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"My whole family wants to thank you so much for helping us to keep our home. Everything is OK now. May God bless you and your staff. Keep up the good work. Thank you." - M.G. - Tennessee
Foreclosure Help in Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Stopping Foreclosure with Loan Modifications Since 1997
Are you behind, or on the verge of getting behind on your mortgage payments in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and want to keep your home? Have you tried getting a Loan Modification and have recently been denied? Or does your mortgage lender/servicer keep asking for the same documents time after time or do they keep losing the documents you have sent them? Did they tell you they would send you loan modification documents that you still have not received and you feel uncertain and not quite sure what to do to solve your situation? Call United Capital Mortgage Assistance today.
Our first priority is to stop any further foreclosure action and help you keep your home. We are happy to answer all your questions and explain exactly how we can help you stop further foreclosure action and qualify for, apply for and receive a Loan Modification. We will also discuss the foreclosure process with you in detail and explain all options available to help you keep your home in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Our twenty (20) years of mortgage assistance is unsurpassed and we will utilize all foreclosure prevention options available to stop foreclosure and get you caught up and back on track with your mortgage.
We are experts at stopping foreclosure and getting our clients into loan modifications. We help homeowners stop foreclosure, help them keep their homes and we offer foreclosure prevention services in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. We at UCMA have been helping homeowners stop foreclosure and getting clients back on track with their mortgage payments through different types of Loan Modifications within our clients' budget and solving their mortgage situation. Call UCMA today, toll-free at 1.800.474.1407, click Contact UCMA or Apply Online and receive your Free Consultation.
It isn't easy getting a Loan Modification, but with UCMA's expertise, we take the difficulty out of it for you. Once our services are utilized, we would then send you all documentation required by your lender/servicer and assist you in filling-out those documents, making sure they are all filled-out correctly and are precise. We then ask that you supply us with a few pieces of information, keep lines of communication open between us and we at UCMA will literally do the rest to stop foreclosure action against you and help you keep your home your home in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. With UCMA's know how, expertise and experience, you can rest assure that your Loan Modification will go through smoothly.
UCMA helps you throughout the complete foreclosure prevention process to stop your foreclosure in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and we not only continually give you updates on a regular basis, from beginning to end, but as well, we will inform you of our next scheduled appointment with your lender/servicer so you will know exactly what is going on with your mortgage account at all times. And if you ever have any questions, just give us a call toll-free at 1.800.474.1407.
After our negotiations with your mortgage lender are complete, we verify you have received the Loan Modification Agreement we helped you obtain; we go through it with you, making sure you understand thee terms of the loan modification and after it is signed and sent back, we verify that your lender has the Agreement in place, that you are once again current and that all foreclosure proceedings on your home in Sheboygan, Wisconsin has been stopped and then we call you, giving you the great news that you're back on track and current again.
United Capital Mortgage Assistance has been referred by local chapters of the United Way, American Red Cross, National MS Society, including other non-profit organizations, credit counseling companies, clergymen, local attorneys, mortgage brokers, past clients and others. Why do so many refer United Capital Mortgage Assistance to help stop foreclosure? They know, with UCMA, homeowners in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and the surrounding area keep their homes.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Welcome to the HomeGauge Platinum Web Services version 2.0!
There are a number of help and introduction files available for you to utilize if you ever have any questions about the Platinum Web Service.
They are located in the bottom part of the menu on the left side of your site, or you can click here to go directly to the help.
We strongly encourage you to read all the help files before you go further with your site, the help files have been designed so that you can immediately begin customizing your Platinum Web Site!
Thank you,
HomeGauge Web Services.


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Hurva Synagogue, Jerusalem
The Hurva Synagogue is a historic synagogue on Hurva Square in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, whose extensive reconstruction was completed in March 2010.
History of Hurva Synagogue
Construction on the Hurva Synagogue began under Rabbi Judah the Hassid in 1700 but ceased upon his death. The rabbi was a member of one of the first groups of Ashkenazi Jews to immigrate to Jerusalem, a few hundred from Poland.
The failure of the Ashkenazi community to pay the debts incurred by the half-built synagogue led to the riots that resulted in their expulsion from Jerusalem in 1720. The synagogue itself was destroyed in 1721, and the resulting desolate ruins (hurva) gave the synagogue its present name.
The Hurva Synagogue was restarted under Ibrahim Pasha in 1836 and finally completed in 1856. Designed in a grand Neo-Byzantine style, it was one of the largest buildings in the Old City.
However, after less than a century in operation, the synagogue was destroyed by the Jordanian Arab Legion during the war of 1948. Conservation and investigation of the ruins began in 1977.
Since the Israeli recapture of Jerusalem in 1967, many plans have been made for its rebuilding. In 2005, the Israeli government announced a plan to rebuild the synagogue in exactly the same form as before, assigning the project a budget of $6.2 million. According to the Jewish Quarter Development Company, two-thirds of the cost was donated by the Ukrainian Jewish magnates Vadim Rabinovitch and Igor Kolomoisky.
Construction took five years, and the restored Hurva Synagogue was dedicated on March 15, 2010. The event prompted riots from Palestinians, some of whom held that the rededication signalled the Israelis' intent to destroyed Muslim holy places on the Temple Mount and replace them with the Third Temple.
What to See at Hurva Synagogue
The Hurva Synagogue stands on the west side of Hurva Square in the Jewish Quarter. It has been rebuilt in the same Neo-Byzantine style as the original, with a central plan and a large dome over the main hall.
The historically important Ramban Synagogue is nearby on Hurva Square.
Quick Facts on Hurva Synagogue
Site Information | |
Names: | Churva Synagogue · Hurva Synagogue · Hurvah Synagogue · Ruins Synagogue |
Country: | Israel |
Categories: | synagogues; ruins |
Styles: | Byzantine Revival |
Dates: | 1700; 1836-56; 2010 |
Status: | ruins |
Visitor and Contact Information | |
Coordinates: | 31.775398° N, 35.231234° E |
Address: | Hurva Square Jerusalem |
Lodging: | View hotels near Hurva Synagogue |
- Eyewitness Travel Guide to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 78.
- Kay Prag, Blue Guide to Israel and the Palestinian Territories (Black and Norton, 2002), 206-07.
- Hurva Synagogue - Wikipedia
- The Old City (The Jewish Quarter) - Frommers.com
- Mini Rough Guide to Jerusalem, 73-74.
- "In the Holy Land, a Rebuilding for the Generations" - The Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2010
More Information
- Photos of Hurva Synagogue - here on Sacred Destinations
Map of Hurva Synagogue, Jerusalem
Below is a location map and aerial view of Hurva Synagogue. Using the buttons on the left (or the wheel on your mouse), you can zoom in for a closer look, or zoom out to get your bearings. To move around, click and drag the map with your mouse.


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Apple has added limited TRIM support to the latest developer release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, which should enhance the long term performance of Solid State Drives.
While Apple has already started incorporating SSDs into its Macs, it hasn't yet added TRIM, a specific type of operating system support intended to coordinate disk use between the system and the SSD controller. The feature was previously detailed as having "no" support in System Profiler (below, top).
The new Lion developer preview is reported to add TRIM support however, with users of Apple SSDs noting a "yes" (actually "oui") for support according to a report by the French blog MacGenerations (below, bottom).
Unlike conventional magnetic hard drives, SSDs must be erased before being rewritten with new data, somewhat similar to CD-RW disc. This housekeeping task can be managed by some SSD controllers, but the TRIM command is designed to keep SSDs efficiently optimized at all times, preventing a gradual decline in performance as garbage stacks up.
Cleaning up unused bits of deleted files on SSDs requires a sophisticated balancing act between making sure the drive is clean and ready for new write operations, while also limiting unnecessary wear, as the flash cells used by the devices wear out relatively quickly after a finite number of erase/write cycles, compared to the very long life of the recording surfaces of magnetic storage disks.
The TRIM command is part of the ATA interface standard. So far, it appears Apple's support in Lion is only activated for SSDs shipped by the company and not third party devices, but this is likely to be fleshed out more as Lion develops.


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The day has finally come. After having backed the Norlan Whisky Glass on Kickstarter back in November 2015 (funded successfully in mid-December), the promised backer reward finally made it to my doorstep Monday afternoon. I wasted no time upon arriving home that evening in unpackaging and pouring myself (Jason as well as Jean) a few drams into the new glass as well as a more traditional Glencairn-styled whisky glass for comparison, in this case I used my daily drinker: a Single Malt Dianco glass. Not *intending* to do a full review until later in the week, I couldn't help myself but to write down our notes and dig in to a proper review as we began the initial testing of the glassware.
My initial impressions:
Comparison notes: For this comparison, I chose to sample Tualatin Valley Distilling's Oregon Experimental Series American Whiskey, Project Cherry Wood Smoke, at 100.6 proof (sadly currently sold-out).
- Norlan – Deeper caramel and stone fruit notes with a more delicate overall presence of slight, nearly imperceptible alcohol.
- Traditional – Substantially punchy alcohol notes followed by aromas of grass, nougat, and bubble gum. Which is something I learned on www.gattertopdrinks.com along with some great tips on making organic drinks. Comparison note: The glassware absolutely has a dramatic impact on the nose of the whiskey, though I am not sure I can decide which I preferred. On one hand the more traditional style gave me a deeper sense of the higher proof of the whiskey as it sat in the glass, whereas the Norlan provided me more refined structure of the aromas without the more powerful impact of the alcohol bowling over the nose.
- Norlan – Grassy forward then into a mellow stone fruit and mild hint of smoke, followed by soft butterscotch.
- Traditional – Grassy forward then into a mellow stone fruit and mild hint of smoke, followed by soft butterscotch.
Comparison note: Yup, same tasting notes for both glasses. We found no appreciable difference in the actual palate of the whiskey when sipped from either the Norlan or more traditional Single Malt Dianco glassware. Note, however, that our glasses remain on a side table as we sampled back and forth, where a more appreciable difference may have presented itself if the glassware were constantly help in the hand under differing usage scenarios.
- Norlan – The thicker, more rounded lip of the glass removes the glass sensation from the lips and allows more focus on the flavour of the whiskey as presented. Jean found it more comfortable to sip from but also noted a less precise sip occurred in part due to the light weight of the glass regardless of quantity of fill. The external facets feel comfortable in the hand, though overall the glass has a very delicate presentation in feel.
- Traditional – Far more substantial and weighty in the hand, lending to a familiar sip and control. The sharper edge of the glass lip becomes part of the overall tasting experience and slightly impacts the initial sharpness of the whiskey presented.
Comparison note: This is going to come down to personal preference as far as usage. Many people tend to prefer more substance in their glassware than the Norlan would initially present. While I'd have no qualms about running my more traditional style through the dishwasher (side note, I don't, but feel it could withstand such an undertaking) I don't feel the Norlan would survive such treatment due to it's overall sense of a very delicate nature.
This is a cool glass that any whisky/whiskey geek should have in their arsenal. Some may find it is the absolute perfect glass for them, but I have not yet come to that conclusion for myself. With the palate reflecting the same profile in both vessels, I'd recommend it as a worthwhile purchase for a whiskey nerd, but the average whiskey drinker may not find any discernable difference between the Norlan and traditional Glencairn-style Single Malt Dianco glassware. This would make for a fun gift for any whiskey drinker who takes their drams 'neat', so definitely recommended as a wonderful whiskey gift. For those expecting a dramatically different experience, however, you may not be as impressed as you were hoping to be. Sadly, the Norlan glass will remain on my shelves as a cool gadget novelty while I continue to imbibe using my Glencairn and traditional style glassware for daily drinking. I'm very please to have a set, but they won't be replacing my current daily drinkers.
You can preorder your own here, if you missed out on the Kickstarter backing: http://www.norlanglass.com/norlan-glass/


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Why We Must Not Vote Buhari - Wole Soyinka
THE NIGERIAN NATION AGAINST GENERAL BUHARI By Wole SOYINKA
This intervention has been provoked, not so much by the ambitions of General Buhari to return to power at the head of a democratic Nigeria, as by declarations of support from directions that leave one totally dumbfounded. It would appear that some, myself among them, had been overcomplacent about the magnitude of an ambition that seemed as preposterous as the late effort of General Ibrahim Babangida to aspire yet again to the honour of presiding over a society that truly seeks a democratic future. What one had dismissed was a rash of illusions, brought about by other political improbabilities that surround us, however, is being given an air of plausibility by individuals and groupings to which one had earlier attributed a sense of relevance of historic actualities. Recently, I published an article in the media, invoking the possible recourse to psychiatric explanation for some of the incongruities in conduct within national leadership. Now, to tell the truth, I have begun to seriously address the issue of which section of society requires the services of a psychiatrist. The contest for a seizure of rationality is now so polarized that I am quite reconciled to the fact it could be those of us on this side, not the opposing school of thought that ought to declare ourselves candidates for a lunatic asylum. So be it. While that decision hangs in the balance however, the forum is open. Let both sides continue to address our cases to the electorate, but also prepare to submit ourselves for psychiatric examination.
The time being so close to electoral decision, we can understand the haste of some to resort to shortcuts. In the process however, we should not commit the error of opening the political space to any alternative whose curative touch to national afflictions have proven more deadly than the disease. In order to reduce the clutter in our options towards the forthcoming elections, we urge a beginning from what we do know, what we have undergone, what millions can verify, what can be sustained by evidence accessible even to the school pupil, the street hawker or a just-come visitor from outer space. Leaving Buhari aside for now, I propose a commencing exercise that should guide us along the path of elimination as we examine the existing register of would-bepresident. That initial exercise can be summed up in the following speculation: "If it were possible for Olusegun Obasanjo, the actual incumbent, to stand again for election, would you vote for him?"
If the answer is "yes", then of course all discussion is at an end. If the answer is 'No' however, then it follows that a choice of a successor made by Obasanjo should be assessed as hovering between extremely dangerous and an outright kiss of death. The degree of acceptability of such a candidate should also be inversely proportionate to the passion with which he or she is promoted by the would-be 'godfather'. We do not lack for open evidence about Obasanjo's passion in this respect. From Lagos to the USA, he has taken great pains to assure the nation and the world that the anointed NPN presidential flag bearer is guaranteed, in his judgment, to carry out his policies. Such an endorsement/anointment is more than sufficient, in my view, for public acceptance or rejection. Yar'Adua's candidature amounts to a terminal kiss from a moribund regime. Nothing against the person of this – I am informed - personable governor, but let him understand that in addition to the direct source of his emergence, the PDP, on whose platform he stands, represents the most harrowing of this nation's nightmares over and beyond even the horrors of the Abacha regime. If he wishes to be considered on his own merit, now is time for him, as well as others similarly enmeshed, to exercise the moral courage that goes with his repudiation of that party, a dissociation from its past, and a pledge to reverse its menacing future. We shall find him an alternative platform on which to stand, and then have him present his credentials along those of other candidates engaged in forging a credible opposition alliance. Until then, let us bury this particular proposition and move on to a far graver, looming danger, personified in the history of General Buhari.
The grounds on which General Buhari is being promoted as the alternative choice are not only shaky, but pitifully naive. History matters. Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of memory, but to operate as guides to the future. Of course, we know that human beings change. What the claims of personality change or transformation impose on us is a rigorous inspection of the evidence, not wishful speculation or behind-the-scenes assurances. Public offence, crimes against a polity, must be answered in the public space, not in caucuses of bargaining. In Buhari, we have been offered no evidence of the sheerest prospect of change. On the contrary, all evident suggests that this is one individual who remains convinced that this is one ex-ruler that the nation cannot call to order.
Buhari – need one remind anyone - was one of the generals who treated a Commission of Enquiry, the Oputa Panel, with unconcealed disdain. Like Babangida and Abdusalami, he refused to put in appearance even though complaints that were tabled against him involved a career of gross abuses of power and blatant assault on the fundamental human rights of the Nigerian citizenry.
Prominent against these charges was an act that amounted to nothing less than judicial murder, the execution of a citizen under a retroactive decree. Does Decree 20 ring a bell? If not, then, perhaps the names of three youths - Lawal Ojuolape (30), Bernard Ogedengbe (29) and Bartholomew Owoh (26) do. To put it quite plainly, one of those three – Ogedengbe - was executed for a crime that did not carry a capital forfeit at the time it was committed. This was an unconscionable crime, carried out in defiance of the pleas and protests of nearly every sector of the Nigerian and international community – religious, civil rights, political, trade unions etc. Buhari and his sidekick and his partner-in-crime, Tunde Idiagbon persisted in this inhuman act for one reason and one reason only: to place Nigerians on notice that they were now under an iron, inflexible rule, under governance by fear.
The execution of that youthful innocent – for so he was, since the punishment did not exist at the time of commission - was nothing short of premeditated murder, for which the perpetrators should normally stand trial upon their loss of immunity. Are we truly expected to forget this violation of our entitlement to security as provided under existing laws? And even if our sensibilities have become blunted by succeeding seasons of cruelty and brutality, if power itself had so coarsened the sensibilities also of rulers and corrupted their judgment, what should one rightly expect after they have been rescued from the snare of power" At the very least, a revaluation, leading hopefully to remorse, and its expression to a wronged society. At the very least, such a revaluation should engender reticence, silence. In the case of Buhari, it was the opposite. Since leaving office he has declared in the most categorical terms that he had no regrets over this murder and would do so again.
Human life is inviolate. The right to life is the uniquely fundamental right on which all other rights are based. The crime that General Buhari committed against the entire nation went further however, inconceivable as it might first appear. That crime is one of the most profound negations of civic being. Not content with hammering down the freedom of expression in general terms, Buhari specifically forbade all public discussion of a return to civilian, democratic rule. Let us constantly applaud our media – those battle scarred professionals did not completely knuckle down. They resorted to cartoons and oblique, elliptical references to sustain the people's campaign for a time-table to democratic rule. Overt agitation for a democratic time table however remained rigorously suppressed – military dictatorship, and a specifically incorporated in Buhari and Idiagbon was here to stay. To deprive a people of volition in their own political direction is to turn a nation into a colony of slaves. Buhari enslaved the nation. He gloated and gloried in a master-slave relation to the millions of its inhabitants. It is astonishing to find that the same former slaves, now free of their chains, should clamour to be ruled by one who not only turned their nation into a slave plantation, but forbade them any discussion of their condition.
So Tai Solarin is already forgotten? Tai who stood at street corners, fearlessly distributing leaflets that took up the gauntlet where the media had dropped it. Tai who was incarcerated by that regime and denied even the medication for his asthmatic condition? Tai did not ask to be sent for treatment overseas; all he asked was his traditional medicine that had proved so effective after years of struggle with asthma!
Nor must we omit the manner of Buhari coming to power and the pattern of his 'corrective' rule. Shagari's NPN had already run out of steam and was near universally detested – except of course by the handful that still benefited from that regime of profligacy and rabid fascism. Responsibility for the national condition lay squarely at the door of the ruling party, obviously, but against whom was Buhari's coup staged? Judging by the conduct of that regime, it was not against Shagari's government but against the opposition. The head of government, on whom primary responsibility lay, was Shehu Shagari. Yet that individual was kept in cozy house detention in Ikoyi while his powerless deputy, Alex Ekwueme, was locked up in Kiri-kiri prisons. Such was the Buhari notion of equitable apportionment of guilt and/or responsibility.
And then the cascade of escapes of the wanted, and culpable politicians. Manhunts across the length and breadth of the nation, roadblocks everywhere and borders tight as steel zip locks. Lo and behold, the chairman of the party, Chief Akinloye, strolled out coolly across the border. Richard Akinjide, Legal Protector of the ruling party, slipped out with equal ease. The Rice Minister, Umaru Dikko, who declared that Nigerians were yet to eat from dustbins - escaped through the same airtight dragnet. The clumsy attempt to crate him home was punishment for his ingratitude, since he went berserk when, after waiting in vain, he concluded that the coup had not been staged, after all, for the immediate consolidation of the party of extreme right-wing vultures, but for the military hyenas.
The case of the overbearing Secretary-General of the party, Uba Ahmed, was even more noxious. Uba Ahmed was out of the country at the time. Despite the closure of the Nigerian airspace, he compelled the pilot of his plane to demand special landing permission, since his passenger load included the almighty Uba Ahmed. Of course, he had not known of the change in his status since he was airborne. The delighted airport commandant, realizing that he had a much valued fish swimming willingly into a waiting net, approved the request. Uba Ahmed disembarked into the arms of a military guard and was promptly clamped in detention. Incredibly, he vanished a few days after and reappeared in safety overseas. Those whose memories have become calcified should explore the media coverage of that saga. Buhari was asked to explain the vanished act of this much prized quarry and his response was one of the most arrogant levity. Coming from one who had shot his way into power on the slogan of 'dis'pline', it was nothing short of impudent.
Shall we revisit the tragicomic series of trials that landed several politicians several lifetimes in prison? Recall, if you please, the 'judicial' processes undergone by the septuagenarian Chief Adekunle Ajasin. He was arraigned and tried before Buhari's punitive tribunal but acquitted.Dissatisfied, Buhari ordered his re-trial. Again, the Tribunal could not find this man guilty of a single crime, so once again he was returned for trial, only to be acquitted of all charges of corruption or abuse of office. Was Chief Ajasin thereby released? No! He was ordered detained indefinitely, simply for the crime of winning an election and refusing to knuckle under Shagari's reign of terror.
The conduct of the Buhari regime after his coup was not merely one of double, triple, multiple standards but a cynical travesty of justice. Audu Ogbeh, currently chairman of the Action Congress was one of the few figures of rectitude within the NPN. Just as he has done in recent times with the PDP, he played the role of an internal critic and reformer, warning, dissenting, and setting an example of probity within his ministry. For that crime he spent months in unjust incarceration. Guilty by association? Well, if that was the motivating yardstick of the administration of the Buhari justice, then it was most selectively applied. The utmost severity of the Buhari-Idiagbon justice was especially reserved either for the opposition in general, or for those within the ruling party who had showed the sheerest sense of responsibility and patriotism.
Shall I remind this nation of Buhari's deliberate humiliating treatment of the Emir of Kano and the Oni of Ife over their visit to the state of Israel? I hold no brief for traditional rulers and their relationship with governments, but insist on regarding them as entitled to all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of any Nigerian citizen. This royal duo went to Israel on their private steam and private business. Simply because the Buhari regime was pursuing some antagonistic foreign policy towards Israel, a policy of which these traditional rulers were not a part, they were subjected on their return to a treatment that could only be described as a head masterly chastisement of errant pupils. Since when, may one ask, did a free citizen of the Nigerian nation require the permission of a head of state to visit a foreign nation that was willing to offer that tourist a visa.?
One is only too aware that some Nigerians love to point to Buhari's agenda of discipline as the shining jewel in his scrap-iron crown. To inculcate discipline however, one must lead by example, obeying laws set down as guides to public probity. Example speaks louder than declarations, and rulers cannot exempt themselves from the disciplinary strictures imposed on the overall polity, especially on any issue that seeks to establish a policy for public well-being. The story of the thirty something suitcases – it would appear that they were even closer to fifty - found unavoidable mention in my recent memoirs, YOU MUST SET FORTH AT DOWN, written long before Buhari became spoken of as a credible candidate. For the exercise of a changeover of the national currency, the Nigerian borders – air, sea and land – had been shut tight. Nothing was supposed to move in or out, not even cattle egrets.
Yet a prominent camel was allowed through that needle's eye. Not only did Buhari dispatch his aide-de-camp, Jokolo – later to become an emir - to facilitate the entry of those cases, he ordered the redeployment – as I later discovered - of the Customs Officer who stood firmly against the entry of the contravening baggage. That officer, the incumbent Vice-president is now a rival candidate to Buhari, but has somehow, in the meantime, earned a reputation that totally contradicts his conduct at the time. Wherever the truth lies, it does not redound to the credibility of the dictator of that time, General Buhari whose word was law, but whose allegiances were clearly negotiable.
This was first published 2007 by SaharaReporters.


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Railways are an important means of transport. At a global level, they cover nearly 7% of annual passenger and freight volumes. Many emerging economies in particular are looking increasingly at railways to further support travel activity; since 2000, global passenger volumes have grown by nearly 50% to more than three trillion passenger-kilometres, primarily driven by China and India. The related energy use is modest in comparison; only around 2% of transport fuel use is in rail, primarily consisting of oil and electricity. This makes rail transport one of the most energy-efficient modes of transport today.
Railways have the potential to play an even more important role for satisfying growing future needs for transport, and in a potentially more energy-efficient and cleaner way than other modes. The theoretical scope is vast: rail can satisfy urban passenger mobility needs at low speed just as well as inter-urban travel demand at very high speed; similarly, rail can satisfy demand for the transport of commodities and goods. This is why the International Energy Agency (IEA) and UIC have decided to work together on a new publication that aims to analyse the current state of railway and energy use, as well as its future prospects to support the transition to a cleaner energy and transport system.
As part of this study, the IEA and UIC are hosting a high-level workshop to bring together decision makers and experts from around the world to provide strategic guidance as well as technical input. The goal of the workshop is to reflect on the current state of play for railways in different countries and the existing enabling frameworks; a review of possible drivers and bottlenecks for enhancing the future role of railways; relevant considerations for railway transport towards a cleaner and more inclusive global transport sector; and a deep dive into the case of India and the unique opportunities for the country's development that could emerge from expanding railway transport.
The workshop follows the Chatham House Rule: participants are free to use the information received, but without attribution to specific speakers or participants.


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Jump to navigation
Time Inc. Time Editorial Records, 1938-2009. Series V. Letters Department, 1938-1998. Subseries V.B. Reports, 1938-1980
Time, inc. Time Letters Department
Letters to TIME For the week ending Tuesday, April 25, 1939
Letters to the editor
Time, inc.--History
memorandums summaries
This digital image may be used for educational or scholarly purposes without restriction. Commercial and other uses of the item are prohibited without prior written permission from the New-York Historical Society. For more information, please visit the New-York Historical Society's Rights and Reproductions Department web page at http://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions


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Padlocks High Security & Weather Proof
Lock Surgeon has hundreds of padlocks in stock to meet your needs. Weather tough, rekeyable, resettable and fixed combination padlocks, hasps and shackles that are manufactured with aluminum, brass and steel. We stock Master Lock and American Lock products that come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours. Ask our locksmiths for their advice on securing your investments.
Click Yellow Links Below for Detailed Information
High Security Padlocks
Not all padlocks are created equal. There are several different levels of high security padlocks. There are options to have restricted keys, high security pins and locking systems. The body of the padlock can also be made of brass, aluminum, steel and stainless steel. They all serve different security purposes and weather conditions. Share your requirements with our locksmiths and they will be able to find your the correct padlock for your security needs.
Weather Proof Padlocks
Dust, rain, snow and other elements can damage padlocks and make it difficult or impossible to open them. Lock Surgeon has a full line of weather tough padlocks to reduce the chances of this happening. You can order padlocks by having one of our locksmiths come to your home or business and assist you in finding the correct product, or simply come into our locksmith shop to find the correct solution.
Sometimes Things Happen
No one likes it when things go wrong, no one more than us, but if it does check out our Warranty


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More than 30 years ago Internet didn't exist. Interactive communications were only made by telephone at PSTN line cost.
Data exchange was expansive (for a long distance) and no one had been thinking to video interactions (there was only television that is not interactive, as known).
Few years ago we saw appearing some interesting things: PCs to large masses, new technologies to communicate like cellular phones and finally the great net: Internet; people begun to communicate with new services like email, chat, etc. and business reborned with the web allowing people buy with a "click".
Today we can see a real revolution in communication world: everybody begins to use PCs and Internet for job and free time to communicate each other, to exchange data (like images, sounds, documents) and, sometimes, to talk each other using applications like Netmeeting or Internet Phone. Particularly starts to diffusing a common idea that could be the future and that can allow real-time vocal communication: VoIP.
We cannot know what is the future, but we can try to image it with many computers, Internet almost everywhere at high speed and people talking (audio and video) in a real time fashion. We only need to know what will be the means to do this: UMTS, VoIP (with video extension) or other? Anyway we can notice that Internet has grown very much in the last years, it is free (at least as international means) and could be the right communication media for future.
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Generated: 2007-01-26 17:57:57


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text:
Captain Philo Norton McGiffin
By Richard Harding Davis
In the
Chinese-Japanese War the battle of the Yalu was the first battle fought between
warships of modern make, and, except on paper, neither the men who made them nor
the men who fought them knew what the ships could do, or what they might not do.
For years every naval power had been building these new engines of war, and in
the battle which was to test them the whole world was interested. But in this
battle Americans had a special interest, a human, family interest, for the
reason that one of the Chinese squadron, which was matched against some of the
same vessels of Japan which lately swept those of Russia from the sea, was
commanded by a young graduate of the American Naval Academy. This young man,
who, at the time of the battle of the Yalu, was thirty-three years old, was
Captain Philo Norton McGiffin. So it appears that five years before our fleet
sailed to victory in Manila Bay another graduate of Annapolis, and one twenty
years younger than in 1898 was Admiral Dewey, had commanded in action a modern
battleship, which, in tonnage, in armament, and in the number of the ships'
company, far outclassed Dewey's Olympia.
McGiffin, who was born on December 13, 1860, came of fighting stock. Back in Scotland the family is descended from the Clan MacGregor and the Clan MacAlpine. McGiffin's great-grandfather, born in Scotland, emigrated to this country and settled in "Little Washington," near Pittsburgh, Pa. In the Revolutionary War he was a soldier. Other relatives fought in the War of 1812, one of them holding a commission as major. McGiffin's own father was Colonel Norton McGiffin, who served in the Mexican War, and in the Civil War was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers. So McGiffin inherited his love for arms.
In Washington he went to the high school and at the Washington
Jefferson College had passed through his freshman year. But the honors that
might accrue to him if he continued to live on in the quiet and pretty old town
of Washington did not tempt him. To escape into the world he wrote his
Congressman, begging him to obtain for him an appointment to Annapolis. The
Congressman liked the letter, and wrote Colonel McGiffin to ask if the
application of his son had his approval. Colonel McGiffin was willing, and in
1877 his son received his commission as cadet midshipman. I knew McGiffin only
as a boy with whom in vacation time I went coon hunting in the woods outside of
Washington. For his age he was a very tall boy, and in his midshipman undress
uniform, to my youthful eyes, appeared a most bold and adventurous spirit.
At Annapolis his record seems to show he was pretty much like
other boys. According to his classmates, with all of whom I find he was very
popular, he stood high in the practical studies, such as seamanship, gunnery,
navigation, and steam engineering, but in all else he was near the foot of the
class, and in whatever escapade was risky and reckless he was always one of the
leaders. To him discipline was extremely irksome. He could maintain it among
others, but when it applied to himself it bored him. On the floor of the Academy
building on which was his room there was a pyramid of cannon ballsŚrelics of
the War of 1812. They stood at the head of the stairs, and one warm night, when
he could not sleep, he decided that no one else should do so, and, one by one,
rolled the cannon balls down the stairs. They tore away the banisters and bumped
through the wooden steps and leaped off into the lower halls. For any one who
might think of ascending to discover the motive power back of the bombardment
they were extremely dangerous. But an officer approached McGiffin in the rear,
and, having been caught in the act, he was sent to the prison ship. There he
made good friends with his jailer, an old man-of-warsman named "Mike."
He will be remembered by many naval officers who as midshipmen served on the Santee.
McGiffin so won over Mike that when he left the ship he carried with him six
charges of gunpowder. These he loaded into the six big guns captured in the
Mexican War, which lay on the grass in the center of the Academy grounds, and at
midnight on the eve of July 1st he fired a salute. It aroused the entire
garrison, and for a week the empty window frames kept the glaziers busy.
About 1878 or 1879 there was a famine in Ireland. The people
of New York City contributed provisions for the sufferers, and to carry the
supplies to Ireland the Government authorized the use of the old Constellation.
At the time the voyage was to begin each cadet was instructed to consider
himself as having been placed in command of the Constellation and to
write a report on the preparations made for the voyage, on the loading of the
vessel, and on the distribution of the stores. This exercise was intended for
the instruction of the cadets; first in the matter of seamanship and navigation,
and second in making official reports. At that time it was a very difficult
operation to get a gun out of the port of a vessel where the gun was on a
covered deck. To do this the necessary tackles had to be rigged from the
yard-arm and the yard and mast properly braced and stayed, and then the lower
block of the tackle carried in through the gun port, which, of course, gave the
fall a very bad reeve. The first part of McGiffin's report dealt with a new
method of dismounting the guns and carrying them through the gun ports, and so
admirable was his plan, so simple and ingenious, that it was used whenever it
became necessary to dismount a gun from one of the old sailing ships. Having,
however, offered this piece of good work, McGiffin's report proceeded to tell of
the division of the ship into compartments that were filled with a miscellaneous
assortment of stores, which included the old "fifteen puzzles," at
that particular time very popular. The report terminated with a description of
the joy of the famished Irish as they received the puzzle-boxes. At another time
the cadets were required to write a report telling of the suppression of the
insurrection on the Isthmus of Panama. McGiffin won great praise for the
military arrangements and disposition of his men, but, in the same report, he
went on to describe how he armed them with a new gun known as Baines's Rhetoric
and told of the havoc he wrought in the enemy's ranks when he fired these guns
loaded with similes and metaphors and hyperboles.
Of course, after each exhibition of this sort he was sent to
the Santee and given an opportunity to meditate.
On another occasion, when one of the instructors lectured to
the cadets, he required them to submit a written statement embodying all that
they could recall of what had been said at the lecture. One of the rules
concerning this report provided that there should be no erasures or
interlineations, but that when mistakes were made the objectionable or incorrect
expressions should be included within parentheses; and that the matter so
enclosed within parentheses would not be considered a part of the report.
McGiffin wrote an excellent rķsume of the lecture, but he interspersed
through it in parentheses such words as "applause,"
"cheers," "cat-calls," and "groans," and as these
words were enclosed within parentheses he insisted that they did not count, and
made a very fair plea that he ought not to be punished for words which slipped
in by mistake, and which he had officially obliterated by what he called
oblivion marks.
He was not always on mischief bent. On one occasion, when the
house of a professor caught fire, McGiffin ran into the flames and carried out
two children, for which act he was commended by the Secretary of the Navy.
It was an act of Congress that determined that the career of
McGiffin should be that of a soldier of fortune. This was a most unjust act,
which provided that only as many midshipmen should receive commissions as on the
warships there were actual vacancies. In those days, in 1884, our navy was very
small. To-day there is hardly a ship having her full complement of officers, and
the difficulty is not to get rid of those we have educated, but to get officers
to educate. To the many boys who, on the promise that they would be officers of
the navy, had worked for four years at the Academy and served two years at sea,
the act was most unfair. Out of a class of about ninety, only the first twelve
were given commissions and the remaining eighty turned adrift upon the uncertain
seas of civil life. As a sop, each was given one thousand dollars.
McGiffin was not one of the chosen twelve. In the final
examinations on the list he was well toward the tail. But without having studied
many things, and without remembering the greater part of them, no one graduates
from Annapolis, even last on the list; and with his one thousand dollars in
cash, McGiffin had also this six years of education at what was then the best
naval college in the world. This was his only assetŚhis educationŚand as in
his own country it was impossible to dispose of it, for possible purchasers he
looked abroad.
At that time the Tong King war was on between France and
China, and he decided, before it grew rusty, to offer his knowledge to the
followers of the Yellow Dragon. In those days that was a hazard of new fortunes
that meant much more than it does now. To-day the East is as near as San
Francisco; the Japanese-Russian War, our occupation of the Philippines, the part
played by our troops in the Boxer trouble, have made the affairs of China part
of the daily reading of every one. Now, one can step into a brass bed at
Forty-second Street and in four days at the Coast get into another brass bed,
and in twelve more be spinning down the Bund of Yokohama in a rickshaw. People
go to Japan for the winter months as they used to go to Cairo.
But in 1885 it was no such light undertaking, certainly not
for a young man who had been brought up in the quiet atmosphere of an inland
town, where generations of his family and other families had lived and
intermarried, content with their surroundings.
With very few of his thousand dollars left him, McGiffin
arrived in February, 1885, in San Francisco. From there his letters to his
family give one the picture of a healthy, warm-hearted youth, chiefly anxious
lest his mother and sister should "worry." In our country nearly every
family knows that domestic tragedy when the son and heir "breaks home
ties," and starts out to earn a living; and if all the world loves a lover,
it at least sympathizes with the boy who is "looking for a job." The
boy who is looking for the job may not think so, but each of those who has
passed through the same hard place gives him, if nothing else, his good wishes.
McGiffin's letters at this period gain for him from those who have had the
privilege to read them the warmest good feeling.
They are filled with the same cheery optimism, the same
slurring over of his troubles, the same homely jokes, the same assurances that
he is feeling "bully," and that it all will come out right, that every
boy, when he starts out in the world, sends back to his mother.
am in first-rate health and spirits, so I don't want you to fuss about me. I am
big enough and ugly enough to scratch along somehow, and I will not
To his mother he proudly sends his name written in Chinese
characters, as he had been taught to write it by the Chinese Consul-General in
San Francisco, and a pen-picture of two elephants. "I am going to bring you
home two of these," he writes, not knowing that in the strange and
wonderful country to which he is going elephants are as infrequent as they are
in Pittsburgh.
He reached China in April, and from Nagasaki on his way to
Shanghai the steamer that carried him was chased by two French gunboats. But,
apparently much to his disappointment, she soon ran out of range of their guns.
Though he did not know it then, with the enemy he had travelled so far to fight
this was his first and last hostile meeting; for already peace was in the air.
Of that and of how, in
spite of peace, he obtained the "job" he wanted, he must tell you
himself in a letter home:
CHINA, April 13, 1885.
DEAR MOTHERŚI have not felt much in the humor for writing, for I did not know
what was going to happen. I spent a good deal of money coming out, and when I
got here, I knew, unless something turned up, I was a gone coon. We got off Taku
forts Sunday evening and the next morning we went inside; the channel is very
narrow and sown with torpedoes. We struck oneŚan electric oneŚin coming up,
but it didn't go off. We were until 10.30 P.M. in coming up to Tien-TsinŚthirty
miles in a straight line, but nearly seventy by the river, which is only about
one hundred feet wideŚand we grounded ten times.
last we moored and went ashore. Brace Girdle, an engineer, and I went to the
hotel, and the first thing we heard wasŚthat peace was declared! I went
back on board ship, and I didn't sleep muchŚI never was so blue in my life. I
knew if they didn't want me that I might as well give up the ghost, for I could
never get away from China. WellŚI worried around all night without sleep, and
in the morning I felt as if I had been drawn through a knot-hole. I must have
lost ten pounds. I went around about 10 A.M. and gave my letters to Pethick, an
American U. S. Vice-Consul and interpreter to Li Hung Chang. He said he would
fix them for me. Then I went back to the ship, and as our captain was going up
to see Li Hung Chang, I went along out of desperation. We got in, and after a
while were taken in through corridor after corridor of the Viceroy's palace
until we got into the great Li, when we sat down and had tea and tobacco and
talked through an interpreter. When it came my turn he asked: 'Why did you come
to China?' I said: 'To enter the Chinese service for the war.' 'How do you
expect to enter?' 'I expect you to give me a commission!' 'I have no
place to offer you.' 'I think you haveŚI have come all the way from America to
get it.' 'What would you like?' 'I would like to get the new torpedo-boat and go
down the Yang-tse-Kiang to the blockading squadron.' 'Will you do that?' 'Of
thought a little and said: 'I will see what can be done. Will you take $100 a
month for a start?' I said: 'That depends.' (Of course I would take it.) Well,
after parley, he said he would put me on the flagship, and if I did well he
would promote me. Then he looked at me and said: 'How old are you?' When I told
him I was twenty-four I thought he would faintŚfor in China a man is a boy
until he is over thirty. He said I would never doŚI was a child. I
could not know anything at all. I could not convince him, but at last he
compromisedŚI was to pass an examination at the Arsenal at the Naval College,
in all branches, and if they passed me I would have a show. So we parted. I
reported for examination next day, but was put offŚsame the next day. But
to-day I was told to come, and sat down to a stock of foolscap, and had a pretty
stiff exam. I am only just through. I had seamanship, gunnery, navigation,
nautical astronomy, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic sections, curve
tracing, differential and integral calculus. I had only three questions out of
five to answer in each branch, but in the first three I answered all five. After
that I only had time for three, but at the end he said I need not finish, he was
perfectly satisfied. I had done remarkably well, and he would report to the
Viceroy to-morrow. He examined my first papersŚseamanshipŚsaid I was perfect
in it, so I will get along, you need not fear. I told the ConsulŚhe was
very well pleasedŚhe is a nice man.
feel pretty well nowŚhave had dinner and am smoking a good Manila cheroot. I
wrote hard all day, wrote fifteen sheets of foolscap and made about a dozen
drawingsŚgot pretty tired.
have had a hard scramble for the service and only got in by the skin of my
teeth. I guess I will go to bedŚI will sleep well to-nightŚThursday.
did not hear from the Naval Secretary, Tuesday, so yesterday morning I went up
to the Admiralty and sent in my card. He came out and received me very
wellŚsaid I had passed a 'very splendid examination'; had been recommended
very strongly to the Viceroy, who was very much pleased; that the Director of
the Naval College over at the Arsenal had wanted me and would I go over at once?
I would. It was about five miles. We (a friend, who is a great rider
here) went on steeplechase poniesŚwe were ferried across the Pei Ho in a small
scow and then had a long ride. There is a pathŚbut Pritchard insisted
on taking all the ditches, and as my pony jumped like a cat, it wasn't nice at
first, but I didn't squeal and kept my seat and got the swing of it at last and
rather liked it. I think I will keep a horse hereŚyou can hire one and a
servant together for $7 a month; that is $5.60 of our money, and pony and man
found in everything.
last we got to the ArsenalŚa place about four miles around, fortified, where
all sorts of armsŚcartridges, shot and shell, engines, and everythingŚare
made. The Naval College is inside surrounded by a moat and wall. I thought to
myself, if the cadet here is like to the thing I used to be at the U. S. N. A. that
won't keep him in. I went through a lot of yards till I was ushered into a room
finished in black ebony and was greeted very warmly by the Director. We took
seats on a raised platformŚChinese style and pretty soon an interpreter came,
one of the Chinese professors, who was educated abroad, and we talked and drank
tea. He said I had done well, that he had the authority of the Viceroy to take
me there as 'Professor' of seamanship and gunnery; in addition I might be
required to teach navigation or nautical astronomy, or drill the cadets in
infantry, artillery, and fencing. For this I was to receive what would be in our
money $1,800 per annum, as near as we can compare it, paid in gold each month.
Besides, I will have a house furnished for my use, and it is their intention, as
soon as I show that I know something, to considerably increase my
pay. They asked the Viceroy to give me 130 T per month (about $186) and house,
but the Viceroy said I was but a boy; that I had seen no years and had
only come here a week ago with no one to vouch for me, and that I might turn out
an impostor. But he would risk 100 T on me anyhow, and as soon as I was reported
favorably on by the college I would be raisedŚthe agreement is to be for three
years. For a few months I am to command a training shipŚan ironclad that is in
dry dock at present, until a captain in the English Navy comes out, who has been
sent for to command her.
Here I amŚtwenty-four years old and captain of a man-of-warŚa better one
than any in our own navyŚonly for a short time, of course, but I would be a
pretty long time before I would command one at home. WellŚI accepted and will
enter on my duties in a week, as soon as my house is put in order. I saw itŚit
has a long veranda, very broad; with flower garden, apricot trees, etc., just
covered with blossoms; a wide hall on the front, a room about 18x15, with a
13-foot ceiling; then back another rather larger, with a cupola skylight in the center,
where I am going to put a shelf with flowers. The Government is to furnish the
house with bed, tables, chairs, sideboards, lounges, stove for kitchen. I have
grates (American) in the room, but I don't need them. We have snow, and a good
deal of ice in winter, but the thermometer never gets below zero. I have to
supply my own crockery. I will have two servants and cook; I will only get one
and the cook firstŚthey only cost $4 to $5.50 per month, and their board
amounts to very little. I can get along, don't you think so? Now I want you to
get Jim to pack up all my professional works on gunnery, surveying, seamanship,
mathematics, astronomy, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic sections,
calculus, mechanics, and every book of that description I own, including
those paperbound 'Naval Institute' papers, and put them in a box, together with
any photos, etc., you think I would likeŚI have none of you or Pa or the
family (including Carrie)Śand send to me.
just got in in timeŚdidn't I? Another week would have been too late. My funds
were getting low; I would not have had anything before long. The U. S.
Consul, General Bromley, is much pleased. The interpreter says it was all in the
way I did with the Viceroy in the interview.
will have a chance to go to Peking and later to a tiger hunt in Mongolia, but
for the present I am going to study, work, and stroke these mandarins
till I get a raise. I am the only instructor in both seamanship and gunnery, and
I must know everything, both practically and theoretically. But it will
be good for me and the only thing is, that if I were put back into the Navy I
would be in a dilemma. I think I will get my 'influence' to work, and I want you
people at home to look out, and in case I amŚif it were represented to
the Sec. that my position here was giving me an immense lot of practical
knowledge professionallyŚmore than I could get on a ship at seaŚI think he
would give me two years' leave on half or quarter pay. Or, I would be willing to
do without payŚonly to be kept on the register in my rank.
will write more about this. Love to all."
It is characteristic of McGiffin that in the very same letter in which he
announces he has entered foreign service he plans to return to that of his own
country. This hope never left him. You find the same homesickness for the
quarterdeck of an American man-of-war all through his later letters. At one time
a bill to reinstate the midshipmen who had been cheated of their commissions was
introduced into Congress. Of this McGiffin writes frequently as "our
bill." "It may pass," he writes, "but I am tired hoping. I
have hoped so long. And if it should," he adds anxiously, "there may
be a time limit set in which a man must rejoin, or lose his chance, so do not
fail to let me know as quickly as you can." But the bill did not pass, and
McGiffin never returned to the navy that had cut him adrift. He settled down at
Tien-Tsin and taught the young cadets how to shoot. Almost all of those who in
the Chinese-Japanese War served as officers were his pupils. As the navy grew,
he grew with it, and his position increased in importance. More Mexican dollars
per month, more servants, larger houses, and buttons of various honorable colors
were given him, and, in return, he established for China a modem naval college
patterned after our own. In those days throughout China and Japan you could find
many of these foreign advisers. Now, in Japan, the Hon. W. H. Dennison of the
Foreign Office, one of our own people, is the only foreigner with whom the
Japanese have not parted, and in China there are none. Of all of those who have
gone none served his employers more faithfully than did McGiffin. At a time when
every official robbed the people and the Government, and when
"squeeze" or "graft" was recognized as a perquisite,
McGiffin's hands were clean. The shells purchased for the Government by him were
not loaded with black sand, nor were the rifles fitted with barrels of iron
pipe. Once a year he celebrated the Thanksgiving Day of his own country by
inviting to a great dinner all the Chinese naval officers who had been at least
in part educated in America. It was a great occasion, and to enjoy it officers
used to come from as far as Port Arthur, Shanghai, and Hong-Kong. So fully did
some of them appreciate the efforts of their host that previous to his annual
dinner, for twenty-four hours, they delicately starved themselves.
During ten years McGiffin served as naval constructor and
professor of gunnery and seamanship, and on board ships at sea gave practical
demonstrations in the handling of the new cruisers. In 1894 he applied for
leave, which was granted, but before he had sailed for home war with Japan was
declared and he withdrew his application. He was placed as second in command on
board the Chen Yuen, a seven-thousand-ton battleship, a sister ship to
the Ting Yuen, the flagship of Admiral Ting Ju Chang. On the memorable
17th of September, 1894, the battle of the Yalu was fought, and so badly were
the Chinese vessels hammered that the Chinese navy, for the time being, was
wiped out of existence.
From the start the advantage was with the Japanese fleet. In
heavy guns the Chinese were the better armed, but in quick-firing guns the
Japanese were vastly superior, and while the Chinese battleships Ting Yuen
and Chen Yuen, each of 7,430 tons, were superior to any of the Japanese
warships, the three largest of which were each of 4,277 tons, the gross tonnage
of the Japanese fleet was 36,000 to 21,000 of the Chinese. During the progress
of the battle the ships engaged on each side numbered an even dozen, but at the
very start, before a decisive shot was fired by either contestant, the Tsi
Yuen, 2,355 tons, and Kwan Chiae, 1,300 tons, ran away, and before
they had time to get into the game the Chao Yung and Yang Wei were
in flames and had fled to the nearest land. So the battle was fought by eight
Chinese ships against twelve of the Japanese. Of the Chinese vessels, the
flagship, commanded by Admiral Ting, and her sister ship, which immediately
after the beginning of the fight was for four hours commanded by McGiffin, were
the two chief aggressors, and in consequence received the fire of the entire
Japanese squadron. Toward the end of the fight, which without interruption
lasted for five long hours, the Japanese did not even consider the four smaller
ships of the enemy, but, sailing around the two ironclads in a circle, fired
only at them. The Japanese themselves testified that these two ships never lost
their formation, and that when her sister ironclad was closely pressed the Chen
Yuen, by her movements and gun practice, protected the Ting Yuen,
and, in fact, while she could not prevent the heavy loss the fleet encountered,
preserved it from annihilation. During the fight this ship was almost
continuously on fire, and was struck by every kind of projectile, from the
thirteen-inch Canet shells to a rifle bullet, four hundred times. McGiffin
himself was so badly wounded, so beaten about by concussions, so burned, and so
bruised by steel splinters, that his health and eyesight were forever wrecked.
But he brought the Chen Yuen safely into Port Arthur and the remnants of
the fleet with her.
On account of his lack of health he resigned from the Chinese
service and returned to America. For two years he lived in New York City,
suffering in body without cessation the most exquisite torture. During that time
his letters to his family show only tremendous courage. On the splintered,
gaping deck of the Chen Yuen, with the fires below it, and the shells
bursting upon it, he had shown to his Chinese crew the courage of the white man
who knew he was responsible for them and for the honor of their country. But far
greater and more difficult was the courage he showed while alone in the dark
sick-room, and in the private wards of the hospitals.
In the letters he dictates from there he still is concerned
only lest those at home shall "worry"; he reassures them with
falsehoods, jokes at their fears; of the people he can see from the window of
the hospital tells them foolish stories; for a little boy who has been kind he
asks them to send him his Chinese postage stamps; he plans a trip he will take
with them when he is stronger, knowing he never will be stronger. The doctors
had urged upon him a certain operation, and of it to a friend he wrote: "I
know that I will have to have a piece about three inches square cut out of my
skull, and this nerve cut off near the middle of the brain, as well as my eye
taken out (for a couple of hours only, provided it is not mislaid, and can be
found). Doctor ŚŚŚ and his crowd show a bad memory for failures. As a
result of this operation others have told meŚI forget the percentage of
deaths, which does not matter, butŚthat a large percentage have become insane.
And some lost their sight."
While threatened with insanity and complete blindness, and
hourly from his wounds suffering a pain drugs could not master, he dictated for
the Century Magazine the only complete account of the battle of the Yalu.
In a letter to Mr. Richard Watson Gilder he writes: "...my eyes are
troubling me. I cannot see even what I am writing now, and am getting the
article under difficulties. I yet hope to place it in your hands by the 21st,
still, if my eyes grow worseŚŚ"
"Still, if my eyes grow worseŚŚ"
The unfinished sentence was grimly prophetic.
Unknown to his attendants at the hospital, among the papers in
his dispatch-box he had secreted his service revolver. On the morning of the
11th of February, 1897, he asked for this box, and on some pretext sent the
nurse from the room. When the report of the pistol brought them running to his
bedside, they found the pain-driven body at peace, and the tired eyes dark
In the
article in the Century
on the battle of the Yalu, he had said:
"Chief among those who have died for their country is
Admiral Ting Ju Chang, a gallant soldier and true gentleman. Betrayed by his
countrymen, fighting against odds, almost his last official act was to stipulate
for the lives of his officers and men. His own he scorned to save, well knowing
that his ungrateful country would prove less merciful than his honorable foe.
Bitter, indeed, must have been the reflections of the old, wounded hero, in that
midnight hour, as he drank the poisoned cup that was to give him rest."
And bitter indeed must
have been the reflections of the young wounded American, robbed, by the
parsimony of his country, of the right he had earned to serve it, and who was
driven out to give his best years and his life for a strange people under a
strange flag.


text:
Made of the softest premium bamboo. Durable and well designed your little ones can sleep and play in these cozy pajamas. Our smallest sizes have rollover cuffs on the hands and all of the one piece sizes have cuffs on the feet giving you the option to go footless or footed without changing outfits.
Sizes available in newborn - 24 months
*Recommended to size down if between sizes*
Material : 95% bamboo viscose / 5% spandex
A key benefit of bamboo clothing is that it is naturally hypo-allergenic, gentle on the skin, and highly breathable. It keeps skin cool in summer and warm in winter by wicking away any excess moisture. No need for both summer and a winter wardrobe – with bamboo clothing your babe will be comfortable year round.
Care Instructions :
Wash with like colors
Tumble dry on low or hang dry
Exclusively available at Forever French Baby