Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-08-09

Japanese officers. Sentries guard ev
 cry street.
 With mouths open in astonishmen
 the calm and imperturbab ble Celestia
 sees small army of Japanese soldier
 at work in the streets digging ditche
 to carry off the rain, mending thu
 roads, forcing upon them scheme o
 sanitation, cleaning their wells, turn
 ing the pigs out of the main streets ant
 requiring them to be placed in pens.
 Even the unhappy moth eaten Chi
 nese dog has been struck in this won
 derful era of reform. It Is his habi,
 to camp with his friends in the main
 streets, in the side streets, in the com
 pounds (grounds around the houses)
 under the table, in the stable. In fact
 his name is legion, and at every stel
 one falls over this unhappy creature 1 the substitute for modern garbage
 department. The Japanese cheerfully
 announced to their astonished wards
 that all dogs would be sentenced to
 death that were not properly tagged
 with the names of their owners about their necks.
 The Chinese were still discussing the
 meaning of this grave problem when the day of judgment came. The next rising sun brought desolation to many happy canine homes. Few dogs were to be seen in their customary haunts,
 but, ah, woe, in compound up the street was the explanation. Two hun. dred canine hides were visible drying in the sun. Now every dog is labeled.
 Schemes for social reforms. political reforms, taxes for keeping the roads in order and I know not how many more are going merrily forward, all in behalf of the Chinaman who finds him. self being civilized before he knows 1t. Nearly every compound is now drained, and when it rains we actually walk in the streets instead of swimming, as we formerly did.
 If there ever was people who carry their country with them it is certainly these same Japanese. In their idle hours the soldiers build Japanese gar. dens. Small artificial lakes are dug and bordered with stones. Little bam- boo bridges are constructed and the quaint Japanese lanterns of stone are placed about in the garden, made from the flat stones picked up by the sol diers in the country about
 In one of these gardens the soldiers of company had built summer house after the kind seen in Japan. Latticework was covered with greens and iris blossoms made of paper were strung on strings and dangled over. head. Indeed, in some of these places it is impossible to realize that one is in Manchuria and not back in Japan.
 In all the villages of evenings the soldiers play about in the streets like schoolboys. Their officers go among them in the way which makes their | relation to their men unique in the | armies of the world. When an officer | appears. every soldier is on his feet and at rigid attention" with his hand | at salute. Then invariably comes the soft spoken word from the officer, and 1 the military aspect fades from the sol. diers' faces. and they crowd about | him. laughing and telling him theif troubles. The other night I walked through the main street of one of these villages with a couple of officers.
 During the walk we passed. sup. pose. fifty soldiers, and there was scarcely one that went his way with. out a joke or pleasant word from his superior. The result is that when. ever they have the time or leisure from more rigorous duties the men fall to with a will and compete with each other in making their officers comfort able. IL is in this way that nearly every officer has a little Japanese gar den behind his house. One of the lieu tenants told me: T have to be very careful in giving out tasks to my sol diers, for it often happens that have the time it will take to complete. and my soldiers sometimes overwork. The other night I set my men task which I thought could be in few hours I forgot all about it until the next day. when found that the soldiers had worked all night rather than disappoint me in fail ing to have the work finished in time"
 The attitude of the Chinese to all this activity is one of dumb astonishment. yet there can he no doubt that the re suit of all these object lessons will be to launch the Chinese upon a new era In their social. political and moral life. for. slow as the Chinaman is to learn. even he cannot fail to appreciate the wonderful difference which the Japa- nese have already brought into their village life