Poor Chinese boy begging rations

Poor Chinese boy begging rations

144

Many of the Manchurian farmers on the peninsula on which Port Arthur is located lost their lives during the fierce fighting at the end of May, 1904, by which the Japanese forced the Russians step by step to fall back from Nanshan Hill, at the base of the peninsula, to Port Arthur. The country is hilly, but has a fertile soil and was dotted with villages and farm houses built of wood, which were demolished or went up in smoke during the battles. Many a child became an orphan in these days, not only in Japan or Russia, but also in Manchuria, since the farmers, stolid and fatalistic as they were, never thought of fleeing from their homes, their only possessions. The poor children were saved from starvation by the kind Japanese soldiers, who fed them and allowed them to sleep with them sheltered from the bitter cold Manchurian winds. The children soon became inured to their surroundings and played about, not even looking up when a Russian shell burst fifty yards away.

1 stereograph. 2 photomechanical prints on stereo card : halftone, stereograph, color ; 9 x 18 cm

1905 Ingersoll, T.W.

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