Page:St. Nicholas (serial) (IA stnicholasserial321dodg).pdf/382

276





the administration of President Fillmore the United States wished to open commerce with Japan, So war-ships were sent under command of Captain Perry, carrying a gold box with a letter in it, asking for the ports to be open to the United States.

On April 8, 1854, the American squadron, the Susquehanna leading, entered Yedo Bay. The people were panic-stricken, but they soon found that the errand of the ships was a peaceful one.

It was while the squadron lay in Yedo Lay that, one morning, about two o’clock, the officer of the mid-watch on the Mississippi heard voices beside the boat, and, looking down, he saw two young boys climbing up the ladder.

Without understanding a word they said, he knew they wanted to remain on board the ship, so he took them to the commander of the flag-ship.

The boys told him that they wished to be taken to America and (a learn more about the world. He was friendly with the government of Japan, and although he would have liked to take the boys with him, he knew the Japanese were not allowed to leave their country, and it would be considered an unfriendly act. So, in spite of the protests of the boys, who said they would be beheaded, they were sent back.

The boys were put in prison and sentenced to be beheaded in five years. One of the boys, whose name was Yoshida Shoin, was turned over to the lord of his clan to be cared for.

He was friendly to the boy, and gave him a cottage under the pines, where he gathered together all the boys of his clan, and taught them, or, as one of the boys afterward said: “He did not exactly teach us, but he gave himself out to us.”