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Show (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) He'd Bow to No Jap! ON FEBRUARY 1, 1S24, a little boy was born at Fort George (formerly John Jacob Aster's post of Astoria) on the lower Columbia river in the Pacific Northwest. His father was Archibald McDonald, a young Scotch clerk in the employ of the Hudson's Bay company, and his mother was the former Koale Koa, or Raven, daughter of Chief Com-Comley Com-Comley of the Chinook Indians. February 1, 1942, finds the United States and Japan engaged in a life-and-death struggle. Although, on the face of it, there is no connection between these two events on dates 118 years apart, the fact is that such a connection exists. For this little boy, to whom his parents gave the name of Ranald, grew up to be a great adventurer, went to Japan and became the first teacher of English in that "Hermit Kingdom." "Indeed, it may be said that Ranald, MacDonald, halfbreed son of Oregon, owns a place among those who introduced Japan to the ways of the western world, a world of ideas Japan has never fully understood un-derstood and with which she is now at war." Those are the words of a Portland, Ore., historical writer, M. Leona Nichols, whose book, "Ranald Mac-Donald, Mac-Donald, Adventurer," published by the Caxton Printers, Ltd. of Caldwell, Cald-well, Idaho, is the first full-length bicgraphy of this little-known but significant American. In 1848, he was a sailor on 'a whaler, the Plymouth, commanded by Capt. L. B. Edwards. When the RANALD MacDONALD (From a woodcut by William Klamm In "Ranald MacDonald, Adventurer" by M. Leona Nichols.) Plymouth reached Asiatic waters near Japan, he determined to visit the "Hermit Kingdom." Although Captain Edwards warned him that he might never get out of the country coun-try alive, MacDonald persuaded the captain to give him his discharge and supply him with a small boat and enough supplies to reach land. Nearing the shore, the daring young .American capsized his boat and allowed himself to be rescued by some Japanese fishermen. Taken before the governor and other court dignitaries, MacDonald was ordered to bow low before them. He refused, saying "I kow-tow to no man!" Then, according to MacDonald, Mac-Donald, "I looked the governor full in the face, so did he me; man to man . . . say for 20 or 30 seconds, in dead silence, at length, rising slowly, from a sitting position, to his knee, leaning toward me, he ad- dressed me in a few words I did not understand." Later the American Ameri-can learned that the governor had said "You must have a big heart." Instead of being punished for his boldness, MacDonald was treated respectfully and given a house in which to live, although he was still looked upon as a prisoner and closely close-ly guarded. The Japanese authorities authori-ties realized that he could be useful to them so they sent some of their most intelligent and promising men ' to him to learn to speak English. For seven months he served as their teacher. Then he was set free. "The seeds sown by this first teacher of English in the Land of the Rising Sun were planted in soil that was fertile," writes Mrs. Nichols. Nich-ols. "The harvest came during Commodore Com-modore Perry's visit to the island empire, when he made his memorable memora-ble treaty between Japan and the outside world in 1S54, when Ranald's Ran-ald's pupils acted as important links between the Americans and the Japanese, Jap-anese, serving as interpreters and liaison officers.' At Macao MacDonald left the ship which had rescued him and went to Singapore. He became a sailor on a ship bound for Madras and although it was wrecked he managed to reach land in safety. Eventually he went to Australia, made his fortune there and, once more succumbing to the wanderlust, took ship for Italy. From there he went to Paris and London, then decided to return to America. Arriving in Canada, he learned that his father had retired from the service serv-ice of the Hudson's Bay company in 1844, settled near Montreal and died there in 1853. i t i |