The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-27
| IMPRESSIVE SCENES MARKED LAST HOURS
 OF JAPAN'S RULER
How Japan Hoped and Prayed For
 Recovery of Stricken Ruler.

 ing their way to shrines, temples, and churches to offer prayers for the Inn perial patients recovery. Indeed, the spirit of petition seemed to have ta- ken possession of the masses, feature astonishing to those accustomed to re- gard the Japanese as not much given to religion. In front of the great temples prayers in giant ideographs were sent up on
 high banners for the people to have
 definite petition to offer on their ar rival before the altar All class of people, old and young, made up the throngs presenting petitions to the na- tionaI gods.
 One little girl approaching the shrine severed her long, beautiful black tres ses from her head and daid them as
 an offering of sacrifice on the altar of
 the Temple Five men standing be- fore shrine offered prayer written with their own blood. Hundreds of the more superstitious and fanatical of the community, disrobing themselves, ran from temple to temple and at each altar had the priests pour cold water over their naked bodies in token of pu- rification and humiliation before be- ing fit to offer effective prayers for the afflicted sovereign.
 PROSTRATED BEFORE PALACE. As the melancholy days passed, and encouraging reports gradually gave way to less satisfactory news, the grief | of the multitudes seemed almost to pass bounds. Every day saw great numbers of men. women and children high and low, rich and poor, assem- 1 bIed on the grounds in front of the | Imperial palace gates, prostrate on the gravel in prayer toward the chamber i of the dying Emperor. But on the l last night, when all hope seemed past, | the scenes in front of the palace were such as can find no parallel in history. All through the intense heat of 1 humid summer day the crowds contin- l ued to gather in prostration toward 1 the sick room. By the evening more
 than 100000 people had massed them selves before the bridge known as ni- l jubaski leading to the precincts of the l palace, until the whole vast space un- 1 der the ancient pine trees within the l meats was covered with silent, sur- ging multitude.
 As night drew on the Imperial house | hold authorities I1oisted a lantern over l the sick chamber to indicate the Irn- 1 perial presence; and in that direction | the whole concourse of people turned l their faces and prostrated themselves | in prayer. What a moment it was! l Every one know the Emperor was about breathing his last. Down upon l the moving shadowy mass shone a i fair, sad, moon The silence was but accentuated by the soft murmurouS echo of numberless voices in united prayer; and the sound was as the mo- | tion of many waters.
 One could but move among them, ev- en though to do so seemed profane. It was a moment when even the most ir- l religious must assume an attitude of devotion. Was ever the ruler of nation loved so?
 l Hundreds of little mothers with tiny l babies on their backs leading others of l their children by the hand and show l ing them how to kneel and pray for l the passing Emperor; teachers with | their classes. the divinity students of l the various Buddhist colleges in their strange costumes. squads of soldiers and sailors, crowds of merchants, artl- sans and toilers of every kind, who l had closed up shop, abandoned busi- l ness or toll to give the night to the sad vigil on behalf of the ruler who had given them modern freedom and made l the new Japan-what scene 1t was, that swaying mass of dark human forms in the light of the pale moon under the ancient pines encircled by the weird stone walls of the moat, cen turies old!i Water was placed at the gates between the moat walls, so that those entering could pour it over their hands in purification before joining l in the devotion of the multitude. TABOO ON FLASHLIGHT.
 
 the dim lantern, an omen of the fading l life of the Imperial patient beneath. Some one attempted to take flash | light of the scene; but he was forth with set upon and mobbed, a police man getting badly hu1H in an effort I to save the profane adventurer. Then the lantern disappeared, and the be- ! loved Emperor was no more. But the prayers did not cease, nor will they 1 do so; for in Japan all past Emperors are still living, and are among the chief deities of the nation. Much as | the late sovereign did for his country during his long and brilliant reign,
 now, elevated to a position of deity, he can, and will, do more than ever
 for the good of fair Japan. Such is ! the faith of the entire nation.
 Notwithstanding this faith, it was hard for the nation to part with It's beloved Emperor in the flesh. He was the symbol of all that Japan had achieved in the last half century, and the centre of the nations life. Around him gathered all those mighty forces and ambitions that have made Japan
 one. of the foremost nations or tne world Ascending the thfone youth
 of sixteen he found his country in the cruel and antiquated bonds of feudal- ism and misrule, intolerable to the sur rounding civilized nation that aemanu"
 ed admission. He left 1t, after torty nVG wears or 0HllSuCCIACO OA~ -NAA ~- most serious period of transition past
 and the country occupying proud place among the frst-class Powers. Never did a people have more ralth Tn
 sovereign; and never did ruler oo more to win and deserve the faltn or his subjects He has been to Japan what Queen Victoria was to Great
 Britain: and that is saying much.
 Think of the millions he found in slavery and serfdom and left in free dom and prosperity, enjoying the rights of free citizenship and entitled to trial in modern courts of law! Think of what it means to modern Japanese
 subject to be free to go where he wills
 throughout the Empire and engage in any occupation he likes! He could not
 do this before the present illustrious
 reign began. The late Emperor was
 undoubtedly the life and soul of all that during the last fifty years has gone to the rejuvenation of Japan. For
 ever will he stand out before the peo-
 pie as the undying symbol of the new
 born nation. Not only so, but his per-
 sonal interest and wide sympathy with all the struggling masses of the popu-
 lation touched the nations heart very
 deeply; so that in his death every cit
 izen felt personal, as well as a na-
 tional loss.
 HIS GIFTS TO POOR.
 The moment disastrous fire, or a calamity of any kind occurred, even in
 the most remote quarter of the Elm
 mir ao ,S irx-aS hn