Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-24
THE YELLOW DANGER
THE STORY OF THE WORLDS GREATEST WAR.
BY vi. P. SHIEL.
Copyright, 1899, by R. Z. Fenno K Coz

IN the NeVskl Prospekt at st. Petersburg,
in the LA Platz. on the English quay,
there were throngs proclanations printed
hcadS OF the tSar, and every open space was
Sdudy with banners. The town, however,
was fairly quiet, though there were some
arrests of nihilists. The Russians were the
most English of the continentals or tended
to be, when once their races &ecame homo
genous. They had the raralness and
something of the Stoicism the Puritansm
and the nimbleness of the British: with this
was mixed certain orientalism7-a YER
million line in the gray of their character
At his hotel John found an ostler of the
Simbirsk province, an adventurous and cos
mopolitan man, who had been a sailor trad
ing between Hull and Copenhagen for some
years. He understood English. He struck
up a friendship with John. and told him his
| history. John offered him 500 roubles If he
would undertake to deliver a letter by
hand in England, setting out at once, And
this offer Ivan accepted.
The letter which John wrote was a 6 fol-
lows:
My Dear Bobbie Here I am in ST Pc
terSburg after passing through France and
Germany, and just about to set out to get
by the Trans-Siberian railway over all that
: great continent of Northern Asia to Via
dtvostok on the other side of the world,
and so, please God to Picking, and my
ship.
Dear Robbie, this is what I have to tell
you, and you can write a letter to the
Times yourself, so as to let the country
know what little | have to saw The
French are about to mass four army corps
In the direction of Havre, and l don't think
that for the present we can do much with
lhem there, though later on when we get
our dander up a bit l know that ten
Freedmen won't be able to hold out
against one Englishman. The German
Geek of-the-walk has telegraphed for the
King of Saxony and Prince Albrecht of
Prussia, his field marshals, and for Count
Waldersee, chief of the general staff.
Seven of his twenty army corps are mo-
bilizing-namely, the 1st or East Prussian;
no ~ kTaet
dom of Saxony; and the Sd. 4th, 9Th and
9th. belonging TO Brandenburg the prov
inee of Prussian Saxony, Posen and Silesia
respectively. But whether all these are in
tended TO go TO help the French, or. to de-
fend his own northern coast, or what. l do
not know, not knowing much about fighting
on terra frma
well, dear Bobbie, have seen nv full of
the people with whom / have been. | saw
some splendid f1sticuffs in the French house
OF commons, and no end of fun; and some
very excited people in Germany and Russia
Ny opinion of the French is, that they are
very nice people, the French women espe-
cially. But they old, they are no good
any more. they have not got any youth and
go left In them: you know what they are
like, Bobbie? Like pate (sic) de foie gras,
nice but tainted. They are overcivilized,
like an old dowager that's not fit for any
thing but to make love matches. France
ls no good any more, except for ornament
and for tourists to come to. For energy she
has got vivacity, and for nerve verve-like
a frivolous old beau! The world has moth
Ing to expect from her They are wonder
fully ahead of us in some things-their
lower class especially is far, far ahead of
ours In everything-but they do not move,
their legs are heavy with age. The future
belongs to us. At the rate we are going
we shall soon have all that France
has and a thousand, thousand times more,
for we shall have youth and energy and
vastness we'll The Germans are young
nation and they have all the enthusiasm of
young nation, and they will go ahead per-
haps all right (sic). But they have not got
anything in reserve, Bobbie. Froth Is
thusiastic and young, too, but not very
strong. l think the Russians would make
mlnce-meat OF the Germans, just the
Germans would of the poor pretty French.
But the Russians are raw, new and not, l
don't think. nation at all. Not one of
them is the chosen race. dear Bobbie the
peculiar people If you want to find that.
I think you had better look nearer home.
We'll, no more at present ] shall expect
you to take good care of yourself, mind,
while ] am away, so that / shall find you
hale and hearty when l come back, If /
ever do. Don't be getting up too early in
the mornings. now; and don't forget your
bottle of porter regularly every night, as
something is wanted at your time of life.
With love to Bobbie. from his son,
JOHN HARDY"
From this letter il will be seen that John
Hardy could not only express his ideas with
force and point, though IN simple words,
but that he possessed large tract of brain,
capable of taking in the world, and sum
ming It up and passing right Judgment
upon II, las one having authority
The letter reached England three weeks
later. and could not escape the keen scent
OF the pressmen. 1t was published bodily
in all the papers, bad spelling and all, the
public gloating joyfully over its gentle wis
DOM Its humor and its simplicity.
All this time Hardy was travelling, partly
by train and partly by camel caravan, to-
ward his fate in the capital of China
CTo be continued tomorrow