For Eight Years I Always Have Used The Same Kind Of
Cooking Kit, So I Cannot Speak Of Others With Knowledge; But I Have
Always Looked With Envious Eyes At The Preston Cooking Kit And Water-
Bottle.
Why it has not already been adopted by every army I do not
understand, for in no army have I seen a kit as compact or as light,
or one that combines as many useful articles and takes up as little
room.
It is the invention of Captain Guy H. Preston, Thirteenth
Cavalry, and can be purchased at any military outfitter's.
The cooking kit I carry is, or was, in use in the German army. It is
made of aluminum, - weighs about as much as a cigarette-case, and
takes up as little room as would a high hat. It is a frying-pan and
coffee-pot combined. From the Germans it has been borrowed by the
Japanese, and one smaller than mine, but of the same pattern, is part
of the equipment of each Japanese soldier. On a day's march there
are three things a man must carry: his water-bottle, his food,
which, with the soldier, is generally carried in a haversack, and his
cooking kit. Preston has succeeded most ingeniously in combining the
water-bottle and the cooking kit, and I believe by cutting his water-
bottle in half, he can make room in his coffee-pot for the food. If
he will do this, he will solve the problem of carrying water, food,
and the utensils for cooking the food and for boiling the water in
one receptacle, which can be carried from the shoulder by a single
strap. The alteration I have made for my own use in Captain
Preston's water-bottle enables me to carry in the coffee-pot one
day's rations of bacon, coffee, and biscuit.
In Tokio, before leaving for Manchuria, General Fukushima asked me to
bring my entire outfit to the office of the General Staff. I spread
it out on the floor, and with unerring accuracy he selected from it
the three articles of greatest value. They were the Gold Medal cot,
the Elliott chair, and Preston's water-bottle. He asked if he could
borrow these, and, understanding that he wanted to copy them for his
own use, and supposing that if he used them, he would, of course,
make some restitution to the officers who had invented them, I
foolishly loaned them to him. Later, he issued them in numbers to
the General Staff. As I felt, in a manner, responsible, I wrote to
the Secretary of War, saying I was sure the Japanese army did not
wish to benefit by these inventions without making some
acknowledgment or return to the inventors. But the Japanese War
Office could not see the point I tried to make, and the General Staff
wrote a letter in reply asking why I had not directed my
communication to General Fukushima, as it was not the Secretary of
War, but he, who had taken the articles. The fact that they were
being issued without any return being made, did not interest them.
They passed cheerfully over the fact that the articles had been
stolen, and were indignant, not because I had accused a Japanese
general of pilfering, but because I had accused the wrong general.
The letter was so insolent that I went to the General Staff Office
and explained that the officer who wrote it, must withdraw it, and
apologize for it. Both of which things he did. In case the
gentlemen whose inventions were "borrowed" might, if they wished,
take further steps in the matter, I sent the documents in the case,
with the exception of the letter which was withdrawn, to the chief of
the General Staff in the United States and in England.
In importance after the bed, cooking kit, and chair, I would place
these articles:
Two collapsible water-buckets of rubber or canvas.
Two collapsible brass lanterns, with extra isinglass sides.
Two boxes of sick-room candles.
One dozen boxes of safety matches.
One axe. The best I have seen is the Marble Safety Axe, made at
Gladstone, Mich. You can carry it in your hip-pocket, and you can
cut down a tree with it.
One medicine case containing quinine, calomel, and Sun Cholera
Mixture in tablets.
Toilet-case for razors, tooth-powder, brushes, and paper.
Folding bath-tub of rubber in rubber case. These are manufactured to
fold into a space little larger than a cigar-box.
Two towels old, and soft.
Three cakes of soap.
One Jaeger blanket.
One mosquito head-bag.
One extra pair of shoes, old and comfortable.
One extra pair of riding-breeches.
One extra pair of gaiters. The former regulation army gaiter of
canvas, laced, rolls up in a small compass and weighs but little.
One flannel shirt. Gray least shows the dust.
Two pairs of drawers. For riding, the best are those of silk.
Two undershirts, balbriggan or woollen.
Three pairs of woollen socks.
Two linen handkerchiefs, large enough, if needed, to tie around the
throat and protect the back of the neck.
One pair of pajamas, woollen, not linen.
One housewife.
Two briarwood pipes.
Six bags of smoking tobacco; Durham or Seal of North Carolina pack
easily.
One pad of writing paper.
One fountain pen, SELF-FILLING.
One bottle of ink, with screw top, held tight by a spring.
One dozen linen envelopes.
Stamps, wrapped in oil-silk with mucilage side next to the silk.
One stick sealing-wax. In tropical countries mucilage on the flap of
envelopes sticks to everything except the envelope.
One dozen elastic bands of the largest size. In packing they help to
compress articles like clothing into the smallest possible compass
and in many other ways will be found very useful.
One pack of playing-cards.
Books.
One revolver and six cartridges.
The reason for most of these articles is obvious. Some of them may
need a word of recommendation.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 53 of 55
Words from 52980 to 53982
of 55169
