OCR Text |
Show the nerves of a fighting man." Such stories are, evolved from inner consciousness. They are not to be believed. Some one dreams of such things and wakens in time to take them down. And to give each a tale verisimilitude there is no better place to locate it than among the fatalists of Japan. Steadying the Narvts. . As illustrating the valor of the Japanese navy, a frirv tale is related that Admiral Togo, commander-- commander-- in-chief of the navy, was accustomed, when attending attend-ing the annual banquets of the Japanese naval acad-i-niy, to sit at a round table, with other students, facing fac-ing a slowly revolving cannon. This cannon was loaded with a ball and trained on the heads of the banqueters. All knew that at some time during the dinner the trigger of the cannon, which was hidden, would be pressed and the ball discharged. There was a bare chance that the charge might pass between be-tween the heads of two students, but the strong probability was that some one would lose his head. This was more disastrous than the loss of a limb. An artificial leg can at least partially replace the real thing so can a wooden arm, the loss of an arm ' but a wooden, arm is not of much account, though I ' it would seem appropriate for a fellow who would j fit down to such a banquet. It is said that this was : c dared La Japan "admir&Ua twaie. to slkadv ? |