The Press., 1908-01-01
JApAN,s NEW YEARS GIFT.
ehimeta Neesims and What, He Di'
 For His Country

II &Ba@yGS6 t%0SSIHB@ l For His Country.
 Half a century ago. in the .ancien city of Yeddo. was born a child whose
 birthday marked the beginning of the
 greatest epoch in the history of Japan | This child was Shimeta Neesima, tho
 son of man of the samurai class
 one of tue aristocrats of old Japan, 6
 retainer of a great prince. He was
 born to high privileges. and the joy
 of his parents at the coming of an
 heir was unbounded.
 Japan at this time was entirely pa.
 gan. Her gates were closed to for
 eigners, and signboards throughout the
 empire bore decrees against Christian.
 ity. Reading the Bible was one of the
 three crimes punishable with cruciflx-
 lon.
 The Neeslmas were Idoiaters. and they taught their little son to worship
 the array of ugly images which adorn-
 ed their home. But Shimeta was lad
 of keen intellect and sturdy. common sense. He soon began to lose faith in gods of wood and stone and after he
 was sixteen would no longer join in
 the family worship. One day in the li-
 brary of a friend he had found an
 abridged copy of the Bible printed in Chinese characters. From that time his great desire was to learn more of the God who was worshiped in the
 west. He had begun also to realize l the benighted state of his country in other things than in religion. The vis-
 1t of Commodore Perry had opened | his eyes to the wonders of western
 civilization, and his young heart was 1 stirred with longing to serve his coun- l try Ill some better way than his sword
 bearing ancestors had done. He had
 a history of the United States. printed, like his little Bible, in Chinese, and
 this he studied assiduously.
 With great difficulty he obtained from his parents permission to go to l Hakodate, an open port, where he ! hoped to find an English or American | teacher who would unfold to him the world of learning of which he had had ! but 9 glimpse. Arriving at Hakodate,
 be was doomed to disappointment. No 1 teacher was there. Then he deter- ! mined to make his way to America, l The rigid laws against emigra ton were ! still in force. and the undertaking was fraught with danger. But finally he succeeded in making his escape and boar,.ed it night an American schoon- | CT bound for Shanghai. The Japanese officials searched the vessel the next morning, hut the captain hld SAimeta ! iu his cabin,
 At Shanghai he was forced to walt for many da..-s ,.ntil the captain of the \ Wild Rover, a Boston ship offered to ! let him work his passage to America. While in Shanghai he had obtained
 his first great desire, an English Bible, I for which he had traded one of his swords. The kind hearted captain of I the Wild Rover became interested in l the boy, dressed him in American clothes and taught him English. The Wild Rover spent several months In trading at oriental ports, and 1t was not until year had passed that Shi' meta landed in Boston. Much of the time during the long voyage shimeta had spent in reading his English Bible, It so happened that the Wild Rover belonged to Alpheus Hardy. one of the merchant princes of Boston and g 1 famous philanthropist. When he was q young man, studying at Andover, ! Mr. Hardy's ambition had been to en- ! ter the ministry. His health had failed, and he was forced to leave school. That he could not become a &reSC al h4oke his spirit until 1t was shown to him that he could serve Christ in other ways than by preaching, and he had dedicated his life to making money for God" When he learned from the captain of the Wild Rover of the Japanese youth who had come so far to find the truth. he saw that here was a great opportunity. and he sent for Shimeta. So deeply moved was he by Shimeta's story that he took him into his family and sent him to Andover to be prepared for mission work in Japan At Andover the young Japa- nese noble was fully converted to the Christian faith, made public profession and was baptized with the name Jo- seph Hardy Neesima, Tn 1874 he returned to Japan under the auspices of the American board of foreign missions. During his ten years absence many changes had taken place in Japan. The country was now open
 to foreigners and western civilization was being rapidly introduced. Nee sima's scholarship and familiarity with American institutions gave him great influence, and he was soon one of the foremost men of the nation.
 He was repeatedly urged to take high office under the government, but
 'ie had devoted himself to the cause of
 Christian education, and he knew that he coltld better serve his country in
 that field than in the field of politics.
 His success. which included the found-
 was wonderful. and after fifteen years of dis tinguished service for God and
 his native land he passed to his re-
 ward a', Ia" 70 ?ean. nocarned hv tho
 people of Japan as no other private
 citizen had ever been.
 How to Avoid Pneumonia.
 We have never heard of single in stance of cold resulting in pneumonia
 ther lung trouble when Foley's Honey and Tar has been taken. It not only stops the cough, but heals and strengthens the lungs. Ask for Foley's Honey and Tar and refuse any substitute offered. Dr. O. J. Bishop of Agnew, Mich., writes: ''I have used Foley's Honey and Tar in three very severe cases of pneumonia with good results in every case" finders Jacobsen.
 Fun With a Jury.
 One of the most amusing yet unex- pected sensation scenes ever witnessed in a theater occurred once at the The ater Royal, Manchester. The curtain drew up for MT. Toole to address the court re Bardell versus Pickwick when suddenly the jury mysteriously disap- peared, the bottom of their box having fallen out. At first the audience was vr3r 4vr1