TOGO AS A BOY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8375, 22 July 1905, Page 5

TOGO AS A BOY.

PICTURE OF THE JAPANESE HERO

ATC

ILLEGE

An " Occasional Correspondent " in the " Times '•' writes of his recollections of Admiral Togo when the latter was nineteen and at College in England.

" That he was a born fighting man we none of us had the ghost of a suspicion. It is easy enough, post eventual, to- recall some points, the significance oi which* were lost upon us then. Then we saw only his perfect courtesy, which charmed everybody (the parlourmaid declared, ' Mr Togo quite annoys himself with politeness ') ; his punctuality — no one ever knew him to be a moment late for the simplest engagement ; his kindly good nature — ' temper ' he may have had, but there was never a flicker to be seen ; his instant readiness to adopt English modes of life and his power of doing exactly what we did without giving us any ground for thinking him to be a mere- copyist-.

"Full, of fun, with a keen sans© of humour, he was a glutton for work — intent with a dogged intensity which is altogether lacking in the English character. Above all other qualities, he had the gift of silence — not the silence of taciturnity, but the silence of economical speech, which never wastes a word. There was no need to ask, 'Do you understand this or that?' " There was in his eye and gesture the unspoken assurance that he had the grip thereof and was ready for more. On one subject only did he seem to have * his tongue loosened — on dear Japan he was willing to talkj his home was his heart's devotion. . . .

"We failed to see it then; but we call to mind, after he has made 'history , that there were never any ' difficulties ' for him — thai there was bone in his jaw — that his teeth wore large and square and firm, and that we never saw him change his purpose in any matter."