The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-12-01

and uttered a faint cry as she buried
her face behind her long sleeves.
What is it, Tama?"
you must go and fight for the En-
peror now"
"Ah!" exclaimed Yorimasa. 'hoN
gladly I go forth to fight for my EN-
peror and my country
Momotaro once more shouted: Bang
bang, kill, kill, kill!' and the little fell
/ low gave quaint imitation of the grim
battlefield.
Goodbye. dear little wife. Good
/ bye. Mono. I must go now!''
Tama suddenly sprang up, and
brushing the tears bravely away, she
said. Don't come back again; die for
the glory of Japan In another mo-
| ment he was gone, and mother and
child sat very still together.
Presently Tama put her arms round
her boy and said, in such a sad little
voice:
Mono, 1t isn't all bang and kill and
battle glory The women of Japan
have to fight their battle against the
sad mothers of the Russian army.
All, Mono, women fight battles too;
not on the field, but in the lonely
home, and the weary, anxious battle
of waiting for the homecoming, that
perhaps will never come, is harder
battle after all!''
poor, dear mother feels very, very
lonesome tonight replied Mono, only
dimIy understanding what had been
said to him. Would mother like to
see my beautiful carp fly out of the
Window continued he. Tama as
scented, and in a moment the toy carp,
so wonderfully made, flew through the
air.
While they were watching it they
heard the steady, rhythmic sound of the
tramp of feet. Louder it grew, and
then, marching round a bend in the
road, came the Osaka Division.
Mono was very small. The joy or
seeing the army in which his father
marched overcame his other feelings.
Look! Look." exclaimed Mono
eagerly. there's father marching along
at the end of one line, just near the
house, and the moon shines on his
bayonet, and, OH he looks so full OF
peace and Joy. Look, do look, moth
err" But Tama could not look, for she
knew that the way of armies is the
way of Death.
music. Mono was delighted. Once
more he shouted. kill, bang, bang,
kiln as he thrust out his small arms
right and left.
sMomo." said Tama, in a quivering
voice, please do not say that any
more!" And Mono and Tama remain
ed very still till they could no longer
hear the tramping of brave feet, or
the sound of the great music of war.
II.
Towards the end of May news reach
ed Osaka of the success of the Jap
anese army in Manchuria. Yorimasa
had been mentioned in the dispatches
to Toxic for conspicuous bravery.
The Japanese army had succeeded in
beating the Russians back from line
of hills a. mile and a half north or
Kin-chan, and they now took possess
sion" of them preparatory to taking
the stronghold held by the enemy on
Nanshan Hill.
On the eve of the great battle of
Nanshan, Tama had a strange dream.
She dreamt that she stood side by side
with her husband in the 4th Division
upon the bloody battlefield. She heard
the roar of the gunboats, the shouting
of the officers, and saw the awful
havoc of the big guns devastating
doom. When the order was given for
the Osaka men to storm the heights
and capture Nanshan Hill, she felt
herself being swept along by. the daunt-
less soldiery of Japan, and always
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. with her dear
lord. Higher and higher climbed the
Osaka men, leaving a trail of dead be-
hind them Now it seemed that fYori-
masa and Tama headed the 4th Diyi-
sion. With a great shout Yorimasa
rushed forward. He was the first to
reach the battlements. He almost sue
ceeded in scaling them, when he was
shot down with the cry of MY En-
peror'' upon his lips. But no welcome
shot had entered into the aching heart
of Tama. She stood unseen when the
Japanese standard fiuttered triumphant
from Nanshan Hill The silken en-
blem of the Rising Sun touched her
/ cheek, and it seemed like the passing
of Yorimasa, like the touch of his hand
that now ives very still,
When it was dusk Tama descended
into the valley and saw great stretch
of brave men sleeping the LAST long
sleep of death. AS she stood. the
moonlight shining upon the grim bat
tlefield, she seemed to hear a soft.
clear trumpet-calI. Low it sounded at
first. and then gradually grew in
volume; but it was always soft in
tone, always beseeching, wonderful,
eerie. And it seemed. as TIA ma stood
srellbound by the sweet call, that the
spirits of the Japanese army silently,
slowly arose from all the still figures
upon the battlefield. White soldier
souls came down from Nanshan Hill,
and Tama saw that her lord was among
them. Again and again the trumpet
call sounded, and marching in perfect
line stepped that great army of SOL
dier-souls far out into the night, into
the Great Meads where those who died
for their country shall make merry at
last.
That was Tama's dream, and a few
days later news was brought to her
that her husbands name was upon
the death-roll, and that he had died
even as Tama had dreamed. And when
Tama asked # the army had heard the
phantom trumpet-call and seen the
soldier-souls march across the battle
field, the officials looked at her pitt