inner circle,
the men the outer circle. Ia the center
or such a group. the soldier in his Occi-
dental uniform seemed to belong TO a
world apart. There was no weeping;
for years they had expected him 10 go,
and now ne was going. He smiled. and
they smiled at the parting-a variation
of that japanese smile which SAYS;
I'VE are sad and try TO show that we
are not by being merry.
Yesterday there were no signs of
preparations. today there have been
signs everywhere for those who would
see them. On the parade ground. and
in other public places. officers with lit
loads of timber suddenly appeared.
They settled down TO their tasks as if
St were the routine of every day. There
was little shouting, no seeming hurry,
no oaths Snatching order out of con-
fusion The order WAS in the officers
note books. in lines Of ideoSraphs run
ming up and down the pages. With the
Tapiditv of circus tents. rose long lines
OF sheds FOR the cavalry which Is 10 be
modified here. There was not even
the hammering which is the bass of the
hackneyed 'din OF preparation The
girders and the supports were bound
together by the deft wrapping Of straw
ropes. Every board and every stick
seemed TO have its place. and the Off
GERS 10 know just where the place was
At the same moment that the coolie
ants began their work. officers went
from house to house TO provide for the
biileting OF soldiers. and more lines Of
IdeOgraphs were made in note books.
In a few hours the SOldiers-drOpping
their peace tasks wherever the pink
tickets found them-began to arrive.
and settled down in their quarters.
quiet, welcome guests OF quiet hosts.
The hosts and their guests stayed in
doors waiting. man, woman and child,
on the wishes Of the mikado's warriors.
0Nhv go out ard cheer when you might
sit over the hibachi and smile with the
hcroes-to-be, who. augustly condo
scending. have deigned to honor a poor
domicile with their presence?
No Excitement
At the Russian legation the gates are
closed. No japanese stops in passing.
The native attendants in the little
lodges on either side of the massive
Erill-lork with its gold-crowred dou-
BILE headed eagle. press their faces 10
The windows querulJus'y. The thin
columns Of smoke rising from the CHM
Keys form the only other sign of life.
Within the silent structure are the sole
beings in al Japan who wish for Rus
sian success. Baron de Bosen aud the
attaches. awaiting their departure,
might well wish for crowd ard some
signs OF demonstration 20 break the sim
lister quiet.
War has comc,' the foreigner may
say to q japanese.
Yes" with "a smile-as il TO imply,
"Wli YOU augustly cOndescend TO eX-
cUse the war FOR coming"
And Japan is going to fight hard
and win Victories
Yes" with the same smile. quiz
zical and mountaineering one knows
rot what 10 Russia and japan.
The click Of the gates on the stones
seems itself To be in a minor key, so
few people are abroad; the jinTilOsha
men. huddled i'm their blankets at their
waiting stands. knock he ashes out OF
their tinv pipes and start homeward.
The little shops close no earlier. remain
oTen no later. Their workers are busy
with their tasks rather than with dis
GUESSING war Yet they welcome the
news, and they would dige their all for
the cause. BY midnight YOU look the
length OF the streets without seeing
the flight OF one OF the vaTi-cOlored Ian
terms which the runners hold o. the
thils OF the little man carriageS. Toxic
IS going 10 bed at the usual hour But
what thoughts may be passing behind
the paper windows with their check
cred latticework. through which the
lights are no longer shining. is as far
from our knowledge as what is passing
in the Office of the general staff.
The Japanese Smile.
scared. aren't they? asked a for
eiguer who arrived in Japan today for
Hhe first time why don't they get
N1ut their bands2''
study the japanese smile, residents
warned them.
But this little people IN their paper
houses against the big Russians,
Haven't they awakened to what they
have undertaken. and aren't they wor-
ried2 Why. they are beaten at the
start by their own showing"
study the japanese smile" again
the residents warned him.