"It's hard f'r me to think iv th' Japs this way. But 'tis th' part iv
prudence. A few years ago I didn't think anny more about a Jap thin
abont anny other man that'd been kept in th' oven too long. They were
all alike to me. But to-day, whiniver I see wan I turn pale an' take off
me hat an' make a low bow. A few years ago an' I'd bet I was good f'r a
dozen iv thim. But I didn't know how tur-rible a people they are. Their
ships are th' best in th' wurruld. We think we've got good ships. Th'
Lord knows I'm told they cost us enough, though I don't remimber iver
payin' a cent f'r wan. But a Jap'nese rowboat cud knock to pieces th'
whole Atlantic squadron. It cud so. They're marvellous sailors. They
use guns that shoot around th' corner. They fire these here injines iv
desthruction with a mysteeryous powdher made iv a substance on'y known
to thim. It is called saltpether. These guns hurl projyctiles weighin'
eighty tons two thousand miles. On land they ar-re even more tur-rible.
A Jap'nese sojer can march three hundhred miles a day an' subsist on a
small piece iv chewin' gum. Their ar-rmy have arrived at such a
perfection at th' diffycult manoover known as th' goose step that they
have made this awful insthrument iv carnage th' terror iv th' armies iv
Europe. As cav'lrymen they ar-re unexcelled. There is on'y wan horse in
Japan, but ivry Japanese sojer has larned to ride him. To see wan iv
their magnificent cav'lry rijments goin' into action mounted on Joko is
a sight long to be raymimbered. Above all, th' Jap'nese is most to be
feared because iv his love iv home an' his almost akel love iv death. He
is so happy in Japan that we wud rather die somewhere's else. Most
sojers don't like to be kilt. A Jap'nese sojer prefers it. It was hard
to convince th' nation that they hadn't lost th' war with Rooshya
because not so many Rooshyans had been kilt as Japs. Faith we ought to
be scared iv thim. I niver see wan without wondhrin' whether me cellar
is bomb-proof.
"An' I sigh f'r th' good old days befure we become what Hogan calls a
wurruld power. In thim days our fav'rite spoort was playin' solytare,
winnin' money fr'm each other, an' no wan th' worse off. Ivry-body was
invious iv us. We didn't care f'r th' big game goin' on in th' corner.
Whin it broke up in a row we said: 'Gintlemen, gintlemen!' an' maybe
wint over an' grabbed somebody's stake. But we cudden't stand it anny
longer. We had to give up our simple little game iv patience an' cut
into th' other deal. An' now, be Hivens, we have no peace iv mind. Wan
hand we have wan partner; another hand he's again us. This minyit th'
Jap an' me ar-re playin' together an' I'm tellin' him what a fine lead
that was; th' next an' he's again me an' askin' me kindly not to look
at his hand. There ar-re no frinds at cards or wurruld pollyticks. Th'
deal changes an' what started as a frindly game iv rob ye'er neighbor
winds up with an old ally catchin' me pullin' an ace out iv me boot an'
denouncin' me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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