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Page 46
Besides towels decorated with artistic sketches of this sort, there
have been placed upon the market many kinds of towels bearing comic
war pictures,--caricatures or cartoons which are amusing without being
malignant. It will be remembered that at the time of the first attack
made upon the Port Arthur squadron, several of the Russian officers
were in the Dalny theatre,--never dreaming that the Japanese would
dare to strike the first blow. This incident has been made the subject
of a towel design. At one end of the towel is a comic study of the
faces of the Russians, delightedly watching the gyrations of a
ballet dancer. At the other end is a study of the faces of the same
commanders when they find, on returning to the port, only the masts
of their battleships above water. Another towel shows a procession
of fish in front of a surgeon's office--waiting their turns to be
relieved of sundry bayonets, swords, revolvers, and rifles, which have
stuck in their throats. A third towel picture represents a Russian
diver examining, with a prodigious magnifying-glass, the holes made by
torpedoes in the hull of a sunken cruiser. Comic verses or legends, in
cursive text, are printed beside these pictures.
The great house of Mitsui, which placed the best of these designs on
the market, also produced some beautiful souvenirs of the war, in
the shape of _fukusa_. (A _fukusa_ is an ornamental silk covering,
or wrapper, put over presents sent to friends on certain occasions,
and returned after the present has been received.) These are made of
the heaviest and costliest silk, and inclosed within appropriately
decorated covers. Upon one _fukusa_ is a colored picture of the
cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga, under full steam; and upon another has
been printed, in beautiful Chinese characters, the full text of the
Imperial Declaration of war.
But the strangest things that I have seen in this line of production
were silk dresses for baby girls,--figured stuffs which, when looked
at from a little distance, appeared incomparably pretty, owing to the
masterly juxtaposition of tints and colors. On closer inspection the
charming design proved to be composed entirely of war pictures,--or,
rather, fragments of pictures, blended into one astonishing
combination: naval battles; burning warships; submarine mines
exploding; torpedo boats attacking; charges of Cossacks repulsed by
Japanese infantry; artillery rushing into position; storming of forts;
long lines of soldiery advancing through mist. Here were colors of
blood and fire, tints of morning haze and evening glow, noon-blue
and starred night-purple, sea-gray and field-green,--most wonderful
thing!... I suppose that the child of a military or naval officer
might, without impropriety, be clad in such a robe. But then--the
unspeakable pity of things!
* * * * *
The war toys are innumerable: I can attempt to mention only a few of
the more remarkable kinds.
Japanese children play many sorts of card games, some of which are
old, others quite new. There are poetical card games, for example,
played with a pack of which each card bears the text of a poem, or
part of a poem; and the player should be able to remember the name of
the author of any quotation in the set. Then there are geographical
card games, in which each of the cards used bears the name, and
perhaps a little picture, of some famous site, town, or temple; and
the player should be able to remember the district and province in
which the mentioned place is situated. The latest novelty in this line
is a pack of cards with pictures upon them of the Russian war vessels;
and the player should be able to state what has become of every vessel
named,--whether sunk, disabled, or confined in Port Arthur.
There is another card game in which the battleships, cruisers, and
torpedo craft of both Japan and Russia are represented. The winner in
this game destroys his "captures" by tearing the cards taken. But the
shops keep packages of each class of warship cards in stock; and when
all the destroyers or cruisers of one country have been put _hors
de combat_, the defeated party can purchase new vessels abroad. One
torpedo boat costs about one farthing; but five torpedo boats can be
bought for a penny.
The toy-shops are crammed with models of battleships,--in wood, clay,
porcelain, lead, and tin,--of many sizes and prices. Some of the
larger ones, moved by clockwork, are named after Japanese battleships:
Shikishima, Fuji, Mikasa. One mechanical toy represents the sinking of
a Russian vessel by a Japanese torpedo boat. Among cheaper things of
this class is a box of colored sand, for the representation of naval
engagements. Children arrange the sand so as to resemble waves; and
with each box of sand are sold two fleets of tiny leaden vessels. The
Japanese ships are white, and the Russian black; and explosions of
torpedoes are to be figured by small cuttings of vermilion paper,
planted in the sand.
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