The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1905-07-07

from the seas.
The principal naval academy is
at Etajima, an island of the
beautiful Inland Sea. Appli-
cants must be at least sixteen
years of age, and are subjected
to rigid examination. The train
ing is strict in the extreme, and
jiu-jitsu is the favorite physical
exercise. The average age of
the navy is the lowest in the
world, as is also the average
! height: No one over 20 years of
age is accepted for enlistment,
and the average statute is only
five feet and four inches.
1t is a theory that "in Japan
every subject has a chance for a
commission in the imperial
navy" but the theory is hardly
! borne out by the facts. And
this applies also to the army.
The at-Cho slans have virtual
monopoly he 7, as we'll as in civ
il affairs. I le province of Sat-
suma has not'only furnished such
army leaders as Nogi, Kuroki
and Oyama, but practically the
whole of the navy, from Togo
and Yamamoto downward. In
the Japanese mind the Satsuma
men are credited chiefly with
courage, the Choshu men with
sagacity therefore the former
are soldiers and sailors, men Of
dash and daring, while the latter
are diplomatists and chiefs of
administration. But the fact is,
Ithese two Southern clans simply
rgained control Of the govern
ment in 1868, and have never re-
linquished it since-clan-govern-
ment having supplanted the
Shogunate.
The hero of Port Arthur, Nogi
Kitten, is the Japanese ideal of a
soldier. His enthusiastic ad-
mirers even call him the "incar-
nation of the imperial wargod. I"
He has given utterance to his
own conception of the warrior
life in the following striking Ian
guage: When q man becomes a
soldier he must be perfectly
willing to lead henceforth a life
that is somewhat different from
the life of an ordinary man. 1t
is impossible for him thereafter
to enjoy liberty and wealth in
the same manner as his fellows,
What ] mean is this: that the
soldier who would perform. lis
duties with credit on a battls-
field must, of necessity, have
trained himself to perform all
that is expected of him in the
days Of peace. There ouznt not
to be any neglect or any defects
in his daily life. The man who
would rightfully aspire to the
honor of fighting under the sun
flag must first have learned tc
be a man through the conquest
of himself in times of peace"
| That Nogi has practiced what
he breaches is proved by his me.
morable words when the news
was brought to him that his eld.
est son-the pride and hope Oh
every household-had been killeC
in the battle of,Nanshan. Il an
glad he died so splendidly," the
father said. 1T was the great
est honor he could have. As fol
the funeral rites in his memory
they might as we'll be postponed
for awhile. A little later OF
they may be performed in con
nection with those to the memory
of my second son, Hoten, ant
myself. His second son fel
during the last days of the siege
around Port Arthur.
This wondrous spirit of loyalty
inheritance from feudal days, i
. not confined to the officers of tn,
army, but is shared by the hum
blest of the people. The Rus
sian war has afforded number
less examples. There was tn.
+ aged mother, for example, VIII
: learned that her soldier-son wa
detained at home on her account
! Staying herself in patriotic sac
: rifice, she withdrew the blood!
dagger in time to hand it to he