{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_28979/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_28979","id":"gutenberg_28979","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28979","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children -- Japan","Fairy tales -- Japan","Japan -- Social life and customs"],"text":"Produced by Meredith Bach, Asad Razzaki and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\n      A few typographical and punctuation errors have been\n      corrected. A complete list follows the text.\n\n      Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been\n      retained as in the original.\n\n      Words italicized in the original are surrounded by\n      _underscores_.\n\n      Words with bold emphasis in the original are surrounded\n      by =equals signs=.\n\n\n[Illustration: The Lion of Korea.]\n\n\n\n\nCHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN\n\nAND\n\nJAPANESE CHILD STORIES\n\n\nBY\n\n\nMRS. M. CHAPLIN AYRTON\n\n\nEDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY\n\nWILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, L.H.D.\n\nAuthor of \"The Mikado's Empire\" and \"Japanese Fairy World\"\n\n\n_WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS, INCLUDING SEVEN FULL-PAGE PICTURES DRAWN AND\nENGRAVED BY JAPANESE ARTISTS_\n\n\n BOSTON, U.S.A.\n D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS\n 1909\n\n\n COPYRIGHT, 1901,\n BY D. C. HEATH & CO.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nOver a quarter of a century ago, while engaged in introducing the\nAmerican public school system into Japan, I became acquainted in Tokio\nwith Mrs. Matilda Chaplin Ayrton, the author of \"Child-Life in Japan.\"\nThis highly accomplished lady was a graduate of Edinburgh University,\nand had obtained the degrees of Bachelor of Letters and Bachelor of\nSciences, besides studying medicine in Paris. She had married Professor\nWilliam Edward Ayrton, the electric engineer and inventor, then\nconnected with the Imperial College of Engineering of Japan, and since\npresident of the Institute of Electric Engineers in London. She took a\nkeen interest in the Japanese people and never wearied of studying them\nand their beautiful country. With my sister, she made excursions to some\nof the many famous places in the wonderful city of Tokio. When her own\nlittle daughter, born among the camellias and chrysanthemums, grew up\nunder her Japanese nurse, Mrs. Ayrton became more and more interested in\nthe home life of the Japanese and in the pictures and stories which\ndelighted the children of the Mikado's Empire. After her return to\nEngland, in 1879, she wrote this book.\n\nIn the original work, the money and distances, the comparisons and\nillustrations, were naturally English, and not American. For this\nreason, I have ventured to alter the text slightly here and there, that\nthe American child reader may more clearly catch the drift of the\nthought, have given to each Japanese word the standard spelling now\npreferred by scholars and omitted statements of fact which were once,\nbut are no longer, true. I have also translated or omitted hard Japanese\nwords, shortened long sentences, rearranged the illustrations, and added\nnotes which will make the subject clearer. Although railways,\ntelegraphs, and steamships, clothes and architecture, schools and\ncustoms, patterned more or less closely after those in fashion in\nAmerica and Europe, have altered many things in Japan and caused others\nto disappear, yet the children's world of toys and games and stories\ndoes not change very fast. In the main, it may be said, we have here a\ntrue picture of the old Japan which we all delighted in seeing, when, in\nthose sunny days, we lived in sight of Yedo Bay and Fuji Yama, with\nJapanese boys and girls all around us.\n\nThe best portions and all the pictures of Mrs. Ayrton's big and costly\nbook have been retained and reproduced, including her own preface or\nintroduction, and the book is again set forth with a hearty \"ohio\" (good\nmorning) of salutation and sincere \"omedeto\" (congratulations) that the\nnations of the world are rapidly becoming one family. May every reader\nof \"Child-Life in Japan\" see, sometime during the twentieth century, the\ncountry and the people of whom Mrs. Ayrton has written with such lively\nspirit and such warm appreciation.\n\n    WM. ELLIOT GRIFFIS.\n\nITHACA, N.Y.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                         Page\n\n Preface by William Elliot Griffis          v\n\n Introduction by the Author                xi\n\n Seven Scenes of Child-Life in Japan        1\n\n First Month                               16\n\n The Chrysanthemum Show                    30\n\n Fishsave                                  34\n\n The Filial Girl                           37\n\n The Parsley Queen                         38\n\n The Two Daughters                         40\n\n Second Sight                              44\n\n Games                                     46\n\n The Games and Sports of Japanese\n     Children, by William Elliot Griffis   50\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n The Lion of Korea                _Frontispiece_\n\n                                            PAGE\n A Ride on a Bamboo Rail                       1\n\n A Game of Snowball                            3\n\n Boys' Concert--Flute, Drum, and Song          5\n\n Lion Play                                     6\n\n Ironclad Top Game                             7\n\n Playing with Doggy                            9\n\n Heron-Legs, or Stilts                        11\n\n The Young Wrestlers                          13\n\n Playing with the Turtle                      15\n\n Presenting the Tide-Jewels to Hachiman       18\n\n \"Bronze fishes sitting on their throats\"     19\n\n The Treasure-Ship                            23\n\n Girls' Ball and Counting Game                26\n\n Firemen's Gymnastics                         28\n\n Street Tumblers                              29\n\n Eating Stand for the Children                31\n\n Fishsave riding the Dolphin                  35\n\n Bowing before her Mother's Mirror            37\n\n Imitating the Procession                     39\n\n The Two White Birds                          41\n\n Eye-Hiding, or Blindman's Buff               47\n\n Stilts and Clog-Throwing                     48\n\n Playing at Batter-Cakes                      49\n\n Hoisting the Rice-Beer Keg                   51\n\n Getting ready to raise the Big Humming Kite  60\n\n Daruma, the Snow-Image                       62\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nIn almost every home are Japanese fans, in our shops Japanese dolls and\nballs and other knick-knacks, on our writing-tables bronze crabs or\nlacquered pen-tray with outlined on it the extinct volcano [Fuji San][1]\nthat is the most striking mountain seen from the capital of Japan. At\nmany places of amusement Japanese houses of real size have been\nexhibited, and the jargon of fashion for \"Japanese Art\" even reaches our\nchildren's ears.\n\n[1] _Fuji San_, or Fuji no Yama, the highest mountain in the Japanese\narchipelago, is in the province of Suruga, sixty miles west of Tokio.\nIts crest is covered with snow most of the year. Twenty thousand\npilgrims visit it annually. Its name may mean Not Two (such), or\nPeerless.\n\nYet all these things seem dull and lifeless when thus severed from the\nquaint cheeriness of their true home. To those familiar with Japan, that\nbamboo fan-handle recalls its graceful grassy tree, the thousand and one\ndaily purposes for which bamboo wood serves. We see the open shop where\nsquat the brown-faced artisans cleverly dividing into those slender\ndivisions the fan-handle, the wood-block engraver's where some dozen\nmen sit patiently chipping at their cherry-wood blocks, and the\nprinter's where the coloring arrangements seem so simple to those used\nto western machinery, but where the colors are so rich and true. We see\nthe picture stuck on the fan frame with starch paste, and drying in the\nbrilliant summer sunlight. The designs recall vividly the life around,\nwhether that life be the stage, the home, insects, birds, or flowers. We\nthink of halts at wayside inns, when bowing tea-house girls at once\nproffer these fans to hot and tired guests.\n\nThe tonsured oblique-eyed doll suggests the festival of similarly\noblique-eyed little girls on the 3rd of March. Then dolls of every\ndegree obtain for a day \"Dolls' Rights.\" In every Japanese household all\nthe dolls of the present and previous generations are, on that festival,\nset out to best advantage. Beside them are sweets, green-speckled rice\ncake, and daintily gilt and lacquered dolls' utensils. For some time\nprevious, to meet the increased demand, the doll shopman has been very\nbusy. He sits before a straw-holder into which he can readily stick, to\ndry, the wooden supports of the plaster dolls' heads he is painting, as\nhe takes first one and then another to give artistic touches to their\nglowing cheeks or little tongue. That dolly that seems but \"so odd\" to\nPolly or Maggie is there the cherished darling of its little owner. It\npasses half its day tied on to her back, peeping companionably its head\nover her shoulder. At night it is lovingly sheltered under the green\nmosquito curtains, and provided with a toy wooden pillow.\n\nThe expression \"Japanese Art\" seems but a created word expressing either\nthe imitations of it, or the artificial transplanting of Japanese things\nto our houses. The whole glory of art in Japan is, that it is not Art,\nbut Nature simply rendered, by a people with a fancy and love of fun\nquite Irish in character. Just as Greek sculptures were good, because in\nthose days artists modelled the corsetless life around them, so the\nJapanese artist does not draw well his lightly draped figures, cranes,\nand insects because these things strike him as beautiful, but because he\nis familiar with their every action.\n\nThe Japanese house out of Japan seems but a dull and listless affair. We\nmiss the idle, easy-going life and chatter, the tea, the sweetmeats, the\npipes and charcoal brazier, the clogs awaiting their wearers on the\nlarge flat stone at the entry, the grotesquely trained ferns, the glass\nballs and ornaments tinkling in the breeze, that hang, as well as\nlanterns, from the eaves, the garden with tiny pond and goldfish, bridge\nand miniature hill, the bright sunshine beyond the sharp shadow of the\nupward curving angles of the tiled roof, the gay, scarlet folds of the\nwomen's under-dress peeping out, their little litter of embroidery or\nmending, and the babies, brown and half naked, scrambling about so\nhappily. For, what has a baby to be miserable about in a land where it\nis scarcely ever slapped, where its clothing, always loose, is yet warm\nin winter, where it basks freely in air and sunshine? It lives in a\nhouse, that from its thick grass mats, its absence of furniture, and\ntherefore of commands \"not to touch,\" is the very beau-ideal of an\ninfant's playground.\n\nThe object with which the following pages were written, was that young\nfolks who see and handle so often Japanese objects, but who find books\nof travels thither too long and dull for their reading, might catch a\nglimpse of the spirit that pervades life in the \"Land of the Rising\nSun.\" A portion of the book is derived from translations from Japanese\ntales, kindly given to the author by Mr. Basil H. Chamberlain, whilst\nthe rest was written at idle moments during graver studies.\n\nThe games and sports of Japanese children have been so well described by\nProfessor Griffis, that we give, as an Appendix, his account of their\ndoings.\n\n\n\n\nChild-Life in Japan.\n\n\n\n\nSEVEN SCENES OF CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.\n\n\n[Illustration: A Ride on a Bamboo Rail.]\n\nThese little boys all live a long way off in islands called \"Japan.\"\nThey have all rather brown chubby faces, and they are very merry. Unless\nthey give themselves a really hard knock they seldom get cross or cry.\n\nIn the second large picture two of the little boys are playing at\nsnowball. Although it may be hotter in the summer in their country than\nit is here, the winter is as cold as you feel it. Like our own boys,\nthese lads enjoy a fall of snow, and still better than snowballing they\nlike making a snowman with a charcoal ball for each eye and a streak of\ncharcoal for his mouth. The shoes which they usually wear out of doors\nare better for a snowy day than your boots, for their feet do not sink\ninto the snow, unless it is deep. These shoes are of wood, and make a\nboy seem to be about three inches taller than he really is. The shoe,\nyou see, has not laces or buttons, but is kept on the foot by that thong\nwhich passes between the first and second toe. The thong is made of\ngrass, and covered with strong paper, or with white or colored calico.\nThe boy in the check dress wears his shoes without socks, but you see\nthe other boy has socks on. His socks are made of dark blue calico, with\na thickly woven sole, and a place, like one finger of a glove, for his\nbig toe. If you were to wear Japanese shoes, you would think the thong\nbetween your toes very uncomfortable. Yet from their habit of wearing\nthis sort of shoe, the big toe grows more separate from the other toes,\nand the skin between this and the next toe becomes as hard as the skin\nof a dog's or a cat's paw.\n\n[Illustration: A Game of Snowball.]\n\nThe boys are not cold, for their cotton clothes, being wadded, are warm\nand snug. One boy has a rounded pouch fastened to his sash. It is red\nand prettily embroidered with flowers or birds, and is his purse, in\nwhich he keeps some little toys and some money. The other boy very\nlikely has not a pouch, but he has two famous big pockets. Like all\nJapanese, he uses the part of his large sleeve which hangs down as his\npocket. Thus when a group of little children are disturbed at play you\nsee each little hand seize a treasured toy and disappear into its\nsleeve, like mice running into their holes with bits of cheese.\n\nIn the next large picture are two boys who are fond of music. One has a\nflute, which is made of bamboo wood. These flutes are easy to make, as\nbamboo wood grows hollow, with cross divisions at intervals. If you cut\na piece with a division forming one end you need only make the outside\nholes in order to finish your flute.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe child sitting down has a drum. His drum and the paper lanterns\nhanging up have painted on them an ornament which is also the crest of\nthe house of \"Arima.\"[2] If these boys belong to this family they wear\nthe same crest embroidered on the centre of the backs of their coats.\n\n[2] _Arima_ was one of the daimios or landed nobleman, nearly three\nhundred in number, out of whom has been formed the new nobility of\nJapan, a certain number of which are in the Upper House of the Imperial\nDiet.\n\n[Illustration: Boys' Concert--Flute, Drum, and Song.]\n\n[Illustration: Kangura, or Korean Lion Play]\n\nKorean Lion is the title of the picture which forms the frontispiece; it\nrepresents a game that children in Japan are very fond of playing. They\nare probably trying to act as well as the maskers did whom they saw on\nNew Year's Day, just as our children try and imitate things they see\nin a pantomime. The masker goes from house to house accompanied by one\nor two men who play on cymbals, flute, and drum. He steps into a shop\nwhere the people of the house and their friends sit drinking tea, and\npassers-by pause in front of the open shop to see the fun. He takes a\nmask, like the one in the picture, off his back and puts it over his\nhead. This boar's-head mask is painted scarlet and black, and gilt. It\nhas a green cloth hanging down behind, in order that you may not\nperceive where the mask ends and the mans body begins. Then the masker\nimitates an animal. He goes up to a young lady and lays down his ugly\nhead beside her to be patted, as \"Beast\" may have coaxed \"Beauty\" in the\nfairy tale. He grunts, and rolls, and scratches himself. The children\nalmost forget he is a man, and roar with laughter at the funny animal.\nWhen they begin to tire of this fun he exchanges this mask for some of\nthe two or three others he carries with him. He puts on a mask of an old\nwoman over his face, and at the back of his head a very different second\nmask, a cloth tied over the centre of the head, making the two faces\nyet more distinct from each other. He has quickly arranged the back of\nhis dress to look like the front of a person, and he acts, first\npresenting the one person to his spectators, then the other. He makes\nyou even imagine he has four arms, so cleverly can he twist round his\narm and gracefully fan what is in reality the back of his head.\n\n[Illustration: Ironclad Top Game.]\n\nThe tops the lads are playing with in this picture[3] are not quite the\nsame shape as our tops, but they spin very well. Some men are so clever\nat making spinning-tops run along strings, throwing them up into the air\nand catching them with a tobacco-pipe, that they earn a living by\nexhibiting their skill.\n\n[3] See page 7.\n\nSome of the tops are formed of short pieces of bamboo with a wooden peg\nput through them, and the hole cut in the side makes them have a fine\nhum as the air rushes in whilst they spin.\n\nThe boys in the next large picture (p. 9) must be playing with the\npuppies of a large dog, to judge from their big paws. There are a great\nmany large dogs in the streets of Tokio; some are very tame, and will\nlet children comb their hair and ornament them and pull them about.\nThese dogs do not wear collars, as do our pet dogs, but a wooden label\nbearing the owner's name is hung round their necks. Other big dogs are\nalmost wild.[4]\n\n[4] _Wild-dogs:_ ownerless dogs have now been exterminated, and every\ndog in Japan is owned, licensed, taxed, or else liable to go the way of\nthe old wolfish-looking curs. The pet spaniel-like dogs are called\n_chin_.\n\nHalf-a-dozen of these dogs will lie in one place, stretched drowsily on\nthe grassy city walls under the trees, during the daytime. Towards\nevening they rouse themselves and run off to yards and rubbish-heaps to\npick up what they can. They will eat fish, but two or three dogs soon\nget to know where the meat-eating Englishmen live. They come trotting in\nregularly with a business-like air to search among the day's refuse for\nbones. Should any interloping dog try to establish a right to share the\nfeast he can only gain his footing after a victorious battle. All these\ndogs are very wolfish-looking, with straight hair, which is usually\nwhite or tan-colored. There are other pet dogs kept in houses. These\nlook something like spaniels. They are small, with their black noses so\nmuch turned up that it seems as if, when they were puppies, they had\ntumbled down and broken the bridge of their nose. They are often\nornamented like dog Toby in \"Punch and Judy,\" with a ruff made of some\nscarlet stuff round their necks.\n\n[Illustration: Playing with Doggy.]\n\nAfter the heavy autumn rains have filled the roads with big puddles,\nit is great fun, this boy thinks, to walk about on stilts. You see him\non page 11. His stilts are of bamboo wood, and he calls them\n\"Heron-legs,\" after the long-legged snowy herons that strut about in the\nwet rice-fields. When he struts about on them, he wedges the upright\nbetween his big and second toe as if the stilt was like his shoes. He\nhas a good view of his two friends who are wrestling, and probably\nmaking hideous noises like wild animals as they try to throw one\nanother. They have seen fat public wrestlers stand on opposite sides of\na sanded ring, stoop, rubbing their thighs, and in a crouching attitude\nand growling, slowly advance upon one another. Then when near to one\nanother, the spring is made and the men close. If after some time the\nround is not decided by a throw, the umpire, who struts about like a\nturkey-cock, fanning himself, approaches. He plucks the girdle of the\nweaker combatant, when the wrestlers at once retire to the sides of the\narena to rest, and to sprinkle a little water over themselves.\n\n[Illustration: Heron-legs, or Stilts.]\n\n[Illustration: The Young Wrestlers.]\n\nIn the neighborhood in which the children shown in the picture live,\nthere is a temple (p. 11). In honor of the god a feast-day is held on\nthe tenth of every month. The tenth day of the tenth month is a yet\ngreater feast-day. On these days they go the first thing in the morning\nto the barber's, have their heads shaved and dressed, and their faces\npowdered with white, and their lips and cheeks painted pink. They wear\ntheir best clothes and smartest sashes. Then they clatter off on their\nwooden clogs to the temple and buy two little rice-cakes at the gates.\nNext they come to two large, comical bronze dogs sitting on stands, one\non each side of the path. They reach up and gently rub the dog's nose,\nthen rub their own noses, rub the dog's eyes, and then their own, and so\non, until they have touched the dog's and their own body all over. This\nis their way of praying for good health. They also add another to the\nnumber of little rags that have been hung by each visitor about the\ndog's neck. Then they go to the altar and give their cakes to a boy\nbelonging to the temple. In exchange he presents them with one rice-cake\nwhich has been blessed. They ring a round brass bell to call their god's\nattention, and throw him some money into a grated box as big as a\nchild's crib. Then they squat down and pray to be good little boys. Now\nthey go out and amuse themselves by looking at all the stalls of toys\nand cakes, and flowers and fish.\n\nThe man who sells the gold-fish, with fan-like tails as long as their\nbodies, has also turtles. These boys at last settle that of all the\npretty things they have seen they would best like to spend their money\non a young turtle. For their pet rabbits and mice died, but turtles,\nthey say, are painted on fans and screens and boxes because turtles live\nfor ten thousand years. Even the noble white crane is said to live no\nmore than a thousand years. In this picture they have carried home the\nturtle and are much amused at the funny way it walks and peeps its head\nin and out from under its shell.\n\n[Illustration: Playing with the Turtle.]\n\n\n\n\nFIRST MONTH.\n\n\nLittle Good Boy had just finished eating the last of five rice cakes\ncalled \"dango,\" that had been strung on a skewer of bamboo and dipped in\nsoy sauce, when he said to his little sister, called Chrysanthemum:--\n\n\"O-Kiku, it is soon the great festival of the New Year.\"\n\n\"What shall we do then?\" asked little O-Kiku, not clearly remembering\nthe festival of the previous year.\n\nThus questioned, Yoshi-san[5] had his desired opening to hold forth on\nthe coming delights, and he replied:--\n\n\"Men will come the evening before the great feast-day and help\nPlum-blossom, our maid, to clean all the house with brush and broom.\nOthers will set up the decoration in front of our honored gateway. They\nwill dig two small holes and plant a gnarled, black-barked father-pine\nbranch on the left, and the slighter reddish mother-pine branch on the\nright. They will then put with these the tall knotted stem of a bamboo,\nwith its smooth, hard green leaves that chatter when the wind blows.\nNext they will take a grass rope, about as long as a tall man, fringed\nwith grass, and decorated with zigzag strips of white paper. These, our\nnoble father says, are meant for rude images of men offering themselves\nin homage to the august gods.\"\n\n[5] _Yoshi-san. Yoshi_ means good, excellent, and _san_ is like our\n\"Mr.,\" but is applied to any one from big man to baby. The girls are\nnamed after flowers, stars, or other pretty or useful objects.\n\n\"Oh, yes! I have not forgotten,\" interrupts Chrysanthemum, \"this cord is\nstretched from bamboo to bamboo; and Plum-blossom says the rope is to\nbar out the nasty two-toed, red, gray, and black demons, the badgers,\nthe foxes, and other evil spirits from crossing our threshold. But I\nthink it is the next part of the arch which is the prettiest, the whole\nbunch of things they tie in the middle of the rope. There is the\ncrooked-back lobster, like a bowed old man, with all around the camellia\nbranches, whose young leaves bud before the old leaves fall. There are\npretty fern leaves shooting forth in pairs, and deep down between them\nthe little baby fern-leaf. There is the bitter yellow orange, whose\nname, you know, means 'many parents and children.' The name of the black\npiece of charcoal is a pun on our homestead.\"\n\n\"But best of all,\" says Yoshi-san, \"I like the seaweed hontawara, for it\ntells me of our brave Queen Jingu Kogo, who, lest the troops should be\ndiscouraged, concealed from the army that her husband the king had died,\nput on armor, and led the great campaign against Korea.[6] Her troops,\nstationed at the margin of the sea, were in danger of defeat on account\nof the lack of fodder for their horses; when she ordered this hontawara\nto be plucked from the shore, and the horses, freshened by their meal of\nseaweed, rushed victoriously to battle. On the bronzed clasp of our\nworthy father's tobacco-pouch is, our noble father says, the Queen with\nher sword and the dear little baby prince,[7] Hachiman, who was born\nafter the campaign, and who is now our Warrior God,[8] guiding our\ntroops to victory, and that spirit on whose head squats a dragon has\nrisen partly from the deep, to present an offering to the Queen and the\nPrince.\"\n\n[6] _The campaign against Korea_: 200 A.D.\n\n[7] _The Queen and the Prince_: See the story of \"The Jewels of the\nEbbing and the Flowing Tide\" in the book of \"Japanese Fairy Tales\" in\nthis series.\n\n[8] Ojin, son of Jingu Kogo, was, much later, deified as the god of\nwar, Hachiman. See \"The Religions of Japan,\" p. 204.\n\n[Illustration: Presenting the Tide-jewels to Hachiman.]\n\n\"Then there is another seaweed, whose name is a pun on 'rejoicing.'\nThere is the lucky bag that I made, for last year, of a square piece of\npaper into which we put chestnuts and the roe of a herring and dried\npersimmon fruit. Then I tied up the paper with red and white\npaper-string, that the sainted gods might know it was an offering.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"Bronze fishes sitting on their throats.\"]\n\nYoshi-san and his little sister had now reached the great gate\nornamented with huge bronze fishes[9] sitting on their throats and\ntwisting aloft their forked tails, that was near their home. He told his\nsister she must wait to know more about the great festival till the time\narrived. They shuffled off their shoes, bowed, till their foreheads\ntouched the ground, to their parents, ate their evening bowl of rice and\nsalt fish, said a prayer and burnt a stick of incense to many-armed\nBuddha at the family altar. They spread their cotton-wadded quilts,\nrested their dear little shaved heads, with quaint circlet of hair, on\nthe roll of cotton covered with white paper that formed the cushion of\ntheir hard wooden pillows. Soon they fell asleep to their mother's\nmonotonously chanted lullaby of \"Nenne ko.\"\n\n    \"Sleep, my child, sleep, my child,\n     Where is thy nurse gone?\n     She is gone to the mountains\n     To buy thee sweetmeats.\n     What shall she buy thee?\n     The thundering drum, the bamboo pipe,\n     The trundling man, or the paper kite.\"\n\n[9] The _bronze fishes_, called shachi-hoko, are huge metal figures,\nlike dolphins, from four to twelve feet high, which were set on the\npinnacles of the old castle towers in the days of feudalism. That from\nNagoya, exhibited at the Vienna Exposition, had scales of solid gold.\n\nThe great festival drew still nearer, to the children's delight, as they\nwatched the previously described graceful bamboo arch rise before their\ngateposts. Then came a party of three with an oven, a bottomless tub,\nand some matting to replace the bottom. They shifted the pole that\ncarried these utensils from their shoulders, and commenced to make the\nJapanese cake that may be viewed as the equivalent of a Christmas\npudding. They mixed a paste of rice and put the sticky mass, to prevent\nrebounding, on the soft mat in the tub. The third man then beat for a\nlong time the rice cake with a heavy mallet. Yoshi-san liked to watch\nthe strong man swing down his mallet with dull resounding thuds. The\nwell-beaten dough was then made up into flattish rounds of varying size\non a pastry board one of the men had brought. Three cakes of graduated\nsize formed a pyramid that was placed conspicuously on a lacquered\nstand, and the cakes were only to be eaten on the 11th of January.\n\nThe mother told Plum-blossom and the children to get their clogs and\novercoats and hoods, for she was going to get the New Year's\ndecorations. The party shuffled off till they came to a stall where were\nbig grass ropes and fringes and quaint grass boats filled with supposed\nbales of merchandise in straw coverings, a sun in red paper, and at bow\nand stern sprigs of fir. The whole was brightened by bits of gold leaf,\nlightly stuck on, that quivered here and there. When the children had\nchosen the harvest ship that seemed most besprinkled with gold,\nPlum-blossom bargained about the price. The mother, as a matter of form\nand rank, had pretended to take no interest in the purchase. She took\nher purse out of her sash, handed it to her servant, who opened it, paid\nthe shopman, and then returned the purse to her mistress. This she did\nwith the usual civility of first raising it to her forehead. The\ndecorations they hung up in their sitting-room. Then they sent presents,\nsuch as large dried carp, tea, eggs, shoes, kerchiefs, fruits, sweets,\nor toys to various friends and dependants.\n\nOn the 1st of January all were early astir, for the father, dressed at\ndawn in full European evening dress,[10] as is customary on such\noccasions, had to pay his respects at the levee of the Emperor. When\nthis duty was over, he returned home and received visitors of rank\ninferior to himself. Later in the day and on the following day he paid\nvisits of New Year greeting to all his friends. He took a present to\nthose to whom he had sent no gift. Sometimes he had his little boy with\nhim. For these visits Yoshi-san, in place of his usual flowing robe,\nloose trousers, and sash, wore a funny little knickerbocker suit, felt\nhat, and boots. These latter, though he thought them grand, felt very\nuncomfortable after his straw sandals. They were more troublesome to\ntake off before stepping on the straw mats, that, being used as chairs\nas well as carpets, it would be a rudeness to soil. The maids, always\nkneeling, presented them with tiny cups of tea on oval saucers, which,\nremaining in the maid's hand, served rather as waiters. Sweetmeats, too,\nusually of a soft, sticky nature, but sometimes hard like sugar-plums,\nand called \"fire-sweets,\" were offered on carved lotus-leaf or lacquered\ntrays.\n\n[10] _First of January_: The old Chinese or lunar calendar ended in\nJapan, and the solar or Gregorian calendar began, January 1, 1872, when\nEuropean dress was adopted by the official class.\n\nFor the 2nd of January Plum-blossom bought some pictures of the\ntreasure-ship or ship of riches, in which were seated the seven Gods of\nWealth.[11] It has been sung thus about this Ship of Luck:--\n\n    \"Nagaki yo no,          It is a long night.\n    To no numuri no.        The gods of luck sleep.\n    Mina me same.           They all open their eyes.\n    Nami nori fune no.      They ride in a boat on the waves.\n    Oto no yoki kana.\"      The sound is pleasing!\n\n[11] _The seven Gods of Wealth_: Concerning the origin of these popular\ndeities, see \"The Religions of Japan,\" p. 218.\n\n[Illustration: The Treasure-ship and the Seven Gods of Happiness.]\n\nThese pictures they each tied on their pillow to bring lucky dreams.\nGreat was the laughter in the morning when they related their dreams.\nYoshi-san said he had dreamt he had a beautiful portmanteau full of nice\nforeign things, such as comforters, note-books, pencils, india-rubber,\ncondensed milk, lama, wide-awakes, boots, and brass jewelry. Just as he\nopened it, everything vanished and he found only a torn fan, an odd\nchop-stick, a horse's cast straw shoe, and a live crow.\n\nWhen at home, the children, for the first few days of the New Year,\ndressed in their best crepe, made up in three silken-wadded layers.\nTheir crest was embroidered on the centre of the back and on the sleeves\nof the quaintly flowered long upper skirt. Beneath its wadded hem peeped\nthe scarlet rolls of the hems of their under-dresses, and then the\nwhite-stockinged feet, with, passing between the toes, the scarlet thong\nof the black-lacquered clog. The little girl's sash was of many-flowered\nbrocade, with scarlet broidered pouch hanging at her right side. A\nscarlet over-sash kept the large sash-knot in its place. Her hair was\ngay with knot of scarlet crinkled crepe, lacquered comb, and hairpin of\ntiny golden battledore. Resting thereon were a shuttlecock of coral,\nanother pin of a tiny red lobster and a green pine sprig made of silk.\nIn her belt was coquettishly stuck the butterfly-broidered case that\nheld her quire of paper pocket-handkerchiefs. The brother's dress was of\na simpler style and soberer coloring. His pouch of purple had a dragon\nworked on it, and the hair of his partly shaven head was tied into a\nlittle gummed tail with white paper-string. They spent most of the day\nplaying with their pretty new battledores, striking with its plain side\nthe airy little shuttlecock whose head is made of a black seed. All the\nwhile they sang a rhyme on the numbers up to ten:--\n\n    \"Hitogo ni futa-go--mi-watashi yo me-go,\n     Itsu yoni musashi nan no yakushi,\n     Kokono-ya ja--to yo.\"\n\nWhen tired of this fun, they would play with a ball made of paper and\nwadding evenly wound about with thread or silk of various colors. They\nsang to the throws a song which seems abrupt because some portions have\nprobably fallen into disuse; it runs thus:--\n\n\"See opposite--see Shin-kawa! A very beautiful lady who is one of the\ndaughters of a chief magistrate of Odawara-cho. She was married to a\nsalt merchant. He was a man fond of display, and he thought how he would\ndress her this year. He said to the dyer, 'Please dye this brocade and\nthe brocade for the middle dress into seven-or eight-fold dresses;' and\nthe dyer said, 'I am a dyer, and therefore I will dye and stretch it.\nWhat pattern do you wish?' The merchant replied, 'The pattern of falling\nsnow and broken twigs, and in the centre the curved bridge of Gojo.'\"\n\n[Illustration: Girls' Ball and Counting Game.]\n\nThen to fill up the rhyme come the words, \"Chokin, chokera, kokin,\nkokera,\" and the tale goes on: \"Crossing this bridge the girl was struck\nhere and there, and the tea-house girls laughed. Put out of countenance\nby this ridicule, she drowned herself in the river Karas, the body sunk,\nthe hair floated. How full of grief the husband's heart--now the ball\ncounts a hundred.\"\n\nThis they varied with another song:--\n\n    \"One, two, three, four,\n     Grate hard charcoal, shave kiri wood;\n     Put in the pocket, the pocket is wet,\n     Kiyomadzu, on three yenoki trees\n     Were three sparrows, chased by a pigeon.\n     The sparrows said, 'Chiu, chiu,'\n     The pigeon said, 'po, po,'--now the\n     Ball counts a hundred.\"\n\nThe pocket referred to means the bottom of the long sleeve, which is apt\nto trail and get wet when a child stoops at play. Kiyomadzu may mean a\nfamous temple that bears that name. Sometimes they would simply count\nthe turns and make a sort of game of forfeiting and returning the number\nof rebounds kept up by each.\n\nYoshi-san had begun to think battledore and balls too girlish an\namusement. He preferred flying his eagle or mask-like kite, or playing\nat cards, verses, or lotteries. Sometimes he played a lively game with\nhis father, in which the board is divided into squares and diagonals. On\nthese move sixteen men held by one player and one large piece held by\nthe second player. The point of the game is either that the holder of\nthe sixteen pieces hedges the large piece so it that can make no move,\nor that the big piece takes all its adversaries. A take can only be made\nby the large piece when it finds a piece immediately on each side of it\nand a blank point beyond. Or he watched a party of several, with the\npictured sheet of Japanese backgammon before them, write their names on\nslips of paper or wood, and throw in turn a die. The slips are placed on\nthe pictures whose numbers correspond with the throw. At the next round,\nif the number thrown by the particular player is written on the picture,\nhe finds directions as to which picture to move his slip backward or\nforward to. He may, however, find his throw a blank and have to remain\nat his place. The winning consists in reaching a certain picture. When\ntired of these quieter games, the strolling woman player on a\nguitar-like instrument, would be called in. Or, a party of Kangura boy\nperformers afforded pastime by the quaint animal-like movements of the\ndraped figure. He wears a huge grotesque scarlet mask on his head, and\nat times makes this monster appear to stretch out and draw in its neck\nby an unseen change in position of the mask from the head to the\ngradually extended and draped hand of the actor. The beat of a drum and\nthe whistle of a bamboo flute formed the accompaniment to the dumb-show\nacting.\n\n[Illustration: Firemen's Gymnastics at New Year's Time.]\n\nYoshi-san thought the 4th and 5th days of January great fun, because\nloud shoutings were heard. Running in the direction of the sound, he\nfound the men of a fire-brigade who had formed a procession to carry\ntheir new paper standard, bamboo ladders, paper lanterns, etc. This\nprocession paused at intervals. Then the men steadied the ladder with\ntheir long fire-hooks, whilst an agile member of the band mounted the\nerect ladder and performed gymnastics at the top. His performance\nconcluded, he dismounted, and the march continued, the men as before\nyelling joyously, at the highest pitch of their voices.\n\n[Illustration: Street Tumblers playing Kangura in Tokio.]\n\nAfter about a week of fun, life at the villa, gradually resumed its\nusual course, the father returned to his office, the mother to her\ndomestic employments, and the children to school, all having said for\nthat new year their last joy-wishing greeting--omedeto\n(congratulations).\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW.\n\n\nYoshi-san and his Grandmother go to visit the great temple at Shiba.\nThey walk up its steep stairs, and arrive at the lacquered threshold.\nHere they place aside their wooden clogs, throw a few coins into a huge\nbox standing on the floor. It is covered with a wooden grating so\nconstructed as to prevent pilfering hands afterward removing the coin.\nThen they pull a thick rope attached to a big brass bell like an\nexaggerated sheep-bell, hanging from the ceiling, but which gives forth\nbut a feeble, tinkling sound. To insure the god's attention, this is\nsupplemented with three distinct claps of the hands, which are afterward\nclasped in prayer for a short interval; two more claps mark the\nconclusion. Then, resuming their clogs, they clatter down the steep,\ncopper-bound temple steps into the grounds. Here are stalls innumerable\nof toys, fruit, fish-cakes, birds, tobacco-pipes, ironmongery, and rice,\nand scattered amidst the stalls are tea-houses, peep-shows, and other\nplaces of amusement. Of these the greatest attraction is a newly-opened\nchrysanthemum show.\n\nThe chrysanthemums are trained to represent figures. Here is a\ncelebrated warrior, Kato Kiyomasa by name, who lived about the year\n1600, when the eminent Hashiba (Hideyoshi) ruled Japan. Near the end of\nhis reign Hashiba, wishing to invade China, but being himself unable to\ncommand the expedition, intrusted the leadership of the fleet and army\nto Kiyomasa. They embarked, reached Korea, where a fierce battle was\nfought and victory gained by Kiyomasa. When, however, he returned to\nJapan, he found Hideyoshi had died, and the expedition was therefore\nrecalled. Tales of the liberality and generosity of the Chief, and how\nhe, single-handed, had slain a large and wild tiger with the spear that\nhe is represented as holding, led to his being at length addressed as a\ngod. His face is modelled in plaster and painted, and the yellow\nchrysanthemum blossoms may be supposed to be gold bosses on the verdant\narmor.\n\n[Illustration: Eating Stand for the Children.]\n\nNext they looked at eccentric varieties of this autumn flower, such as\nthose having the petals longer and more curly than usual. To show off\nthe flowers every branch was tied to a stick, which caused Yoshi-san to\nthink the bushes looked a little stiff and ugly. Near the warrior was a\nchrysanthemum-robed lady, Benten, standing in a flowery sailing-boat\nthat is supposed to contain a cargo of jewels. Three rabbits farther on\nappeared to be chatting together. Perhaps the best group of all was old\nFukurokujin, with white beard and bald head. He was conversing with two\nof the graceful waterfowl so constantly seen in Japanese decorations. He\nis the god of luck, and has a reputation for liking good cheer. This is\nsuggested by a gourd, a usual form of wine-bottle, that is suspended to\nhis cane, whilst another gourd contains homilies. He was said to be so\ntender-hearted that even timid wild fowl were not afraid of him.\n\nNot the least amusing part of the show was the figure before which\nYoshi's Grandmother exclaimed, \"Why, truly, that is clever! Behold, I\npray thee, a barbarian lady, and even her child!\" In truth it was an\nunconscious caricature of Europeans, although the lady's face had not\nescaped being made to look slightly Japanese. The child held a toy, and\nhad a regular shock head of hair. The frizzed hair of many foreign\nchildren appeared very odd to Yoshi-san. He thought their mothers must\nbe very unkind not to take the little \"western men\" more often to the\nbarber's. He complacently compared the neatness of his own shaven crown\nand tidily-clipped and gummed side-locks.\n\nBeing tired of standing, the old Grandmother told her grandson they\nwould go and listen to a recital at the story-teller's. Leaving their\nwooden shoes in a pigeon-hole for that purpose, they joined an attentive\nthrong of some twenty listeners seated on mats in a dimly-lighted room.\nYoshi could not make out all the tale-teller said, but he liked to watch\nhim toy with his fan as he introduced his listeners to the characters of\nhis story. Then the story-teller would hold his fan like a rod of\ncommand, whilst he kept his audience in rapt attention, then sometimes,\namidst the laughter of those present, he would raise his voice to a\nshrill whine, and would emphasize a joke by a sharp tap on the table\nwith his fan. After they had listened to one tale Yoshi-san was sleepy.\nSo they went and bargained with a man outside who had a carriage like a\nsmall gig with shafts called a \"jin-riki-sha.\"[12] He ran after them to\nsay he consented to wheel them home the two and a half miles for five\ncents.\n\n[12] The _jin-riki-sha_, man-power-carriage, invented in Japan in 1871,\nis now used all over the East.\n\n\n\n\nFISHSAVE.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere was once upon a time a little baby whose father was Japanese\nambassador to the court of China, and whose mother was a Chinese lady.\nWhile this child was still in its infancy the ambassador had to return\nto Japan. So he said to his wife, \"I swear to remember you and to send\nyou letters by the ambassador that shall succeed me; and as for our\nbaby, I will despatch some one to fetch it as soon as it is weaned.\"\nThus saying he departed.\n\nWell, embassy after embassy came (and there was generally at least a\nyear between each), but never a letter from the Japanese husband to the\nChinese wife. At last, tired of waiting and of grieving, she took her\nboy by the hand, and sorrowfully leading him to the seashore, fastened\nround his neck a label bearing the words, \"The Japanese ambassador's\nchild.\" Then she flung him into the sea in the direction of the Japanese\nArchipelago, confident that the paternal tie was one which it was not\npossible to break, and that therefore father and child were sure to meet\nagain.\n\nOne day, when the former ambassador, the father, was riding by the beach\nof Naniwa (where afterward was built the city of Osaka), he saw\nsomething white floating out at sea, looking like a small island. It\nfloated nearer, and he looked more attentively. There was no doubt about\nits being a child. Quite astonished, he stopped his horse and gazed\nagain. The floating object drew nearer and nearer still. At last with\nperfect distinctness it was perceived to be a fair, pretty little boy,\nof about four years old, impelled onward by the waves.\n\n[Illustration: Fishsave riding the Dolphin to Japan.]\n\nStill closer inspection showed that the boy rode bravely on the back of\nan enormous fish. When the strange rider had dismounted on the strand,\nthe ambassador ordered his attendants to take the manly little fellow in\ntheir arms, when lo, and behold! there was the label round his neck, on\nwhich was written, \"The Japanese ambassador's child.\" \"Oh, yes,\" he\nexclaimed, \"it must be my child and no other, whom its mother, angry at\nhaving received no letters from me, must have thrown into the sea. Now,\nowing to the indissoluble bond tying together parents and children, he\nhas reached me safely, riding upon a fish's back.\" The air of the little\ncreature went to his heart, and he took and tended him most lovingly.\n\nTo the care of the next embassy that went to the court of China, he\nintrusted a letter for his wife, in which he informed her of all the\nparticulars; and she, who had quite believed the child to be dead,\nrejoiced at its marvellous escape.\n\nThe child grew up to be a man, whose handwriting was beautiful.[13]\nHaving been saved by a fish, he was given the name of \"Fishsave.\"\n\n[13] _Beautiful handwriting_ was considered one of the most admirable of\naccomplishments in old Japan.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FILIAL GIRL.\n\n\n[Illustration: Bowing before her Mother's Mirror.]\n\nA girl once lived in the province of Echigo,[14] who from her earliest\nyears tended her parents with all filial piety. Her mother, when, after\na long illness she lay at the point of death, took out a mirror that she\nhad for many years concealed, and giving it to her daughter, spoke thus,\n\"when I have ceased to exist, take this mirror in thy hand night and\nmorning, and looking at it, fancy that 'tis I thou seest.\"\n\n[14] A _Echigo:_ the province on the west coast, now famous for its\npetroleum wells.\n\nWith these last words she expired, and the girl, full of grief, and\nfaithful to her mother's commands, used to take out the mirror night and\nmorning, and gazing in it, saw there in a face like to the face of her\nmother. Delighted thereat (for the village was situated in a remote\ncountry district among the mountains, and a mirror was a thing the girl\nhad never heard of), she daily worshipped her reflected face. She bowed\nbefore it till her forehead touched the mat, as if this image had been\nin very truth her mother's own self.\n\nHer father one day, astonished to see her thus occupied, inquired the\nreason, which she directly told him. But he burst out laughing, and\nexclaimed, \"Why! 'tis only thine own face, so like to thy mother's, that\nis reflected. It is not thy mother's at all!\"\n\nThis revelation distressed the girl. Yet she replied: \"Even if the face\nbe not my mother's, it is the face of one who belonged to my mother, and\ntherefore my respectfully saluting it twice every day is the same as\nrespectfully saluting her very self.\" And so she continued to worship\nthe mirror more and more while tending her father with all filial\npiety--at least so the story goes, for even to-day, as great poverty and\nignorance prevail in some parts of Echigo, the peasantry know as little\nof mirrors as did this little girl.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PARSLEY QUEEN.[15]\n\n\nHow curious that the daughter of a peasant dwelling in a obscure country\nvillage near Aska, in the province of Yamato,[16] should become a Queen!\nYet such was the case. Her father died while she was yet in her infancy,\nand the girl applied herself to the tending of her mother with all\nfilial piety. One day when she had gone out in the fields to gather some\nparsley, of which her mother was very fond, it chanced that Prince\nShotoku, the great Buddhist teacher,[17] was making a progress to his\npalace, and all the inhabitants of the country-side flocked to the road\nalong which the procession was passing, in order to behold the gorgeous\nspectacle, and to show their respect for the Mikado's son. The filial\ngirl, alone, paying no heed to what was going on around her, continued\npicking her parsley. She was observed from his carriage by the Prince,\nwho, astonished at the circumstance, sent one of his retainers to\ninquire into its cause.\n\n[15] A story much like that of \"The Parsley Queen\" is told in the\nprovince of Echizen.\n\n[16] Yamato is the old classic centre of ancient life and history.\n\n[17] _Prince Shotoku Taishi_, a great patron of Buddhism, who, though a\nlayman, is canonized (see \"The Religions of Japan,\" p. 180).\n\n[Illustration: Imitating the Procession to the Temple.]\n\nThe girl replied, \"My mother bade me pick parsley, and I am following\nher instructions--that is the reason why I have not turned round to pay\nmy respects to the Prince.\" The latter being informed of her answer, was\nfilled with admiration at the strictness of her filial piety. Alighting\nat her mother's cottage on the way back, he told her of the occurrence,\nand placing the girl in the next carriage to his own, took her home with\nhim to the Imperial Palace, and ended by making her his wife, upon which\nthe people, knowing her story, gave her the name of the \"Parsley Queen.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE TWO DAUGHTERS.\n\n\nAt Akita, in the province of Inaba, lived an independent gentleman,[18]\nwho had two daughters, by whom he was ministered to with all filial\npiety. He was fond of shooting with a gun, and thus very often committed\nthe sin (according to the teaching of holy Buddha) of taking life.[19]\nHe would never hearken to the admonitions of his daughters. These,\nmindful of the future, and aghast at the prospect in store for him in\nthe world to come, frequently endeavored to convert him. Many were the\ntears they shed. At last one day, after they had pleaded with him more\nearnestly still than before, the father, touched by their supplications,\npromised to shoot no more. But, after a while, some of his neighbors\ncame round to request him to shoot for them two storks.[20] He was\neasily led to consent by the strength of his natural liking for the\nsport. Still he would not allow a word to be breathed to his daughters.\nHe slipped out at night, gun in hand, after they were, as he imagined,\nfast asleep.\n\n[18] _An independent gentleman_, a _ronin_ or \"wave man,\" one who had\nleft the service of his feudal lord and was independent,--sometimes a\ngentleman and a scholar, oftener a ruffian or vagabond.\n\n[19] Buddhism, on account of the doctrine of the transmigration of\nsouls, forbids the taking of life.\n\n[20] There are very few storks in Japan, but white heron are quite\ncommon.\n\n[Illustration: The Two White Birds.]\n\nThey, however, had heard everything, and the elder sister said to the\nyounger: \"Do what we may, our father will not condescend to follow our\nwords of counsel, and nothing now remains but to bring him to a\nknowledge of the truth by the sacrifice of one of our own lives.\nTo-night is fortunately moonless; and if I put on white garments and go\nto the neighborhood of the bay, he will take me for a stork and shoot me\ndead. Do you continue to live and tend our father with all the services\nof filial piety.\" Thus she spake, her eyes dimmed with the rolling\ntears. But the younger sister, with many sobs, exclaimed: \"For you, my\nsister, for you is it to receive the inheritance of this house. So do\nyou condescend to be the one to live, and to practise filial devotion to\nour father, while I will offer up my life.\"\n\nThus did each strive for death. The elder one, without more words,\nseizing a white garment rushed out of the house. The younger one,\nunwilling to cede to her the place of honor, putting on a white gown\nalso, followed in her track to the shore of the bay. There, making her\nway to her among the rushes, she continued the dispute as to which of\nthe two should be the one to die.\n\nMeanwhile the father, peering around him in the darkness, saw something\nwhite. Taking it for the storks, he aimed at the spot with his gun, and\ndid not miss his shot, for it pierced through the ribs of the elder of\nthe two girls. The younger, helpless in her grief, bent over her\nsister's body. The father, not dreaming of what he was about, and\nastonished to find that his having shot one of the storks did not make\nthe other fly away, discharged another shot at the remaining white\nfigure. Lamentable to relate, he hit his second daughter as he had the\nfirst. She fell, pierced through the chest, and was laid on the same\ngrassy pillow as her sister.\n\nThe father, pleased with his success, came up to the rushes to look for\nhis game. But what! no storks, alas! alas! No, only his two daughters!\nFilled with consternation, he asked what it all meant. The girls,\nbreathing with difficulty, told him that their resolve had been to show\nhim the crime of taking life, and thus respectfully to cause him to\ndesist therefrom. They expired before they had time to say more.\n\nThe father was filled with sorrow and remorse. He took the two corpses\nhome on his back. As there was now no help for what was done, he placed\nthem reverently on a wood stack, and there they burnt, making smoke to\nthe blowing wind. From that hour he was a converted man. He built\nhimself a small cell of branches of trees, near the village bridge.\nPlacing therein the memorial tablets of his two daughters, he performed\nbefore them the due religious rites, and became the most pious follower\nof Buddha. Ah! that was filial piety in very truth! a marvel, that these\ngirls should throw away their own lives, so that, by exterminating the\nevil seed in their father's conduct in this world, they might guard him\nfrom its awful fruit in the world to come!\n\n\n\n\nSECOND SIGHT.\n\n\nA traveller arrived at a village, and looking about for an inn, he found\none that, although rather shabby, would, he thought, suit him. So he\nasked whether he could pass the night there, and the mistress said\ncertainly. No one lived at the inn except the mistress, so that the\ntraveller was quite undisturbed.\n\nThe next morning, after he had finished break-fast, the traveller went\nout of the house to make arrangements for continuing his journey. To his\nsurprise, his hostess asked him to stop a moment. She said that he owed\nher a thousand pounds, solemnly declaring that he had borrowed that sum\nfrom her inn long years ago. The traveller was astonished greatly at\nthis, as it seemed to him a preposterous demand. So fetching his trunk,\nhe soon hid himself by drawing a curtain all round him.\n\nAfter thus secluding himself for some time, he called the woman and\nasked, \"Was your father an adept in the art of second sight?\" The woman\nreplied, \"Yes; my father secluded himself just as you have done.\" Said\nthe traveller, \"Explain fully to me why you say I owe you so large a\nsum.\" The mistress then related that when her father was going to die,\nhe bequeathed her all his possessions except his money. He said, that\non a certain day, ten years later, a traveller would lodge at her house,\nand that, as the said traveller owed him a thousand pounds, she could\nreclaim at that time this sum from his debtor. She must subsist in the\nmeanwhile by the gradual sale of her father's goods.\n\nHitherto, being unable to earn as much money as she spent, she had been\ndisposing of the inherited valuables, but had now exhausted nearly all\nof them. In the meantime, the predicted date had arrived, and a\ntraveller had lodged at her house, just as her father had foretold.\nHence she concluded he was the man from whom she should recover the\nthousand pounds.\n\nOn hearing this the traveller said that all that the woman had related\nwas perfectly true. Taking her to one side of the room, he told her to\ntap gently with her knuckles all over a wooden pillar. At one part the\npillar gave forth a hollow sound. The traveller said that the money\nspoken about by the poor woman lay hidden in this part of the pillar.\nThen advising her to spend it only gradually, he went on his way.\n\nThe father of this woman had been extremely skilful in the art of second\nsight or clairvoyance. By its means he had discovered that his daughter\nwould pass through ten years of extreme poverty and that on a certain\nfuture day a diviner would come and lodge in the house. The father was\nalso aware that if he bequeathed his daughter his money at once, she\nwould spend it extravagantly. Upon consideration, therefore, he hid the\nmoney in the pillar, and instructed his daughter as related. In\naccordance with the father's prophecy, the man came and lodged in the\nhouse on the predicted day, and by the art of divination discovered the\nthousand pounds.\n\n\n\n\nGAMES.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe games we are daily playing at in our nurseries, or some of them,\nhave been also played at for centuries by Japanese boys and girls. Such\nare blindman's buff (eye-hiding), puss-in-the-corner, catching, racing,\nscrambling, a variety of \"here we go round the mulberry bush.\" The game\nof knuckle-bones is played with five little stuffed bags instead of\nsheep bones, which the children cannot get, as sheep are not used by the\nJapanese. Also performances such as honey-pots, heads in chancery,\nturning round back to back, or hand to hand, are popular among that\nlong-sleeved, shaven-pated small fry. Still better than snow-balling,\nthe lads like to make a snow-man, with a round charcoal ball for each\neye, and a streak of charcoal for his mouth. This they call Buddha's\nsquat follower \"Daruma,\" whose legs rotted off through his stillness\nover his lengthy prayers.\n\n[Illustration: Eye-Hiding, or Blindman's Buff.]\n\n[Illustration: Stilts and Clog-Throwing.]\n\nAs might be expected, some of the Japanese games differ slightly from\nours, or else are altogether peculiar to that country. The facility with\nwhich a Japanese child slips its shoes on and off, and the absence on\nthe part of the parents of conventional or health scruples regarding\nbare feet, lead to a sort of game of ball in which the shoes take the\npart of the ball, and to hiding pranks with the sandal, something like\nour hunt the slipper and hide-and-seek. On the other hand, kago play is\nentirely Japanese. In this game, two children carry a bamboo pole on\ntheir shoulders, on to which clings a third child, in imitation of a\nusual mode of travelling in Japan. In this the passenger is seated in a\nlight bamboo palanquin borne on men's shoulders. A miniature festival is\nthought great fun, when a few bits of rough wood mounted on wheels are\ndecorated with cut paper and evergreens, and drawn slowly along amidst\nthe shouts of the exultant contrivers, in mimicry of the real festival\ncars. Games of soldiers are of two types. When copied from the\nhistorical fights, one boy, with his kerchief bound round his temples,\nmakes a supposed marvelous and heroic defence. He slashes with his\nbamboo sword, as a harlequin waves his baton, to deal magical\ndestruction all around on the attacking party. When the late\ninsurrection commenced in Satsuma, the Tokio boys, hearing of the\ncampaign on modern tactics, would form attack and defence parties. A\nlittle company armed with bamboo breech-loaders would march to the\nassault of the roguish battalion lurking round the corner.\n\n[Illustration: Playing at Batter-Cakes.]\n\nWrestling, again, is popular with children, not so much on account of\nthe actual throwing, as from the love of imitating the curious growling\nan animal-like springing, with which the professional wrestlers\nencounter one another. Swimming, fishing, and general puddling about are\ncongenial occupation for hot summer days; whilst some with a toy bamboo\npump, like a Japanese feeble fire-engine, manage to send a squirt of\nwater at a friend, as the firemen souse their comrades standing on the\nburning housetops. Itinerant street sellers have, on stalls of a height\nsuited to their little customers, an array of what looks like pickles.\nThis is made of bright seaweed pods that the children buy to make a\n\"clup!\" sort of noise with between their lips, so that they go about\napparently hiccoughing all day long. The smooth glossy leaves of the\ncamellia, as common as hedge roses are in England, make very fair little\ntrumpets when blown after having been expertly rolled up, or in spring\ntheir fallen blossoms are strung into gay chains.\n\nOn a border-land between games and sweets are the stalls of the\nitinerant batter-sellers. At these the tiny purchaser enjoys the\nevidently much appreciated privilege of himself arranging his little\nmeasure of batter in fantastic forms, and drying them upon a hot metal\nplate. A turtle is a favorite design, as the first blotch of batter\nmakes its body, and six judiciously arranged smaller dabs soon suggest\nits head, tail, and feet.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GAMES AND SPORTS OF JAPANESE CHILDREN[21]\n\n\nHow often in Japan one sees that the children of a larger growth enjoy\nwith equal zest games which are the same, or nearly the same, as those\nof lesser size and fewer years! Certain it is that the adults do all in\ntheir power to provide for the children their full quota of play and\nharmless sports. We frequently see full-grown and able-bodied natives\nindulging in amusements which the men of the West lay aside with their\npinafores, or when their curls are cut. If we, in the conceited pride of\nour superior civilization, look down upon this as childish, we must\nremember that the Oriental, from the pinnacle of his lofty, and to him\nimmeasurably elevated, civilization, looks down upon our manly sports\nwith contempt, thinking it a condescension even to notice them.\n\n[21] From the paper read before The Asiatic Society of Japan.\n\n[Illustration: Hoisting the Rice-beer Keg On Festival-day.]\n\nA very noticeable change has passed over the Japanese people since the\nmodern advent of foreigners in respect to their love of amusement. Their\nsports are by no means as numerous or elaborate as formerly, and they do\nnot enter into them with the enthusiasm that formerly characterized\nthem. The children's festivals and sports are rapidly losing their\nimportance, and some now are rarely seen. Formerly the holidays were\nalmost as numerous as saints' days in the calendar. Apprentice-boys had\na liberal quota of holidays stipulated in their indentures; and as the\nchildren counted the days before each great holiday on their fingers, we\nmay believe that a great deal of digital arithmetic was being\ncontinually done. We do not know of any country in the world in which\nthere are so many toy-shops or so many fairs for the sale of things\nwhich delight children. Not only are the streets of every city\nabundantly supplied with shops, filled as full as a Christmas stocking\nwith gaudy toys, but in small towns and villages one or more children's\nbazaars may be found. The most gorgeous display of all things pleasing\nto the eye of a Japanese child is found in the courts or streets leading\nto celebrated temples. On a festival day, the toy-sellers and itinerant\nshowmen throng with their most attractive wares or sights in front of\nthe shrine or temple. On the walls and in conspicuous places near the\nchurches and cathedrals in Europe and America, the visitor is usually\nregaled with the sight of undertakers' signs and gravediggers'\nadvertisements. How differently the Japanese act in these respects let\nany one see, by visiting one or all of the three greatest temples in\nTokio, or one of the numerous smaller shrines on some renowned festival\nday.\n\nWe have not space in this paper to name or describe the numerous street\nshows and showmen who are supposed to be interested mainly in\nentertaining children; though in reality adults form a part, often the\nmajor part, of their audiences. Any one desirous of seeing these in full\nglory must ramble down some of the side streets in Tokio, on some fair\nday, and especially on a general holiday.\n\nAmong the most common are the street theatricals, in which two, three,\nor four trained boys and girls do some very creditable acting, chiefly\nin comedy. Raree shows, in which the looker-on sees the inside splendors\nof the nobles' homes, or the heroic acts of Japanese warriors, or some\nfamous natural scenery, are very common. The showman, as he pulls the\nwires that change the scenes, entertains the spectators with songs. The\noutside of his box is usually adorned with pictures of famous actors,\nnine-tailed foxes, demons of all colors, people committing hari-kiri or\nstomach cutting, bloody massacres, or some such staple horror in which\nthe normal Japanese so delights. Story-tellers, posturers, dancers,\nactors of charades, conjurers, flute-players, song-singers are found on\nthese streets, but those who specially delight the children are the men\nwho, by dint of fingers and breath, work a paste made of wheat-gluten\ninto all sorts of curious and gayly-smeared toys, such as flowers,\ntrees, noblemen, fair ladies, various utensils, the foreigner, the\njin-riki-sha, etc. Nearly every itinerant seller of candy,\nstarch-cakes, sugared peas, and sweetened beans, has several methods of\nlottery by which he adds to the attractions on his stall. A disk having\na revolving arrow, whirled round by the hand of a child, or a number of\nstrings which are connected with the faces of imps, goddesses, devils,\nor heroes, lends the excitement of chance, and, when a lucky pull or\nwhirl occurs, occasions the subsequent addition to the small fraction of\na sen's worth to be bought. Men or women walk about, carrying a small\ncharcoal brazier under a copper griddle, with batter, spoons, cups, and\nshoyu[22] sauce to hire out for the price of a jumon[23] each to the\nlittle urchins who spend an afternoon of bliss, making their own\ngriddle-cakes and eating them. The seller of sugar-jelly exhibits a\ndevil, taps a drum, and dances for the benefit of his baby-customers.\nThe seller of nice pastry does the same, with the addition of gymnastics\nand skilful tricks with balls of dough. In every Japanese city there are\nscores, if not hundreds of men and women who obtain a livelihood by\namusing the children.\n\n[22] _Shoyu_: the origin of the English soy.\n\n[23] _A jumon_: the tenth part of a sen or cent.\n\nSome of the games of Japanese children are of a national character, and\nare indulged in by all classes. Others are purely local or exclusive.\nAmong the former are those which belong to the great festival days,\nwhich in the old calendar (before 1872) enjoyed vastly more importance\nthan under the new one. Beginning with the first of the year, there are\na number of games and sports peculiar to this time. The girls, dressed\nin their best robes and girdles, with their faces powdered and their\nlips painted, until they resemble the peculiar colors seen on a beetle's\nwings, and their hair arranged in the most attractive coiffure, are out\nupon the street playing battledore and shuttlecock. They play not only\nin twos and threes, but also in circles. The shuttlecock is a small\nseed, often gilded, stuck round with feathers arranged like the petals\nof a flower. The battledore is a wooden bat; one side of which is of\nbare wood, while the other has the raised effigy of some popular actor,\nhero of romance, or singing girl in the most ultra-Japanese style of\nbeauty. The girls evidently highly appreciate this game, as it gives\nabundant opportunity for the display of personal beauty, figure, and\ndress. Those who fail in the game often have their faces marked with\nink, or a circle drawn round the eyes. The boys sing a song that the\nwind will blow, the girls sing that it may be calm so that their\nshuttlecocks may fly straight. The little girls at this time play with a\nball made of cotton cord, covered elaborately with many strands of\nbright vari-colored silk.\n\nInside the house they have games suited not only for the daytime, but\nfor the evenings. Many foreigners have wondered what the Japanese do at\nnight, and how the long winter evenings are spent. On fair, and\nespecially moonlight nights, most of the people are out of doors, and\nmany of the children with them. Markets and fairs are held regularly at\nnight in Tokio, and in other large cities. The foreigner living in a\nJapanese city, even if he were blind, could tell by stepping out of\ndoors, whether the weather were clear and fine, or disagreeable. On dark\nand stormy nights the stillness of a great city like Tokio is unbroken\nand very impressive; but on a fair and moonlight night the hum and\nbustle tell one that the people are out in throngs, and make one feel\nthat it is a city that he lives in.\n\nIn most of the castle towns in Japan, it was formerly the custom of the\npeople, especially of the younger, to assemble on moonlight nights in\nthe streets or open spaces near the castle gates, and dance a sort of\nsubdued dance, moving round in circles and clapping their hands. These\ndances often continued during the entire night, the following day being\nlargely consumed in sleep. In the winter evenings in Japanese households\nthe Japanese children amuse themselves with their sports, or are amused\nby their elders, who tell them entertaining stories. The Samurai father\nrelates to his son Japanese history and heroic lore, to fire him with\nenthusiasm and a love of those achievements which every Samurai youth\nhopes at some day to perform. Then there are numerous social\nentertainments, at which the children above a certain age are allowed to\nbe present.\n\nBut the games relied on as standard means of amusement, and seen\nespecially about New Year, are those of cards. In one of these, a large,\nsquare sheet of paper is laid on the floor. On this card are the names\nand pictures of the fifty-three post-stations between old Yedo and\nKioto. At the place Kioto are put a few coins, or a pile of cakes, or\nsome such prizes, and the game is played with dice. Each throw advances\nthe player toward the goal, and the one arriving first obtains the\nprize. At this time of the year, also, the games of what we may call\nliterary cards are played a great deal. The Iroha Garuta[24] are small\ncards each containing a proverb. The proverb is printed on one card, and\nthe picture illustrating it upon another. Each proverb begins with a\ncertain one of the fifty Japanese letters, i, ro, ha, etc., and so\nthrough the syllabary. The children range themselves in a circle, and\nthe cards are shuffled and dealt. One is appointed to be reader. Looking\nat his cards he reads the proverb. The player who has the picture\ncorresponding to the proverb calls out, and the match is made. Those\nwho are rid of their cards first, win the game. The one holding the\nlast card is the loser. If he be a boy, he has his face marked curiously\nwith ink. If a girl, she has a paper or wisp of straw stuck in her hair.\n\n[24] _Garuta_, or karuta, our word \"card,\" as spoken on Japanese lips.\n\nThe One Verse (from each of the) Hundred Poets game consists of two\nhundred cards, on which are inscribed the one hundred stanzas or poems\nso celebrated and known in every household. A stanza of Japanese poetry\nusually consists of two parts, a first and second, or upper and lower\nclause. The manner of playing the game is as follows: The reader reads\nhalf the stanza on his card, and the player, having the card on which\nthe other half is written, calls out, and makes a match. Some children\nbecome so familiar with these poems that they do not need to hear the\nentire half of the stanza read, but frequently only the first word.\n\nThe game of Ancient Odes, that named after the celebrated Genji\n(Minamoto) family of the Middle Ages, and the Shi Garuta are all\ncard-games of a similar nature, but can be thoroughly enjoyed only by\nwell-educated Chinese scholars, as the references and quotations are\nwritten in Chinese and require a good knowledge of the Chinese and\nJapanese classics to play them well. To boys who are eager to become\nproficient in Chinese it often acts as an incentive to be told that\nthey will enjoy these games after certain attainments in scholarship\nhave been made. Having made these attainments, they play the game\nfrequently, especially during vacation, to impress on their minds what\nthey have already learned.\n\nTwo other games are played which may be said to have an educational\nvalue. They are the \"Wisdom Boards\" and the \"Ring of Wisdom.\" The former\nconsists of a number of flat thin pieces of wood, cut in many\ngeometrical shapes. Certain possible figures are printed on paper as\nmodels, and the boy tries to form them out of the pieces given him. In\nsome cases much time and thinking are required to form the figure. The\nring-puzzle is made of rings of bamboo or iron, on a bar. Boys having a\ntalent for mathematics, or those who have a natural capacity to\ndistinguish size and form, succeed very well at these games and enjoy\nthem.\n\nThe game of Checkers is played on a raised stand or table about six\ninches in height. The number of \"go\" or checkers, including black and\nwhite, is 360. In the Sho-gi, or game of Chess, the pieces number 40 in\nall. Backgammon is also a favorite play, and there are several forms of\nit.\n\n[Illustration: Getting Ready to Raise the big Humming Kite with the Sun\nEmblem.]\n\nAbout the time of old style New Year's Day, when the winds of February\nand March are favorable to the sport, kites are flown, and there are few\ngames in which Japanese boys, from the infant on the back to the\nfull-grown and the over-grown boy, take more delight. I have never\nobserved, however, as foreign books so often tell us, old men flying\nkites and boys merely looking on. The Japanese kites are made of tough\npaper pasted on a frame of bamboo sticks, and are usually of a\nrectangular shape. Some of them, however, are made to represent children\nor men, several kinds of birds and animals, fans, etc. On the\nrectangular kites are pictures of ancient heroes or beautiful women,\ndragons, horses, monsters of various kinds, the symbol of the sun, or\nhuge Chinese characters. Among the faces most frequently seen on these\nkites are those of the national heroes or heroines. Some of the kites\nare six feet square. Many of them have a thin tense ribbon of whalebone\nat the top of the kite which vibrates in the wind, making a loud humming\nnoise. The boys frequently name their kites Genji or Heiki, and each\ncontestant endeavors to destroy that of his rival. For this purpose the\nstring for ten or twenty feet near the kite end is first covered with\nglue, and then dipped into pounded glass, by which the string becomes\ncovered with tiny blades, each able to cut quickly and deeply. By\ngetting the kite in proper position and suddenly sawing the string of\nhis antagonist, the severed kite falls, to be reclaimed by the victor.\n\nThe Japanese tops are of several kinds, some are made of univalve\nshells, filled with wax. Those intended for contests are made of hard\nwood, and are iron-clad by having a heavy iron ring round as a sort of\ntire. The boys wind and throw them in a manner somewhat different from\nours. The object of the player is to damage his adversary's top, or to\nmake it cease spinning. The whipping top is also known and used. Besides\nthe athletic sports of leaping, running, wrestling, slinging, the\nJapanese boys play at blindman's buff, hiding-whoop, and with stilts,\npop-guns, and blow-guns. On stilts they play various games and run\nraces.\n\nIn the northern and western coast provinces, where the snow falls to the\ndepth of many feet and remains long on the ground, it forms the material\nof the children's playthings, and the theatre of many of their sports.\nBesides sliding on the ice, coasting with sleds, building snow-forts\nand fighting mimic battles with snow-balls, they make many kinds of\nimages and imitations of what they see and know. In America the boy's\nsnow-man is a Paddy with a damaged hat, clay pipe in mouth, and the\nshillelah in his hand. In Japan the snow-man is an image of Daruma.\nDaruma was one of the followers of Shaka (Buddha) who, by long\nmeditation in a squatting position, lost his legs from paralysis and\nsheer decay. The images of Daruma are found by the hundreds in\ntoy-shops, as tobacconists' signs, and as the snow-men of the boys.\nOccasionally the figure of Geiho, the sage with a forehead and skull so\nhigh that a ladder was required to reach his pate, or huge cats and the\npeculiar-shaped dogs seen in the toy-shops, take the place of Daruma.\n\n[Illustration: Daruma, the Snow-Image.]\n\nMany of the amusements of the children in-doors are mere imitations of\nthe serious affairs of adult life. Boys who have been to the theatre\ncome home to imitate the celebrated actors, and to extemporize mimic\ntheatricals for themselves. Feigned sickness and \"playing the doctor,\"\nimitating with ludicrous exactness the pomp and solemnity of the real\nman of pills and powders, and the misery of the patient, are the\ndiversions of very young children. Dinners, tea-parties, and even\nweddings and funerals, are imitated in Japanese children's plays.\n\nAmong the ghostly games intended to test the courage of, or perhaps to\nfrighten children, are two plays called respectively, the \"One Hundred\nStories\" and \"Soul-Examination.\" In the former play, a company of boys\nand girls assemble round the hibachi, while they or an adult, an aged\nperson or a servant, usually relate ghost stories, or tales calculated\nto straighten the hair and make the blood crawl. In a distant dark room,\na lamp (the usual dish of oil) with a wick of one hundred strands or\npiths, is set. At the conclusion of each story, the children in turn\nmust go to the dark room and remove a strand of the wick. As the lamp\nburns down low the room becomes gloomy and dark, and the last boy, it is\nsaid, always sees a demon, a huge face, or something terrible. In\n\"Soul-Examination,\" a number of boys during the day plant some flags in\ndifferent parts of a graveyard, under a lonely tree, or by a haunted\nhill-side. At night they meet together and tell stories about ghosts,\ngoblins, devils, etc., and at the conclusion of each tale, when the\nimagination is wrought up, the boys, one at a time, must go out in the\ndark and bring back the flags, until all are brought in.\n\nOn the third day of the third month is held the Doll Festival. This is\nthe day especially devoted to the girls, and to them it is the greatest\nday in the year. It has been called in some foreign works on Japan, the\n\"Feast of Dolls.\" Several days before the Matsuri the shops are gay with\nthe images bought for this occasion, and which are on sale only at this\ntime of year. Every respectable family has a number of these\nsplendidly-dressed images, which are from four inches to a foot in\nheight, and which accumulate from generation to generation. When a\ndaughter is born in the house during the previous year, a pair of hina\nor images are purchased for the little girl, which she plays with until\ngrown up. When she is married her hina are taken with her to her\nhusband's house, and she gives them to her children, adding to the stock\nas her family increases. The images are made of wood or enamelled clay.\nThey represent the Mikado and his wife; the kuge or old Kioto nobles,\ntheir wives and daughters, the court minstrels, and various personages\nin Japanese mythology and history. A great many other toys,\nrepresenting all the articles in use in a Japanese lady's chamber, the\nservice of the eating table, the utensils of the kitchen, travelling\napparatus, etc., some of them very elaborate and costly, are also\nexhibited and played with on this day. The girls make offerings of sake\nand dried rice, etc., to the effigies of the emperor and empress, and\nthen spend the day with toys, mimicking the whole round of Japanese\nfemale life, as that of child, maiden, wife, mother, and grand-mother.\nIn some old Japanese families in which I have visited, the display of\ndolls and images was very large and extremely beautiful.\n\nThe greatest day in the year for the boys is on the fifth day of the\nfifth month. On this day is celebrated what has been called the \"Feast\nof Flags.\" Previous to the coming of the day, the shops display for sale\nthe toys and tokens proper to the occasion. These are all of a kind\nsuited to young Japanese masculinity. They consist of effigies of heroes\nand warriors, generals and commanders, soldiers on foot and horse, the\ngenii of strength and valor, wrestlers, etc. The toys represent the\nequipments and regalia of a daimio's procession, all kinds of things\nused in war, the contents of an arsenal, flags, streamers, banners, etc.\nA set of these toys is bought for every son born in the family. Hence in\nold Japanese families the display on the fifth day of the fifth month\nis extensive and brilliant. Besides the display in-doors, on a bamboo\npole erected outside is hung, by a string to the top of the pole, a\nrepresentation of a large fish in paper. The paper being hollow, the\nbreeze easily fills out the body of the fish, which flaps its tail and\nfins in a natural manner. One may count hundreds of these floating in\nthe air over the city.\n\nThe nobori, as the paper fish is called, is intended to show that a son\nhas been born during the year, or at least that there are sons in the\nfamily. The fish represented is the carp, which is able to swim swiftly\nagainst the current and to leap over waterfalls. This act of the carp is\na favorite subject with native artists, and is also typical of the young\nman, especially the young Samurai, mounting over all difficulties to\nsuccess and quiet prosperity.\n\nOne favorite game, which has now gone out of fashion, was that in which\nthe boys formed themselves into a daimio's procession, having\nforerunners, officers, etc., and imitating as far as possible the pomp\nand circumstance of the old daimio's train. Another game which was very\npopular represented, in mimic war, the struggles of two great noble\nfamilies (like the red and white roses of England). The boys of a town,\ndistrict, or school, ranged themselves into two parties, each with\nflags. Those of the Heiki were white, those of the Genji red. Sometimes\nevery boy had a flag, and the object of the contest, which was begun at\nthe tap of a gun, was to seize the flags of the enemy. The party\nsecuring the greatest number of flags won the victory. In other cases\nthe flags were fastened on the back of each contestant, who was armed\nwith a bamboo for a sword, and who had fastened on a pad over his head a\nflat round piece of earthenware, so that a party of them looked not\nunlike the faculty of a college. Often these parties of boys numbered\nseveral hundred, and were marshalled in squadrons as in a battle. At a\ngiven signal the battle commenced, the object being to break the earthen\ndisk on the head of the enemy. The contest was usually very exciting.\nWhoever had his earthen disk demolished had to retire from the field.\nThe party having the greatest number of broken disks, indicative of\ncloven skulls, were declared the losers. This game has been forbidden by\nthe Government as being too severe and cruel. Boys were often injured in\nit.\n\nThere are many other games which we simply mention without describing.\nThere are three games played by the hands, which every observant\nforeigner long resident in Japan must have seen played, as men and women\nseem to enjoy them as much as children. In the Stone game, a stone, a\npair of scissors, and a wrapping-cloth are represented. The stone\nsignifies the clenched fist, the parted fore and middle fingers the\nscissors, and the curved forefinger and thumb the cloth. The scissors\ncan cut the cloth, but not the stone, but the cloth can wrap the stone.\nThe two players sit opposite each other at play, throwing out their\nhands so as to represent either of the three things, and win, lose, or\ndraw, as the case may be.\n\nIn the Fox game, the fox, man, and gun are the figures. The gun kills\nthe fox, but the fox deceives the man, and the gun is useless without\nthe man. In the third game, five or six boys represent the various\ngrades of rank, from the peasant up to the great daimios or shogun. By\nsuperior address and skill in the game the peasant rises to the highest\nrank, or the man of highest rank is degraded.\n\nFrom the nature of the Japanese language, in which a single word or\nsound may have a great many significations, riddles and puns are of\nextraordinary frequency. I do not know of any published collection of\nriddles, but every Japanese boy has a good stock of them on hand. There\nare few Japanese works of light, and perhaps of serious, literature, in\nwhich puns do not continually recur. The popular songs and poems are\nlargely plays on words. There are also several puzzles played with\nsticks, founded upon the shape of certain Chinese characters. As for\nthe short and simple story-books, song-books, nursery rhymes, lullabys,\nand what for want of a better name may be styled Mother Goose\nLiterature, they are as plentiful as with us, but they have a very\nstrongly characteristic Japanese flavor, both in style and matter.\n\nIt is curious that the game of foot-ball seems to have been confined to\nthe courtiers of the Mikado's court, where there were regular\ninstructors of the game. In the games of Pussy wants a Corner and\nPrisoner's Base, the Oni, or devil, takes the place of Puss or the\nofficer.\n\nI have not mentioned all the games and sports of Japanese children, but\nenough has been said to show their general character. In general they\nseem to be natural, sensible, and in every sense beneficial. Their\nimmediate or remote effects, next to that of amusement, are either\neducational, or hygienic. Some teach history, some geography, some\nexcellent sentiments or good language. Others inculcate reverence and\nobedience to the elder brother or sister, to parents or to the emperor,\nor stimulate the manly virtues of courage and contempt for pain. The\nstudy of the subject leads one to respect more highly, rather than\notherwise, the Japanese people for being such affectionate fathers and\nmothers, and for having such natural and docile children. The character\nof the children's plays and their encouragement by the parents has, I\nthink, much to do with that frankness, affection, and obedience on the\nside of the children, and that kindness and sympathy on the side of the\nparents, which are so noticeable in Japan, and which is one of the many\ngood points of Japanese life and character.\n\n\n\n\nADVERTISEMENTS\n\n\n|______________________________________________________________|\n\n_REVISED AND ILLUSTRATED_\n\nTHE HEART OF OAK BOOKS\n\nA Collection of Traditional Rhymes and Stories for Children, and of\nMasterpieces of Poetry and Prose for Use at Home and at School, chosen\nwith special reference to the cultivation of the imagination and the\ndevelopment of a taste for good reading.\n\nEDITED BY\n\nCHARLES ELIOT NORTON\n\n  =Book I.   Rhymes, Jingles and Fables.= For first reader classes.\n                 Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 128 pages. 25 cents.\n\n  =Book II.  Fables and Nursery Tales.= For second reader classes.\n                 Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 176 pages. 35 cents.\n\n  =Book III. Fairy Tales, Ballads and Poems.= For third reader classes.\n                 With illustrations after George Cruikshank and Sir John\n                 Tenniel. 184 pages. 40 cents.\n\n  =Book IV.  Fairy Stories and Classic Tales of Adventure.= For fourth\n                 reader grades. With illustrations after J. M. W.\n                 Turner, Richard Doyle, John Flaxman, and E.\n                 Burne-Jones. 248 pages. 45 cents.\n\n  =Book V.   Masterpieces of Literature.= For fifth reader grades. With\n                 illustrations after G. F. Watts, Sir John Tenniel, Fred\n                 Barnard, W. C. Stanfield, Ernest Fosbery, and from\n                 photographs. 318 pages. 50 cents.\n\n  =Book VI.  Masterpieces of Literature.= With illustrations after Horace\n                 Vernet, A. Symington, J. Wells, Mrs. E. B. Thompson,\n                 and from photographs. 376 pages. 55 cents.\n\n  =Book VII. Masterpieces of Literature.= With illustrations after J. M.\n                 W. Turner, E. Dayes, Sir George Beaumont, and from\n                 photographs. 382 pages. 60 cents.\n\nD. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS\n\n  BOSTON    NEW YORK    CHICAGO    LONDON\n\n|______________________________________________________________|\n\nHeath's Home and School Classics.\n\nFOR GRADES I AND II.\n\n  =Mother Goose:= A Book of Nursery Rhymes, arranged by C. Welsh. In two\n      parts. Illustrated. Paper, each part, 10 cents; cloth, two parts\n      bound in one, 30 cents.\n\n  =Perrault's Tales of Mother Goose.= Introduction by M. V. O'Shea.\n      Illustrated after Dore. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Old World Wonder Stories:= Whittington and his Cat; Jack the Giant\n      Killer; Jack and the Bean-Stalk; Tom Thumb. Edited by M. V.\n      O'Shea. Illustrated. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Craik's So-Fat and Mew-Mew.= Introduction by Lucy Wheelock.\n      Illustrated by C. M. Howard. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Six Nursery Classics:= The House That Jack Built; Mother Hubbard;\n      Cock Robin; The Old Woman and Her Pig; Dame Wiggins of Lee, and\n      the Three Bears. Edited by M. V. O'Shea. Illustrated by Ernest\n      Fosbery. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\nFOR GRADES II AND III.\n\n  =Sophie:= From the French of Madame de Segur by C. Welsh. Edited by\n      Ada Van Stone Harris. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Crib and Fly:= A Tale of Two Terriers. Edited by Charles F. Dole.\n      Illustrated by Gwendoline Sandham. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20\n      cents.\n\n  =Goody Two Shoes.= Attributed to Oliver Goldsmith. Edited by Charles\n      Welsh. With twenty-eight illustrations after the wood-cuts in the\n      original edition of 1765. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Segur's The Story of a Donkey.= Translated by C. Welsh. Edited by\n      Charles F. Dole. Illustrated by E. H. Saunders. Paper, 10 cents;\n      cloth, 20 cents.\n\nFOR GRADES III AND IV.\n\n  =Trimmer's The History of the Robins.= Edited by Edward Everett Hale.\n      Illustrated by C. M. Howard. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Aiken and Barbauld's Eyes and No Eyes, and Other Stories.= Edited by\n      M. V. O'Shea. Illustrated by H. P. Barnes and C. M. Howard. Paper,\n      10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Edgeworth's Waste Not, Want Not, and Other Stories.= Edited by M. V.\n      O'Shea. Illustrated by W. P. Bodwell. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20\n      cents.\n\n  =Ruskin's The King of the Golden River.= Edited by M. V. O'Shea.\n      Illustrated by Sears Gallagher. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Browne's The Wonderful Chair and The Tales It Told.= Edited by M. V.\n      O'Shea. Illustrated by Clara E. Atwood after Mrs. Seymour Lucas.\n      In two parts. Paper, each part, 10 cents; cloth, two parts bound\n      in one, 30 cents.\n\nFOR GRADES IV AND V.\n\n  =Thackeray's The Rose and the Ring. A Fairy Tale.= Edited by Edward\n      Everett Hale. Illustrations by Thackeray. Paper, 15 cents; cloth,\n      25 cents.\n\n  =Ingelow's Three Fairy Stories.= Edited by Charles F. Dole.\n      Illustrated by E. Ripley. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Ayrton's Child Life in Japan and Japanese Child Stories.= Edited by\n      William Elliot Griffis. Illustrated by Japanese Artists. Paper, 10\n      cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Ewing's Jackanapes.= Edited by W. P. Trent. Illustrated. Paper, 10\n      cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Carove's Story Without an End.= Fourteen illustrations. Cloth, 25\n      cents.\n\nFOR GRADES V AND VI.\n\n  =Lamb's The Adventures of Ulysses.= Edited by W. P. Trent.\n      Illustrations after Flaxman. Paper, 15 cents; cloth, 25 cents.\n\n  =Gulliver's Travels.= I. A Voyage to Lilliput. II. A Voyage to\n      Brobdingnag. Edited by T. M. Balliet. Fully illustrated. In two\n      parts. Paper, each part, 15 cents; cloth, two parts bound in one,\n      30 cents.\n\n  =Ewing's The Story of a Short Life.= Edited by T. M. Balliet.\n      Illustrated by A. F. Schmitt. Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Tales From the Travels of Baron Munchausen.= Edited by Edward Everett\n      Hale. Illustrated by H. P. Barnes after Dore. Paper, 10 cents;\n      cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Muloch's The Little Lame Prince.= Preface by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps\n      Ward. Illustrated by Miss E. B. Barry. In two parts. Paper, each\n      part, 10 cents; cloth, two parts bound in one, 30 cents.\n\nFOR GRADES VI AND VII.\n\n  =Lamb's Tales From Shakespeare.= Introduction by Elizabeth Stuart\n      Phelps Ward. Illustrated by Homer W. Colby after Pille. In three\n      parts. Paper, each part, 15 cents; cloth, three parts bound in\n      one, 40 cents.\n\n  =Martineau's The Crofton Boys.= Edited by William Elliot Griffis.\n      Illustrated by A. F. Schmitt. Cloth, 30 cents.\n\n  =Motley's The Siege of Leyden.= Edited by William Elliot Griffis. With\n      nineteen illustrations from old prints and photographs, and a map.\n      Paper, 10 cents; cloth, 20 cents.\n\n  =Brown's Rab and His Friends and Other Stories of Dogs.= Edited by T.\n      M. Balliet. Illustrated by David L. Munroe after Sir Noel Paton,\n      Mrs. Blackburn, George Hardy, and Lumb Stocks. Paper, 10 cents;\n      cloth, 20 cents.\n\nFOR GRADES VII, VIII AND IX.\n\n  =Hamerton's Chapters on Animals:= Dogs, Cats and Horses. Edited by W.\n      P. Trent. Illustrated after Sir E. Landseer, Sir John Millais,\n      Rosa Bonheur, E. Van Muyden, Veyrassat, J. L. Gerome, K. Bodmer,\n      etc. Paper, 15 cents; cloth, 25 cents.\n\n  =Irving's Dolph Heyliger.= Edited by G. H. Browne. Illustrated by H.\n      P. Barnes. Paper, 15 cents; cloth, 25 cents.\n\n  =Shakespeare's The Tempest.= Edited by Sarah W. Hiestand.\n      Illustrations after Retzch and the Chandos portrait. Paper, 15\n      cents; cloth, 25 cents.\n\n  =Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.= Edited by Sarah W.\n      Hiestand. Illustrations after Smirke and the Droeshout portrait.\n      Paper, 15 cents; cloth, 25 cents.\n\n  =Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.= Edited by Sarah W. Hiestand.\n      Illustrations after Smirke, Creswick and Leslie. Paper, 15 cents;\n      cloth, 25 cents.\n\n  =Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.= Edited by Sarah W. Hiestand.\n      Illustrations after Leslie, Wheatley, and Wright. Paper, 15 cents;\n      cloth, 25 cents.\n\n  =Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.= Edited by Edward Everett Hale. Illustrated.\n      In four parts. Paper, each part, 15 cents; cloth, four parts bound\n      in one, 60 cents.\n\n  =Jordan's True Tales of Birds and Beasts.= By David Starr Jordan.\n      Illustrated by Mary H. Wellman. Cloth, 40 cents.\n\n  =Fouque's Undine.= Introduction by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward.\n      Illustrations after Julius Hoeppner. Cloth, 30 cents.\n\n  =Melville's Typee: Life in the South Seas.= Introduction by W. P.\n      Trent. Illustrated by H. W. Moore. Cloth, 45 cents.\n\n|______________________________________________________________|\n\nElementary English\n\n  =Allen and Hawkins's School Course in English.= Book I, 35 cts.; Book\n      II, 50 cts.\n\n  =Allen's School Grammar of the English Language.= A clear, concise,\n      adequate book for upper grades. 60 cents.\n\n  =Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language and Reading.= A manual for\n      primary teachers. Plain and practical. $1.50.\n\n  =Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language.= Being Part I and Appendix\n      of Suggestive Lessons in Language and Reading. 50 cents.\n\n  =Benson's Practical Speller.= Contains nearly 13,000 words. Part I,\n      261 Lessons, 18 cents; Part II, 270 Lessons, 18 cents. Parts I and\n      II bound together, 25 cents.\n\n  =Benson and Glenn's Speller and Definer.= 700 spelling and defining\n      lists. 30 cts.\n\n  =Branson's Methods in Reading.= With a chapter on spelling. 15 cents.\n\n  =Buckbee's Primary Word Book.= Drills in articulation and in phonics.\n      25 cents.\n\n  =Clapp and Huston's Composition Work in Grammar Grades.= 15 cents.\n\n  =Fuller's Phonetic Drill Charts.= Exercises in elementary sounds. Per\n      set (3) 10 cts.\n\n  =Haaren's Word and Sentence Book.= A language speller. Book I, 20\n      cents; Book II, 25 cents.\n\n  =Hall's How to Teach Reading.= Also discusses what children should\n      read. 25 cts.\n\n  =Harrington's Course for Non-English Speaking People.= Book I, 25\n      cents; Book II, 30 cents. Language Lessons to accompany Book I, 25\n      cents.\n\n  =Harris's Spiral Course in English.= Book I, 35 cents; Book II, 60\n      cents.\n\n  =Heath's Graded Spelling Book.= 20 cents.\n\n  =Hyde's Two-Book Course in English, Book I.= Practical lessons in the\n      correct use of English, with the rudiments of grammar. 35 cents.\n\n  =Hyde's Two-Book Course in English, Book II.= A carefully graded\n      course of lessons in language, composition and technical grammar.\n      60 cents.\n\n  =Hyde's Practical Lessons in English.= Book I, 35 cents; Book II, 50\n      cents. Book II, with Supplement, 60 cents. Supplement bound alone,\n      30 cents.\n\n  =Hyde's Practical English Grammar.= 50 cents.\n\n  Hyde's Derivation of Words. With exercises on prefixes, suffixes, and\n      stems. 10 cts.\n\n  =MacEwan's The Essentials of the English Sentence.= A compendious\n      manual for review in technical grammar preparatory to more\n      advanced studies in language. 75 cents.\n\n  =Mathew's Outline of English Grammar.= With Selections for Practice.\n      70 cents.\n\n  =Penniman's New Practical Speller.= Contains 6500 words. 20 cents.\n\n  =Penniman's Common Words Difficult to Spell.= Contains 3500 words. 20\n      cents.\n\n  =Penniman's Prose Dictation Exercises.= 25 cents.\n\n  =Phillip's History and Literature in Grammar Grades.= 15 cents.\n\n  =Sever's Progressive Speller.= Gives spelling, pronunciation,\n      definition and use of words. 25 cents.\n\n  =Smith's Studies in Nature, and Language Lessons.= A combination of\n      object lessons with language work. 50 cents. Part I bound\n      separately, 25 cents.\n\n  =Spalding's Problem of Elementary Composition.= Practical suggestions\n      for work in grammar grades. 40 cents.\n\n  _See also our lists of books in Higher English, English Classics,\n       Supplementary Reading, and English Literature._\n\nD. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, Boston, New York, Chicago\n\n|______________________________________________________________|\n\nElementary Science\n\n\n  =Austin's Observation Blanks in Mineralogy.= Detailed studies of 35\n      minerals. Boards, 88 pages. 30 cents.\n\n  =Bailey's Grammar School Physics.= A series of practical lessons with\n      simple experiments that may be performed in the ordinary\n      schoolroom. 138 pages. Illustrated. 50 cents.\n\n  =Ballard's The World of Matter.= Simple studies in chemistry and\n      mineralogy; for use as a text-book or as a guide to the teacher in\n      giving object lessons. 264 pages. Illlustrated. $1.00.\n\n  =Brown's Good Health for Girls and Boys.= Physiology and hygiene for\n      intermediate grades. 176 pages. Illustrated. 45 cents.\n\n  =Clark's Practical Methods in Microscopy.= Gives in detail\n      descriptions of methods that will lead the careful worker to\n      successful results. 233 pages. Illus. $1.60.\n\n  =Clarke's Astronomical Lantern.= Intended to familiarize students with\n      the constellations by comparing them with facsimiles on the\n      lantern face. With seventeen slides, giving twenty-two\n      constellations. $4.50.\n\n  =Clarke's How to Find the Stars.= Accompanies the above and helps to\n      an acquaintance with the constellations. 47 pages. Paper. 15\n      cents.\n\n  =Colton's Elementary Physiology and Hygiene.= For grammar grades. 317\n      pages. Illustrated. 60 cents.\n\n  =Eckstorm's The Bird Book.= The natural history of birds, with\n      directions for observation and suggestions for study. 301 pages.\n      Illustrated. 60 cents.\n\n  =Guides for Science Teaching.= Teachers' aids for instruction in\n      Natural History.\n\n     I. Hyatt's About Pebbles. 26 pages. Paper. 10 cts.\n\n    II. Goodale's A Few Common Plants. 61 pages. Paper. 20 cts.\n\n   III. Hyatt's Commercial and other Sponges. Illustrated. 43 pages.\n            Paper. 20 cts.\n\n    IV. Agassiz's First Lesson in Natural History. Illus. 64 pages.\n            Paper. 25 cts.\n\n     V. Hyatt's Corals and Echinoderms. Illustrated. 32 pages. Paper.\n            30 cts.\n\n    VI. Hyatt's Mollusca. Illustrated. 65 pages. Paper. 30 cts.\n\n   VII. Hyatt's Worms and Crustacea. Illustrated. 68 pages. Paper, 30\n            cts.\n\n   XII. Crosby's Common Minerals and Rocks. Illustrated. 200 pages.\n            Paper, 40 cents. Cloth, 60 cts.\n\n  XIII. Richard's First Lessons in Minerals. 50 pages. Paper. 10 cts.\n\n   XIV. Bowditch's Physiology. 58 pages. Paper. 20 cts.\n\n    XV. Clapp's 36 Observation Lessons in Minerals. 80 pages. Paper, 30\n            cts.\n\n   XVI. Phenix's Lessons in Chemistry. 20 cts.\n\n         Pupils' Note-book to accompany No. 15. 10 cts.\n\n  =Rice's Science Teaching in the School.= With a course of instruction\n      in science for the lower grades. 46 pages. Paper. 25 cents.\n\n  =Ricks's Natural History Object Lessons.= Information on plants and\n      their products, on animals and their uses, and gives specimen\n      lessons. 332 pages. Illustrated. $1.50.\n\n  =Rick's Object Lessons and How to Give Them.=\n\n    Vol. I. Gives lessons for primary grades. 200 pages. 90 cents.\n\n    Vol. II. Gives lessons for grammar and intermediate grades. 212\n            pages. 90 cts.\n\n  =Scott's Nature Study and the Child.= A manual for teachers, with\n      outlines of lessons and courses, detailed studies of animal and\n      plant life, and chapters on methods and the relation of nature\n      study to expression. 652 pages. Illustrated. Retail price, $1.50.\n\n  =Sever's Elements of Agriculture.= For grammar grades. Illustrated.\n      151 pages. 50 cents.\n\n  =Shaler's First Book in Geology.= A helpful introduction to the study\n      of modern text-books in geography. 272 pages. Illus. Cloth, 60\n      cts. Boards, 45 cts.\n\n  =Smith's Studies in Nature.= Combines natural history and language\n      work. 48 pages. Paper. 15 cents.\n\n  =Spear's Leaves and Flowers.= An elementary botany for pupils under\n      twelve. 103 pages. Illustrated. 25 cents.\n\n  =Wright's Seaside and Wayside Nature Reader, No. 4.= Elementary\n      lessons in geology, astronomy, world life, etc. 372 pages.\n      Illustrated. 50 cents.\n\nSee also our list of books in Science.\n\nD. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, Boston, New York, Chicago\n\n|______________________________________________________________|\n\nElementary Mathematics\n\n\n  =Atwood's Complete Graded Arithmetic.= New edition. Work for each\n      grade from third to eighth inclusive, bound in a separate book.\n      Six books. Each, 25 cts. _Old edition_: Part I, 30 cts.; Part II,\n      65 cts.\n\n  =Badlam's Aids to Number.= Teacher's edition--First series, Nos. 1 to\n      10, 40 cts.; Second series, Nos. 10 to 20, 40 cts.; Pupil's\n      edition--First series, 25 cts.; Second series, 25 cts.\n\n  =Bigelow and Boyden's Primary Number Manual.= For teachers. 25 cts.\n\n  =Branson's Methods of Teaching Arithmetic.= 15 cts.\n\n  =Hanus's Geometry in the Grammar Schools.= An essay, with outline of\n      work for the last three years of the grammar school. 25 cts.\n\n  =Heath's Beginner's Arithmetic.= For first and second years. 30 cts.\n\n  =Heath's Primary Arithmetic.= Illustrated in color. 35 cts.\n\n  =Heath's Complete Practical Arithmetic.= 65 cts.\n\n  =Howland's Drill Cards.= For middle grades. Each, 3 cts.; per hundred,\n      $2.40.\n\n  =Hunt's Geometry for Grammar Schools.= The definitions and elementary\n      concepts taught concretely. 30 cts.\n\n  =Joy's Arithmetic Without a Pencil.= Mental Arithmetic. 35 cts.\n\n  =Pierce's Review Number Cards.= Two cards, for second and third year\n      pupils. Each, 3 cts.; per hundred, $2.40.\n\n  =Safford's Mathematical Teaching.= A monograph, with applications. 25\n      cts.\n\n  =Siefert's Principles of Arithmetic.= A teacher's guide. 75 cts.\n\n  =Sloane's Practical Lessons in Fractions.= 25 cts. Set of six fraction\n      cards, for pupils to cut. 10 cts.\n\n  =Sutton and Bruce's Arithmetics.= Lower, 35 cts.; Higher, 60 cts.\n\n  =The New Arithmetic.= By 300 teachers. Little theory and much\n      practice. An excellent review book. 65 cts.\n\n  =Walsh's New Arithmetics.= New Primary, 30 cts. New Grammar School, 65\n      cts. New Grammar School, Part I, 40 cts.; Part II, 45 cts.\n      Alternate Arithmetic, for upper grades, 00 cts.\n\n  =Walsh's Arithmetics.= _Two Book Series_--Primary, 30 cts.; Grammar\n      School, 65 cts. _Three Book Series_--Elementary, 30 cts.;\n      Intermediate, 35 cts.; Higher, 65 cts.\n\n  =Walsh's Algebra and Geometry for Grammar Grades.= 15 cts.\n\n  =Watson and White's Arithmetics.= Primary, 35 cts. Intermediate, 45\n      cts. Complete, in preparation.\n\n  =Wells and Gerrish's Beginner's Algebra.= For grammar grades. 50 cts.\n\n  =White's Arithmetics.= Two Years with Number, 35 cts. Junior\n      Arithmetic, 45 cts. Senior Arithmetic, 65 cts.\n\n_For advanced works see our list of books in Mathematics._\n\nD. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, Boston, New York, Chicago\n\n|______________________________________________________________|\n\nSupplementary Reading\n\n_A Classified List for all Grades._\n\n\n  GRADE I. Bass's The Beginner's Reader                         .23\n      Badlam's Primer                                           .25\n      Fuller's Illustrated Primer                               .25\n      Griel's Glimpses of Nature for Little Folks               .30\n      Heart of Oak Readers, Book I                              .25\n      Regal's Lessons for Little Readers                        .30\n\n  GRADE II. Warren's From September to June with Nature         .35\n      Badlam's First Reader                                     .30\n      Bass's Stories of Plant Life                              .25\n      Heart of Oak Readers, Book I                              .25\n      Snedden's Docas, the Indian Boy                           .35\n      Wright's Seaside and Wayside Nature, Readers No. 1        .25\n\n  GRADE III. Heart of Oak Readers, Book II                      .35\n      Pratt's America's Story, Beginner's Book                  .35\n      Wright's Seaside and Wayside Nature Readers, No. 2        .35\n      Miller's My Saturday Bird Class                           .25\n      Firth's Stories of Old Greece                             .30\n      Bass's Stories of Animal life                             .35\n      Spear's Leaves and Flowers                                .25\n\n  GRADE IV. Bass's Stories of Pioneer Life                      .40\n      Brown's Alice and Tom                                     .40\n      Grinnell's Our Feathered Friends                          .30\n      Heart of Oak Readers, Book III                            .45\n      Pratt's America's Story--Discoverers and Explorers        .40\n      Wright's Seaside and Wayside Nature Readers, No. 3        .45\n\n  GRADE V. Bull's Fridtjof Nansen                               .30\n      Grinnell's Our Feathered Friends                          .30\n      Heart of Oak Readers, Book III                            .45\n      Pratt's America's Story--The Earlier Colonies             .00\n      Kupfer's Stories of Long Ago                              .35\n\n  GRADE VI. Starr's Strange Peoples                             .40\n      Bull's Fridtjof Nansen                                    .30\n      Heart of Oak Readers, Book IV                             .50\n      Pratt's America's Story--The Colonial Period              .00\n      Dole's The Young Citizen                                  .45\n\n  GRADE VII. Starr's American Indians                           .45\n      Penniman's School Poetry Book                             .30\n      Pratt's America's Story--The Revolution and the Republic  .00\n      Eckstorm's The Bird Book                                  .60\n      Heart of Oak Readers, Book IV                             .50\n      Wright's Seaside and Wayside Nature Readers, No. 4        .50\n\n  GRADES VIII _and_ IX. Heart of Oak Readers, Book V            .55\n      Heart of Oak Readers, Book VI                             .60\n      Dole's The American Citizen                               .80\n      Shaler's First Book in Geology (boards)                   .40\n      Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield                            .50\n      Addison's Sir Roger de Coverley                           .35\n\n_Descriptive circular sent free on request._\n\nD. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, Boston, New York, Chicago\n\n|______________________________________________________________|\n\nAMERICA'S STORY\nFOR AMERICA'S CHILDREN\n\nBy MARA L. PRATT.\n\n\nA series of history readers which present the personal and picturesque\nelements of the story in a way as attractive to young readers as\nromance, and which will supplement the regular instruction in history in\nan effective manner.\n\nEvery statement of fact is historically accurate and the illustrations\nare correct even to the smallest details. Unusual care has been taken in\nthese matters.\n\nThese books are effectively illustrated in black and white and in color;\nare bound in attractive and artistic cloth covers; uniform in size,\n6-1/4 X 7-3/4; printed on extra heavy paper, in large type and contain\nabout 160 pages each.\n\n  =Book I. The Beginners' Book.=                               35 cents.\n        A delightful story book, developing centers of interest through\n        picturesque and personal incidents.\n\n  =Book II. Exploration and Discovery.=                        40 cents.\n        The great explorers and discoverers from Lief Ericson to Henry\n        Hudson.\n\n  =Book III. The Earlier Colonies.=                            40 cents.\n        An accurate and fascinating account of the first settlements and\n        the 13 colonies.\n\n  =Book IV. The Later Colonial Period.=                        40 cents.\n        Settlements in the Mississippi Valley, The French and Indian\n        Wars, etc.\n\n  =Book V. The Revolution and the Republic.=                   40 cents.\n        The causes that led to it, the men who guided events, and\n        subsequent civil history.\n\n_Descriptive circular free on request_\n\nD. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, Boston, New York, Chicago\n\n|______________________________________________________________|\n\nAN ELEMENTARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES\n\nBy ALLEN C. THOMAS, A. M.\n\n_Author of \"A History of the United States,\" and Professor of History in\nHaverford College._\n\n\nThe Elementary History is for the use of younger classes, and serves as\nan introduction to the author's larger History of the United States.\n\nEffort has been made to present such important phases of national growth\nas the difficulties and dangers of exploration, and how they were\novercome by earnestness and perseverance; the risks and hardships of\nsettlement, and how they were met and conquered; the independence and\npatriotism of the colonists, and how they triumphed; the effect of\nenvironment upon character; the development of the people in politics\nand government and in social life; and the progress of invention and its\neffect upon national development.\n\nRealizing the fascination that the personalities of our national heroes\nhave for the young, the author has chosen those men who best illustrate\nthe important periods in the making of our nation, and in a series of\ninteresting biographical sketches uses their lives as centers around\nwhich the history is written. Thus the book has all the freshness and\nvitality, all the rapidity of action, and all the interest, of tales of\npatriotism and courage and untiring endurance, and yet preserves\naccuracy of fact and due proportion of importance of events.\n\n_Cloth. 357 pages. Maps and illustrations. Introduction price, 60\ncents._\n\nD. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, Boston New York Chicago\n\n|______________________________________________________________|\n\nTHE HEATH READERS\n\nA new series, that excels in its\n\n  1. Interesting and well graded lessons.\n  2. Masterpieces of English and American literature.\n  3. Beautiful and appropriate illustrations.\n  4. Clear and legible printing.\n  5. Durable and handsome binding.\n  6. Adaptation to the needs of modern schools.\n\n\nTHE HEATH READERS enable teachers, whether they have much or little\nknowledge of the art, to teach children to read intelligently and to\nread aloud intelligibly. They do this without waste of time or effort,\nand at the same time that the books aid pupils in acquiring skill in\nreading, they present material which is in itself worth reading.\n\nThe purpose of the HEATH READERS is, _first_, to enable beginners to\nmaster the mechanical difficulties of reading successfully and in the\nshortest time; _second_, to develop the imagination and cultivate a\ntaste for the best literature; _third_, to appeal to those motives that\nlead to right conduct, industry, courage, patriotism, and loyalty to\nduty. The larger purpose is, briefly, to aid in developing an\nappreciation of that which is of most worth in life and literature.\n\nThe series contains seven books, as follows:\n\n  Primer, 128 pages, 25 cents.\n  First Reader, 130 pages, 25 cents.\n  Second Reader, 176 pages, 35 cents.\n  Third Reader, 256 pages, 40 cents.\n  Fourth Reader, 320 pages, 45 cents.\n  Fifth Reader, 352 pages, 50 cents.\n  Sixth Reader, 352 pages, 50 cents.\n\n_Descriptive circulars sent free on request._\n\nD. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, Boston, New York, Chicago\n\n|______________________________________________________________|\n\n\nTranscriber's notes:\n\nThe following corrections have been made to the text:\n\n    Page 18, last line: Queen and the Prince.\"[added missing close\n             quotes]\n\n    Page 20, line 1: at the family altar.[added missing period]\n\n    Page 25, fourth line from bottom: [added missing singlequote]I am a\n             dyer,\n\n    Page 39, line 1: the great Buddhist[original has Buddist] teacher","title":"Child-Life in Japan and Japanese Child Stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":18671}