.....THE
j|tLY JACK T,
harry sypher
'j v i
Copyright, 1910, by American Press Association.
/-\H, the jolly Jack Tar I he is far away from home,
0 |
Aboard the nation's battleship upon the briny foam,
Christmas time and all times he sails the seven seas j
’ spices in foreign breeze,
affs the fragrant every
And always when the day comc3 round that comes but once
a year of his fireside cheer.
jk siahs t0 quaff the fragrance
HUT still the jolly Jack Tar upon the billowed brine,
D For all his lonesome feeling, is never heard to whin
From somewhere east of Suez he gets his Christmas greet
And decks himself all over with a wealth of woodland scene?
With gorgeous glee he decks himself upon the hamijiock dec
With evergreens upon his heart and holly round his ne
THOUGH jolly Jack has not a chance to hang the mistletoe
And kiss the girl he left behind in case she gets below,
He hitches up his trousers and he whistles through his teeth
And goes and makes the mascot goat a jolly holly wreath,
nd then he sings a chantey song, with loud guffaws between,
Anent the merry mascot and the wearing of the green.
T ^ v * hhin his mess room the jolly Jack Tar sits
And Bill CU 3 ^kHstmas dinner from the galley and the kits,
They ect T nC * Nann yg°at are both remembered, too —
y unf cou$ feast themselves when jolly Jack is
hey have no spinach, they devour the Christmas
holly anfJ le s , “rubbery and all
the woodland scenes.
the COVINGTON NEWS, WEDNESDAY
DECEMBER 21, 1910.
AN IDOL IN COM
Made to Serve the Ends of Justice
In a Case In Japan.
THE RUSE OF A WISE MAYOR.
This Solomon-like Official, to Whom
an
innocent Man Accused of Theft Ap¬
pealed, Devised • Simple Scheme
That Disclosed the Real Culprits.
One day a servant employed by the
proprietor 0 f a big store near Japan
bridge, in Yeddo, was sent with a heavy
pack of valuable cotton goods on his
back to a dyer in Honjo district. When
the store's messenger reached Yoko
gawa street he was ready to seek rest.
\\ hat more safe than the little
or trees set about grove
the stone statue of
the god Jizo, the patron saint of trav¬
elers and defenseless woman and chil¬
dren.
The somnolent porter awoke from a
nap to find that his employer’s cotton
had disappeared, in great distress he
went to the storekeeper and confessed
that he had slept and that a robber
had made off with the goods during his
slumber. The master would not be¬
lieve his story, saying that it would
have been impossible for a robber to
make off with so large a bundle in
broad daylight. Unless the porter
should pay for the lost goods he would
have to go to prison, said the master.
In despair the porter took counsel of
Mayor O-oka.
“You are certainly to blame for hav¬
ing fallen asleep,” reproved the mayor,
“but Jizo is equally to blame, for he
is a god bound to protect every one
who trusts in him, and in this instance
he has betrayed you. I will have him
arrested and brought before me for
trial.”
O-oka gave immediate orders to his
court officers to go and arrest the Jizo
of Yokogawa street and bring him be¬
fore the mayor’s seat for trial. Three
of the officers departed on their mis¬
sion. They first bound the arms of
the stone god with coils of rope; then
they tried to lift him from his firm
pedestal into a cart. A great crowd
assembled before the Jizo, attracted
by the unusual behavior of the court
officers. When they were told that
Jizo had to go before the mayor for
trial the citizens marveled.
The task of unseating the god was
too much for the three court officers,
and they sought aid of those standing
about. They promised that in return
for assistance they would admit all
volunteer workers into the courtroom
to wAiess the extraordinary trial.
Hundreds were spurred by curiosity
to lend a hand, and when the stone
god went through the streets strapped
to a cart like an offender the crowd
grew. It filled the great hall of justice
when Jizo was placed before the plat¬
form upon which sat the mayor. O-oka
addressed the god in stern words.
“You are a negligent fool, 0 Jizo!”
he exclaimed in a voice loud enough
for all to hear. “You are supposed
to protect every one who believes in
you and who renders tribute, yet this
trusting porter here made a prayer to
you, then fell asleep at your feet, and
he was robbed while he slept You
stand accused of being an accomplice
in this robbery. Have you anything to
say for yourself before I pass sen¬
tence?”
Mayor O-oka waited for a few mo¬
ments as if expecting the stony lips of
Jizo to open in reply, but when no
answer was made by the god he pass¬
ed sentence immediately.
“Since you do not defend yourself I
consider that you are guilty,” said his
honor, “and I shall imprison you.”
At this remarkable spectacle of a
mayor passing sentence upon a stone
god there was a titter of laughter.
O-oka thundered in a voice of brass.
“Who are all these people standing
about here?” he inquired of his court
officers. “Are they accomplices of Jizo
or only plain thieves? They think this
court is a penny show, and they laugh
at the court’s orders. Shut all the
gates at once!”
The scared attendants hastened to
shut the gates of the courtroom. Then
Mayor O-oka adjudged every man in
the great crowd in contempt of court
and fined each of them one tan (a ki¬
mono length! of cotton cloth. The hun¬
dreds thus suddenly found in contempt
were happy that their punishment had
been so light at least, and under bonds
they hurried to their homes to bring
back the cloth fine. Before the day
was done 700 pieces of cotton cloth
had been presented before the mayor s
court, the name of each culprit being
set down upon the one tan of cotton
cloth which he presented.
Before he would allow the 700 to go,
however, O-cka retired with the por¬
ter who had been robbed to an Inner
chamber, and he asked the porter to
look over the 700 pieces of cotton
cloth and see if he could identify any
of them as having been once in the
pack he had carried. Since every man¬
ufacturer of cotton cloth in Yeddo al¬
ways marked the selvage of each strip
with a little red trademark stamp the
porter searched the edges of the many
strips of cloth for a stamp similar to
that borne on the cloth of which he
had been robbed. He found that two
of the pieces of cloth brought to pay
the mayor’s fine bore the stamp of his
plundered pack. Instantly Mayor
O-oka gave orders for the arrest of the
two men who had brought this cloth
They confessed to the robbery, and a 1
of the cloth they had taken from the
sleeping porter’s pack was restored to
him.— Japan Magazine.
To accept good advice is but to in
PAGE SEVEN
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