The farmer and mechanic., 1907-04-23


"ffFf 49, gratefully accepted r. =
then had hr"akfasf which Naw fh-
| sira ngs-f ha&- ever sat aaAu fs
There "fT" Farmer. au Eng 50 nssn.
! iiAs ~f-ff sAFt .AnefGvan 4 Iapane@ss cav
| airy captain g i8a aal gtttten on dug-
| ing TIE night. booted ~rurret attn
| sWoTa and p4sf - q IuI.ssn.ss.. fner~
| chant ana his little five year 80 ?
daughter. and the fAt Js,llg odd Chine
| mandarin S8th HI@ fWo wives and
little i've year old girl The tlttl.
| Chinese girl had @pme chestnutS. tho
Jap merchant had "A chicken and
s=sfne eggs, and I had some canned
| goods Farmer can speak chine~~
| perfectly and the captain could Srsa e.
| some English sp ~@ all beca me very
| friendly and spciahls opened Il
/ can 81 pIneapfles and fed The llttfe
| girls some with i fork I had The lit
| tie Chinese girl regarded me with sol
| cnn eyes and opened and smut h-r
| mouth automatically when / poksd
| piece of pineapple at her Tie iltti@
Iblack-eyed jar anese girl was cute.
/ however and insisted ou taking TN
/ fork and feeding herself She watch
| ed Farmer ana myself with twinklin
| eyes ana would shut her eyes and roll
| back against her father laughing
| when she heard Farmer and talkn<
/ in our barburJuS dialect
Ne reached ErShishiipu the Japa-
nese call This Menkjatun at 10 o.cips-5>
| in the morning Thi. marks the high
| est point TO which the sixteen ruyel
red sun flag Of the Yamato men was
| hurled OF the crest II the war wa>a
| and between their outpost and the
tsouthernmost outpost of the big
| Noses as the Chinese call the Rus
| SLAMS. is Il distance OF twenty Chine ~
| Ii, about seven miles
/ We secured 4 Chinese cart ana
! pushed on until We struck the Rus
| sian lines III Kwanchingtze We foun1
/ this place held by some five thou
sand Of the Cossacks Of the Don.
| They have very light blue fierce look
/ ing eyes and IN their half boots. big
| fun and skin oVerc0ats and big long fur
! headgear and carrying both sword
| and rifle, they looked rather formida-
| bic at first. Though most are hard
| ened soldiers some are mere boys,
| and after you have seen. as ] have.
| one of them go down the street,
armed To the teeth. as usual, but witch
| q bottle Of vodka sticking out of each
overcoat pocket and playing hand
accordion with both hands. cooking
| his head dclightedly on one sid",
and occasionally dancing an ecstauC
| step in appreciation Of his own music.
| YOU Will think they are not so fierce
after all Being mounted infantry,
the Cossacks carry both sword and
rifle. The sword is slung on their left
side by a strap from the right shou.-
der and the gun is strung across the
back by d strap from the left shout
der, the stock of the gun being down.
| They also carry Whips and are mostly
mounted on the hardy Russian horses
though some ride the Mongolian po
MES.
spent a couple of days 1T
KWanchinStze, which has 100 TO 125
thousand inhabitants and is destined
TO be the big Manchuran trade
centre. The Japanese line from Dalny
is to meet the Russian line from ST.
beta at this point during the Spring
and the guagc being different passen-
gers from Europe TO China will have
to transfer here. The Chinese Govern
ment is also to build Il line to kirln
SO kWanghibgtze will he the meeting
point of the roads Of three nationals
ties Chinese, Japanese and Russian
Even now there is u tremendous
business done here and the streets are
crowded with the favOrite seven pony
teams of the up country people
] wanted to go over to kirin which
is the capital of this Province but it
is eighty miles off the railroad.
found on inquiry that some Russians
and Chinese had recently organized
Fast Cart Syndicate" and Rus |
sian cart carrying five passengers be-
sides the driver left for kirn every |
morning making the trip in one day |
each way We couldn't get tickets for |
next day but secured seats the day |
after. The cart was 10 leave at 2:30 |
in the morning so we had to sleep |
with the Chinese at the Fast Cart sta
ton that night. We had been stay
ing a the only Russian inn at KWan-
chWantZe which was like a barn and
little better than the Chinese Inns eX-
cept that the food is a little more civ
ilized. The beds, furnished with
mattress. pillow, one sheet and one
blanket are never made up and evil
IDENTITY the bedding never changed so
/ chucked all this into corner while
there and slept on my own blankets
as usual.
In going to Kirin there is no room in
the cart for luggage so we left our
grips at the Russian Inn until our re-
turn. A kodak in one OVercOat pocket, |
a brush and notebook in the other
and q six shooter in my breast pocket
was, together with three blankets, the
extent of my impedimenta. We each !
wore a pair of heavy Russian half
boots which are fine for keeping the
feet warm.
We were to have left at 230 in the
morning but the cart did not arrive |
until 10 O'Clock and when it did we
found that they had had trouble on
the road the cart rolling over on go
ing down a steep hill and that one or
the horses had his leg badly skinned |
and one of the Chinese passengers had
his nose broken and was in bad shape |
This was not very encouraging but we
had started for Kirin and this was |
-
in. fresh horses were ntched up. the |
driver took an extra dram Of vodka |
and away we went. From then on ii |
was "Pike'S Peak or bust"
The Russian cart in which we rode !
had three springlesS seats and looked |
somewhat like the prairie wagon or
schooner only more clumsy. The sides |
and back were padded and securely |
fastened to keep out the cold. The |
only way to get Out was to crawl out |
through the front and as il had no |
brakes it was a regular man trap [
sat on the rear seat with q fat. greasy |
Chinese merchant from Shangtug pro-
vince, in front of me were two Man |
chu merchants and Farmer with |
the driver. We had three horses and |
changed every twelve miles making 40
miles before supper. The driver. who |
was Russian. drove furously and as
the road was rough. the jOluing was |
ierce and we We're thrown from side to |
side of the cart as the wagon wheels |
jumped in and out of foot deep rutS :
The Chinaman on my left was so fat
ana padded he was as good as a
feather bed and as the cart was hard !
usually fell his way. He reminded |
ne of Il fat, good humored negro and |
when | bumped extra hard he would .