The Sunflower

de Witte was named in his place, a change hailed with great delight by the peace party of Russia, and, of course, as greatly regretted by the party desiring the continuation of the war. The Japanese plenipotentiaries are Baron Jutaro Komura, now minister of foreign affairs, and Kogaro Takahira, now Japanese minister to the United States. Baron Rosen is of Swedish descent, his ancestors having followed Gustavus Adolphus into Russia and settled there. He was Charge d' Affaires at Tokyo, later at Washington, and minister to Japan from 1893 to the time of the outbreak of the war. De Witte is well known as one of the leading Russian officials many years. Both the Russian members are highly for esteemed by the Japanese. Baron Komura was educated in the United States and was predecessor of Mr. Takahira, at Washington. He was minister to Russia until the outbreak of the war between China and Japan when he went to Tokio, and later to China. Mr. Takahira was born in 1854, educated at the Imperial College at Tokio, sent to Washington as attache, in 1879, where he rose to Charge d' Affaires. He has since served in diplomatic and consular posts at Seoul, in Korea; Shanghai, inChina; also at The Hague, at Rome and Vienna; and was one of the peace negotiators of the treaty which closed the China-Japanese war. THE SUNFLOWER. (For the Improvement Era.) "God is our sun: he makes our day," When the Sun arose one morning And looked at the flowers on earth, As they raised their heads to greet him, He said, "I shall prove their worth."