The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-11-28

men do this for themselves aud often
practice the greatest selfshness to at
tain their ends What they do to ad-
vance their own interests Japanese
will do from patriotism, or perhaps,
TO state it more correctly, for his an
cestors. Fancy an American making
a sacrifice for his ancestorsl
The japanese have drifted into our
navy as servants and have monopo-
lied the field. When was In COM
mand Of the United States warship NJ.
l visited Japan and, being In need of a
body servant, brought away with me
a man exactly Ave feet high and any
age between sixteen and forty. No
one could tell how old he was, and he
gave no information on the subject
himself. His name was so unpro-
nounceable by an English speaking
person that my junior officers reduced
1t to Zip. He was very smart could
see that at once He learned every.
thing on sight. When he came to me
he had never shaved man, and yet he
had done the work but twice before
he gave me the best shave ever had.
There was one thing about Zip that
/ didn't Ikea propensity to occupy
the morning left him there to put 1t
in order. Considering his quickness.
would have expected him TO do the
work in ten minutes. Instead Ii re-
quired all the morning. Whenever !
had occasion to go there the little Jap
was busy as bee buzzing from one
thing to another so rapidly and so deft-
ly that | wondered how he managed to
keep busy for so long a time. True,
one day after having returned several
times during the morning found him
looking over book Curious to know
what he was reading. | glanced at 1t
and found 1t to be a novel.
Don't waste your time with that
sort of reading. Zip" | said. 60 to
the galley and ask for a cookbook. IL
you want better wages study cookery.
Some chefs get very high wages"
Zip thanked me for the advice, and
after that whenever he had time on
his hands he was always to be found
with a cookbook on his knees. But on
one occasion / saw something to cause
me to suspect that he was wasting his
time, after all, for when / came upon
him unawares he slipped the book he
was reading under one that had been
beneath it. 1t occurred to me that
he had more love for fiction than for
cookery
Zip remained In my service three
years, when our ship again entered
Mississippi bay and be left me- Of
fered him higher wages. but he said
that 1t was not the wages he wanted, |
but a sojourn on shore. He thanked
me for my kindness to him. especially |
for suggesting that be study cookery. |
His intention was to apply for a POI
sition as cook to some wealthy Japa.
nese.
One day while in port received an
invitation to dine with an officer of the
government. He was IN the marine
department and very important
]
were then preparing, though | did not
know 1t, to fight the Russians | ac-
cepted the invitation and found when
arrived number of persons promi-
nent in naval matters. After we were
introduced the host led the way to his
dining room, where we seated our
selves and waited for the first dish TO
be brought in. / was placed on the
right of the host who sat at the head
of the table, and noticed that the seat
on bis left, opposite me, was vacant
While was wondering who would oc-
cupy 1t door opened, and the cook.
in white jacket, apron and cap. en-
tered the room. holding aloft an i'm
mense platter, on which was fish.
What was my surprise to see my old
body servant Zip.
"Well, Zip" said to him. you've
not lost much time In securing a stu
alton, see,"
Zip smiled and set down the platter;
but, instead OF retiring, he threw off |
his jacket, apron and cap, appearing
in the uniform OF an official in the
naval service and took the vacant chair
beside the host.
Captain, permit me to introduce my
son." said the latter. HE went with
you several years ago to prepare him
self TO succeed me In our naval depart |
ment He tells me that he has picked |
up a great deal of valuable informa-
ton on the subject, which he is now
ready to offer to the shades Of his an
cestors."
Pardon me, captain" said Zip, "for
having imposed upon you. 1t seemed
TO me when | entered your service that
1t was the only practical way to &C
quire the knowledge | needed. We |
Japanese are very secretive race, aAd |
l naturally supposed you Americans to
be the same. But three years cruising
with you had taught me differently,
surreptitiously studied your books
when you were not occupying your
cabin and many a night studied till |
morning from one of them had pur-
Joined"
You are quite excusable," I replied. |
eve all make different standards for |
ourselves Ours is not like yours. But |
should think your national secretive
ness would be Of immense value in
war"
The very next year after this the
fight between the Japanese and the
Russians came on, and, in my opinion,
fhis Japanese secretiyeness did more |