-6 



' THE EVENING STi 



; Mjss Scidmore Wrote "As The 

 T'^Hague-Ordainsr', 



A MUCH-DISCUSSED BOOK 



: Treated of the Care of Russian 



Prisoners in Japan. 



HER FIRST ESSAY AT FICTION 



An Interestiiig Talk Vfith the 

 Writer, Who Studied War Con- 

 ditions In Japan in 1904-5. 



Perhaps the niost-talked-about book In 

 Washington drawinp; rooms this winter 

 has been "As The Hague Ordains," osten- 

 sibly the journal of tlie wife of a Russian 

 prisoner In Japan, published anonymously 

 .. by Henry Holt &,,Co. , Every writer who' 

 fhhAs been. In /Japan aild many who»JiaV*- 

 not been- there have been .charged 'with 

 Its authorship. The mystery has been 

 well maintained; for the year' sines thai 

 anonymous .tale -«'as published, and the' 

 critics have never been able to guess 'the 

 name of the author, despite their wide 

 and wild guesses. The publishers, in an- 

 noujiclng a new edition of the book, now 

 disclose as Its author Eliza R. Scidmore 

 author of "Jinrlklsha Days In Japan.'' 

 'Java, the Garden of the East;" • •■Clilna. 

 the Long-Llved Empire." and- "Winter 

 India," --As The Hague Ordains" is the 

 hrst essay, at romance by this well k 

 writer of 'books of travel, 

 = 1^!^!?, Scidmore talked ^'inte^stlngly 

 \V^^ki^^L''°?^ fu^''^'" reporter in her 

 ? If® ? .''"r"^ ""^ '^''■y- When 



asked if she had a partner or collaborator 



r"ol^.^-°^^heXr"rt^taV?n"^"a;;l^paTt°t 

 Ur^'e^'fe'-^dTnT"'^" 



,u^:n^\ilt^i^ta!::^^'t«,^t;;;^ 



lasted and g-Icktlng over its small resnit 



end i,,^""^"""' t'^a' confer- 



ence was a great success. The thirteen 



Jf^^'.«"i,5ky irom sailinc half around Ihe 



ectln« ^™'",^hr'H' '^''^'"^ there and ■'S^, 

 lecting combination with new- lieets— 



n ^i^.frS" '''' ^-wing"^of mines 



commpr^ of peaceful 



leutral limit off shore, while forts and 

 'Mp.s now have guns that carry ^ and 

 was"fr,en"/^',^?," Togo'Tffee 

 dronn 1.?^ invisible when its shells were 

 dropping In the sireets of Port Arthur," 

 The Authorsl-iip Mystery. 



,^"7," ''r"'^ ^^-"h the au- 



thorshlp of the booli?" . 



"A few. It grew very tlrpsome -befora 

 the winter was over. I never squS'rely 

 denied It. and a little bluster generally put 

 inquirers to rout. It was enough to say: 

 Nonsense, who told you that?' and they 

 would genei-ally (juit: while 'HA\ 



Idnd «f^L.?°,°!f ' scatter another 



i -nuv h '"^"'^"'O'' promptly, as they gen- 

 '•'»lly had not rea<l any book, and were 



tlon I "f, Of conversa- 



' ■ irni.,.,n, «..y, loo. that I 

 preface to the 

 do so— as the 



'to 



tor some ifrelglit to a 

 •ind fs>r a Wntihlngt 



nd 



In 



I from ,8u „ 



•state ugoiit to 

 I'll ii' iiui ihc 



"IM"'^' ^ magazine, but found 

 lmpo88lblo-too much material too i i nv 

 loo many hlsul -lca prile- 

 Clear. Besides, all sorts of people would 

 serlon?'^rH°l' *1 trapped- Into reacang a 

 serious article about prisoners of war as 



pln'ifi'h'te'rVrn^?'' « " 



. "Werft vrtti in To 



lSi:ofyi^i;j;^f 3' HkSkd^r 

 era]i;;;=^;,"^;-r;ra:'^j-r;^i: 



Ihe device ^ clever, but rather- 

 the most superior 

 °t all the critics, 'and we suspect 'that 

 hL''h^^''T."'^•.¥^"'^" I*'-'^""^'- Ign ore 

 .Uian half English and /wears trousers ■ 

 Un^a J'^llT^ said.j, 'The tho.ught dis- 

 tinctly masculine, thinly disguised In fem- 

 inine expression.' Anotlicr Japanese call-' 

 ,rt ^,r^.^^^''",'°" '"' Russian heart 

 ^ the Nippon woman' 



I't {ears"'M,'\%7;'-'" ''^^'1 "^"h- 

 it teais All of thcni seemed to grasn 



.rjf;'' however thai (he prisoners were 

 reated as The Hague ordains, and tlfev 

 lay great stress on I lie part that Presi- 

 de.. Kooaeyclt took iu the Portsmouth 



"}^, Russian lacks the Sense of humor' 

 It is flattering, perhaps, to be accused of 

 ,.f„^„° I "".aenitude, but the whole 

 wtLr , ^" °" Russian gov- 



f<wm, h '^."'^ tl'o^e. remarkable books- 

 Tr^^," » r ^ossacks' and 'The Tragedy of 

 Russa in Pacific Asia.' the only pieces 



d'L"''''-T l'""^ from thi 



jKussian side-must be 'attacks' also. 'Cer- 

 v;>U;, "^l'^^"'*' ""ore to cheer and- 

 icomfort the forlorn prisoners than-that' 

 ."certain Ru.sslan,' ' ' 



-^"A certain sympathetic Washington 

 H?„'!]^1-f ^''n' i""^ money to buy a rubber- 

 t red jinriksha for the American mis- 

 sionary In Matsuyama. who was wearing 

 herself out walking herself to death and 

 impoverishing herself to buy dainty and 

 delicate food for the Russians l„ the hos- 

 pital. Alter buying the Jinriksha thei-e 

 ---ough to pay the . year's wages of a 

 icooue. and. until the last Invalid left, the 

 American vehicle took relays of the weak 

 ..ana crippled for dally rides. The unself- 

 ish missionary has never heard from Her 

 charges since they sailed away ' or re- > 

 eelved any acknowledgment from 'anV one**' 

 InlJ'^f f P^rhuman efforts to lessen- the' 

 .8um»-ot human misery. Much else was 

 done for the prisoners by Americans," 



f t '«re any originals for the chaiv 

 ctcrs In the book'?" 



rr.r.V^^ .^'"f.'":,. *^'>"^'"S ' Characters 'are 

 most decidedly not portraits. The' 



naiy KussM»H-?IV» fact, some people call 

 them overdrawn on too angelic lines, 1 

 ,IH, T®i ""5"/ Russians as charming, 

 ^ 1 tivated and Just and clear-headed, but 

 not In .Japan, None such seemed to, come 

 In the dragnet of war, In fact, one per- 

 son, recognizing that the Russian char-- 

 trrs w-ere so entirely beyond the aver- , 

 e, has called the book a 'hard rap at 

 pan. lou can take your choice," 

 ivhat pleased you ' 

 _ 'The comment of 

 yho had lived eight 

 and -who said she 'wf 



buro. Rut Tosaburo ,s oniy a type of the 

 regular young Japanese ofhcer, the flower 

 Of Bushldo and of young Japan. I know 

 a dozen. I have met a hundred Tosa- 

 -hl'.^"t'= "i"'' ' pleased if I have made 

 mm real to any one." 



an Englishwoman 

 n years In Japan, 

 In love with Tofea- 

 dy a type 



I f ore- 



^'Attacks" on Kussln. 

 "I heard' tlial a cerlaln Russian called 

 the book 'an insidloUK aliack on the Rus- 

 dan governn.ent.' ■ \VI,„ can say that 



, 'Were pou'in'japan during th„ 

 ' ■ 8ftw Some Wai- Blg'ns. 



,,!''Not at the beBlnnlng, hut th 

 mniT 



WIl 



