Putnam patriot., 1912-08-09
Two Mlkados of Japan

Two MlkadOs of Japan
 "fhe King k dead-long live the King n'
 Mutsuhito has passed to his rest and Yoshihito, his son, reign in his stead. Men who hold the title die, but the of flee Of the "Mikado,7 the "Honorable Gate, the "Sublime Porte dies not. The lineal descendants of Ama-terasu, the Heavenly-shining Goddess of the Sunlight, shall sit forever on the | BFHgon.throne of the Eastern isles.
 In the ancient palace at Kyoto, where for so many years the Imperial family were held as prisoners by the 1 usurping Sho-guns, ode may still enter | the Audience Chamber and see there the delicatey woven curtain of bam- | boo behind which sat the dethroned ruler of Japan and through which he gazed upon his courtiers. He saw them and spoke to them, but remained always invisible to the eyes of all ordi- nary mortals. For how could poor hu- man clay gaze upon the heavenly shining counlenance and survive2 It was the old, old tradition of the Elm perors of China-believed in by all the people of Japan as well, that if sub- ject looked unveiled upon the face of hts sovereign. he would instantly fall dead. "SHoU LooNG KwANG tito receive the dragons glotyH-was more than any poor mortal could endure. 1 we'll remember, some thirty years ago, how l was told, in old Picking, of the preparations that had been made for little visit of the Emperor from the Forbidden City, out toward the Summer Palace. Days before, officers and soldiers had pattoled every inch of the way and giveu.out the strictest | orders for reVereutial silence and se erecy. Every door and window and possible opening was tightly closed and everyone remained within while the procession passed. So il was also in i"ro kio, the "Eastern Capital, ' until that memorable April day, in the year ,lS72, the fourth of "Meiji' or | Enlightened Government, as the last reign was styled when in few short hours, the great change took | place and the old idea passed forever Into history. For on that day, Mutsu. hito, Emperor of Dai Nippon, was for the first time to reveal himself 10 the uncovered gaze of his devoted people. It was the great ceremony of the op. ening of the first railway in the Em- | pire. The little lne--some seventeen miles in length that connected the Capital with it's port of Yokohama. was completed by the English En- | eineers and their Imperial MajesteS were to ride in an open carriage from the palace in the old Castle of Nedo, right through the streets of Tokio, i down to the little station by the waters edge.
 Eye witnesses have told the story vividly of how the streets were swept and garnished for that great day snd were gaily decorated with flags and banners and arches of the un dying pine and cedar; of how whole regi- ments of soldiers with bayonets fixed lined every iootstep of the way, while thousands upon thousands of men, wom. en and children of every rank and walk in life stood behind them, wait ing in reverendal awe for the coming
 
 realm. And when, al last, the helmets and sabres of the escorling cavalry flashed in the sunlight, they say that silence like unto that of death fell upon the multitude and that they held their breaths until the Imperial carriage passed, many Of them instinctivels placing their hands upon their hearts to see If they really still were living