Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-09-22
GEN. NOGpS FOURTH OF JULY BANQUET I'm CAMP

inally. conduct the affair He was UNI
able to see how we could provide a ban
quet when there had been no dessert at
his table for d m,nth. We assured his
that if he would help us out there would
be banquet to make him proud of his
country.
At this point we enlarged the idea
some more. The banquet must be en-
tirely inclusive, quite international in
scope. In short. we concluded to invite
every general officer in the town. These
consisted of Gen. Nogi. his chief of staff
Gen. Ichinoho. and the English Maj. Gen
Pertey Pasha
Accordingly Maj. Kuhn invited the
generals TO our Fourth of July banquet
They promptly accepted. Now we were
in for it. and only about two weeks il
which to prepare.
Right off We began erecting a tent in
our compound. First, we took the mat
ting the Chinese used for beds. IA very
stiff stuff. and, with the aid of stakes
made an Enclosure about twenty fee,
square. Inside this we erected mar
quee. Under that we built Il pine table
capable of seating twelve persons
Members of Nogi's staff We're passing
our house each day and frequently one
or another would drop in to call. fol
sip of tea They saw the building of
this weird shelter and we explained its
purpose. They must have reported 1t to
the general. for one afternoon he sent
over an orderly with basket of cham
payne and the word that he hoped we
would let him contribute his mite to the
feast.
That was the beginning Of our wine list
The next day, while calling on Cen Per-
tey in the hospital whence he had been
sent with slight flesh wound received
in little cavalry charge. l told him of
Gen. NOgis contribution and lie reached
under the cot and drew forth a hamper
1t contained dozen bottles of claret
which Marshal Oyama had sent him ON
receiving 10 ;,,..; !
that we take half of it for the banquet.
So FAR so good. Claret and champagne
"a fair beginning. The next dav we
started Earl our boy, on the trip ia
Dainy. which would require nine DAYS to
complete. In the list of things he was
10 get were sherry and cordial
few days later the general again
sent word. He would be glad if I could
Joln him after dinner in the garden After
lew minutes talk he remarked that We
seemed to be building quite a perma-
nent structure in our compound We had
by that time planted some green saplinss
ana were watering them. replied that
we wished to screen our guests when
tney arrived, from the noisome sounds,
sights and smells of the compound with
its donkeys, dogs and pigs
lie modestly suggested that some music
might be of pleasant assistance. [ agreed
that 1t would. Then he apologized and
asked If we would consider that he was
1ntruding on our plans If he offered us
the use of the Osaka Military Band
assured him that we could endure the
intrusion and the thing was settled.
The Osaka Band consisted of twenty
n Rrrt ~.
quite as good as many a regimentaI band
In these states. Two months before al
the request of the leader, Washburn had
sent to New York for some Sousa music
ana 1t fortunately arrived that day. So
the band had eight days in which To get
up in THE Stars and Stripes Forever
and few others Of similar character
None of the Japanese had ever heard
these tunes and we were reserving them
for a surprise.