The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1904-06-16
ECHOES FROM TIVE WAR
How q Japanese Patriot Assist.
ed His Country.


Soldier Lay Moaning For His Love&!
One-Russian Girls heenness ia
Fight-Japanese Fathers Sacrifice.
Franks Played ON Gear.
Rats and soldiers do not seem to
have much connection with each other
perhaps, says the London Chronicle.
But rats suggest plague, and plague
and war are sometimes bracketed to-
gether as twin scourgeS Among the
terminating the plague was the ex-
termination of rats, a reward of
sen (about 1 penny being given for
every rat brought to the police sta.
ton. The rodents began to arrive in
such large quantities that the police
began to ask what was to be done
with them. To their rescue came
modern Japanese Pied Piper, who said:
Il will relieve you of your rats. l
will send to the stations and remove
all the bodies free and save you all
trouble out of gratitude for and adj
miration of the way in which the gov
eminent has grappled with this terri
BILE scourge."
The offer was received with graft
tude, and the rats were duly collected.
When the Russo-Japanese war broke
out the soldiers who were dispatched
to the bitterly cold northern regions
things, and they could not afford them.
But presently some of the shops dis
played waistcoats lined with a nice
soft gray fur at most tempting price,
and the soldiers bought these up in
large numbers and went off to the
front happy and warm. The con-
tractor smiled as he conned his bank
passbook, remarking, Rats have
nice strong skin which works up into
good fur, and they were all carefully
disinfected, and l am happy to be able
once more to render a little assistance
to my beloved country"
F. A. Mckenzie, special correspondent
OF the New York World with the Japa-
nese army, recently sent to his paper
the following description of scenes on
the Yalu river battlefield:
Immediately after the great battle of
May l l crossed over the Yalu into
Manchuria and gazed on the scene Of
the conflict The battlefield presented
sickening spectacle, the field hospital
surgeons deity patching up the wound
ed men, who bore their suiferings with
the most heroic stoicism. There a Po-
lish soldier lay moaning 'Meine liebe"
C'My sweetheart'), not once, but
hundred times, until near the end,
when the breath went out Of him In
muttered prayer. Then a Russian off,
Ger strove, with set teeth, to suppress
groans as the surgeons raised his shat
tered leg, while q fierce mustached
Cossack. lying wounded on the ground,
raised his clinched fist in agony to
heaven.
The Japanese are showing the great
est kindness to the wounded prisoners.
This is especially noticeable in the field
base hospital, where surgeons even
leave the Japanese 'Tonmies" to at
tend to the Russians.
Keenly anxious to volunteer for serv-
ice with the Russian army in the far
year-old Russian girl of extraordinary
beauty, whose parents are both dead,
persuaded the officers Of a regiment
leaving Saratoff for the front to take
her with them, says special cable dis
patch from Moscow to the New York
American.
After crossing Lake Baikal on foot
in temperature many degrees below
zero she was informed by the military
authorities at Hardin that she could
not be allowed to take part in the OPP
erations. The young girls position
was now desperate, as she had no mon
ey for her return to Saratoff. Finally,
however, she so worked on the officers
feelings that they interceded for her
with the authorities, and she was per-
mitted to join field hospital She still
hopes to reach the fighting line in spite
of all obstacles.
When one Of the twelve year men in
Japan was called to the colors he sue
ceeded in placing all Of his children in
the care of relatives except one little
girl, says the London Chronicle. None
could take her. So, doing what seemed
to him a mercy and duty, he cut her
throat. It is said that the officers
praised him for the deed According
10 their view, he loved the child so
much that he would not see her suffer,
but he loved his country more. OF
course he expects to be killed. His
farewell to his family was for eterni-
ty. They will boast far more Of a IA
Their who died in battle than of a ia
Their who fought and still lived.
The imperial encourage at st. Peters
burg has lately been scandalized by
the number Of practical jokes which.
have been played on the car, says the
New York Journal. For example, one
night his majesty's bed was filled with
cheap ikons and buttons cut from his
own uniforms. The prank was follow