The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-03-09
REIGN OF PINK TICKETS
 WHEN THE CRISIS CAME

i the place was. At the same moment that the coolie ants began their work. officers went from house to house to provide for the billeting of soldiers, and more lines of ideographs were made on the note books.
 Tn a few hours the soldiers-dropping their peace tasks wherever the pink tick cts found them-began to arrive, and set tied down Into their quarters, quiet wei come guests of quiet hosts. The hosts and their guests stayed indoors waiting man, woman and child on the wishes of the Mikado's warriors. Why go out and cheer when you might sit over the hi- bachi and smile with the heroes-to-be who, augustly condescending, have deigned to honor a poor domicile with their presence?
 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 grill-work with it's gold-crowned double-headed eagle, press their faces to the windows queru- lously. The thin columns of smoke rls- ing from the chimneys form the only other signs of life. Within the silent structure are the sole beings in all Japan who wish for Russian success Baron de Rosen and the attaches. awaiting thelr departure, ght well wish for crowd and some signs of demonstration to break the sinister quiet.
 War has eomel" the foreigner may say to a Japanese
 "Yes." with a smile--as if to imply
 twill you augusty condescend to excuse the war for coming?"
 And Japan is going to fight hard and win victorles?
 Yes" with the same smile, quizzcal and meaning-meaning one knows not what to Russia and Japan 
 Tokio Is Tranquil.
 The click of the gates on the stones seems itself to be in a minor key. so few people are abroad; the jinrikisha men. huddled in their blankets at their waiting stands, knock the ashes out of their tiny pipes and start homeward. The little shops close no earlier, remain open no later Their workers are busy with their tasks rather than with discussing war Yet they welcome the news, and they would give their all for the cause By midnight you look the length of the streets without seeing the flight of one of the vari-eolored lanterns which the runners hold on the thills of the little man carriages Tokio Is going to bed at the usual hour. But what thoughts may be passing behind the paper windows with their checkered latticework, through which the lights are no longer shining, Is ar far from our knowledge as what Is passing ln the OillCc Ol tiiS bSAOi tA Se"h'
 Scared. aren't they?" asked foreigner who arrived in Japan today for the first time Why don't they get out their bands?"
 Study the Japanese smle,' residents warned him.
 "But this little people in their paper houses against the big Russians! Haven't they awakened to what they have undTr- taken, and aren't they worried? Why they are beaten at the start by tneir own showingw
 study the Japanese smile, again tie residents warned him.
 In other lands the withdrawal of min isters means the playing of fortissimo passages with the brasses. On another historical night, thirty odd years ago, the Paris crowd was crying. "On to Fer linl" In Japan 1t Is pianissimo with the violins, which means more than the brasses There Is no shouting of "On tU Manchurial' yet. The hush of the long expected come true, tn" issue narrowed to the extremity as the one objective The plain realization of this day, this hour. being a landmark in history. have cut weighed superficial impulse. We who are in TolSio today have witnesses racial phenomenon Associating the thought Of rabble with a noisy mouth, one nay reef how by extremes the very jinrikisha coolies have taken on an air of senatorial dignity. The man new to Japan only wonders, or thinks he is not getting what Is advertised: others realize that their study of the Japanese smile has only be gun,