Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, March 28, 1909, Page 18

OMAHA SUNDAY BE MARCH 28 PUPPY CAT SBUPPLANTS (Copyright, 190, by Frank G. Carpenter.) YOTO—(Bpecial Correspondence of The Bee.)—I have Leen asked to write & letter for the children )t America about the children of Japan. I want the boys and girls who take this newspaper . wniemselves upon the magic carpet of fairyland, which will take one around tho world in the twinkling of an eye. All you have tc do Is to shut your eyes and wish you were there, and when you open them, lo! your wish has come true. Our magic carpet has carried us across the Pacific and has dropped us down iIn the heart of Japan. We arv in the heart of the big eity of Kyoto, in the central part of the country. There ere mountains in sight everywhere, and hehind us s a beautiful lake which fills the river running through theeity The houses aresc many that they cover as much space as Philadelphia, which has three time: many people. Thelr walls are such that they can be sd back during the daytime and we can see all that goes on within. Most of the streets are lined with stores filled with all kinds of curioue goods, and the streets, stores and houses are swarming with chiidren. Here they are working, helping their parents; there they are playing, and fur- ther on s a crowd going to school. ‘What jolly youn, '8 they are! We hear their laughter sounding out on the air, and B8 they sec us some bend halt double, In Japanese fashion, and yell out, “O-hi-0," thelr word for good day. Others, who are ruder, cry out Japanese syllables which, our Interpreter says, mean “You furry headed foreigners; you have oyes like a cat!" Our Japa: Brothers. ‘We find that we are as great curlosities to the Japanese children as they are to us. Their skins are yellow, and their eyes are & trifle aslant, and so fastened at the gorners that they do not come as wide open &8 ours do. They think that their eyes are the more beautiful, and that cream- colored skins are quite tine as white ones, Outeide of this, Japancse boys and girls are just like Americans. Their little black eyes can see as far as ours can, and it you scrateh their yellow skins they will bleed in the same way. You had better be careful not to do so, however. They are Gossip About THE TEDDY BEAR. as proud as you, and they will fight at the drop of a hat. They are not as tall as we children of the same age, but they are full as strong. Get one of the little fellows to double up his arm, and put your hand on his biceps. Bvery muscle stands up like a base ball and every ounce of his flesh is hard with the athleties which evary schoolboy has to take dally. As to his fighting, you have heard how the Japanese whipped the Rus- sians, who are almost twice as heavy as they are and three times as many in num- ber, and how, about fifteen years ago, they conquered the Chinese, who have ten times @s many people in their great nation over the way. Cl Just now the chilaren of Japan are all playing soldlers. The nation is still excited over its victory, and the boys go about with guns and flags, marching In step while their trumpeters blow. Their guns are sticks of babboo and their swords are of wood. They march right well, however, and they have sham fights between the different companies of boys in a town. Even babies are now dresscd-in military costumes by some of the mothers and many a 4 year-old Japanese baby goes about in the drees of an officer of the navy. S8ome chil- dren who wear kimonos have soldler hats, and rot a few are dressed In khaki. The toy shops are full of lead soldlers and miniature guns and drums. The older boys are real soldlers, for every school has its military drill under officers of the army. Boys of 12 and 14 have to march with guns, and as they grow older they go out in the field to camp and take part in sham battles, In ry Japanese school there is & drlll hall where the guns are stacked up against the walls when not in use. Bvery school has a gymnasium and the boys and girls go through all sorts of exercises to make them streng and enable them to fight and work for their emperor when & war compes. Just now the boys think the Jap- anese people could whip any other nation, and that the United States would have a poor show in a fight with their country. ‘We are friendly to them, but we must keep our eyes open, for no one can tell but that we may have to fight them by and by. They have far more soldiers in their army than we have and thelr navy is one pf the best In the world Noted People Jetforsom and Cleveland. T THE time of his last nomina- tion, relates Bugene Jefferson in Outing, ex-President Cleve- land had invited Mr. Joseph Jottersen and his sons, and ex- < Governor Russell of Massachu- setts, with others, to his house, Gray Ga- bles, to hear the returns read over a private wire trom the convention in Chicago. Just after midnight, when the excitement was st its height, the ex-president suddenly arose from his chalr, exclaiming, “I do be- belleye I forgot to dry my fishing line, and the roem. Toward morning, when thers was no longer any doubt as to the re-election of Grover Cleveland for the next four years, and after he had received the congratula- Wors of all prosent excepting one, Mr. Cleveland turned to lcok for his friend. Ho saw Mr. Jefferson standing before the Mieat landscape window which was a fea- tare of the new dining room at Gray Oa- bles, his hauds folded behind his back, looking out intently upon the reflaction of the rising sun, mirrored In the sparkling waters of Buzsards bay. Mr. Cleveland approached him and touched his arm. ‘“Joe, aren't you going to congratulate me?" Mr. Jefferson turned lmmediately to hiy friond and grusped his hand. “Ah, 1 do Belleve me, 1 do eongratu- lete you, but"—turning again to the beau- titul pieture, his face reflecting its glow— “Geod God, If I could paint lke that” —— A Patuter’s Regrets. John La Farge, the famous mural painter, \recelved last week in New York from the Architectural league a gold medal. In his speech of acknowledgement Mr. La Pasge sald dryly that he was thankful to wet {n bis old age & medal for mural paint- ng. : “and he talked again about his medal. He sald he would have been better with work in the obscure days when he needed it. “Then he smiled grimly and sald he was a little ke a famous actress. A manager offered this actress $1,000 a week to make a tour of the world. @he insisted on $1,500. But the manager sald $,00 was all he could give, and he reminded her of the fabulous jewels that South American mil- lMonaires, Russian grand dukes and Indiag rajahs are wont to lavish on the ladies of the stage when they go touring. *‘Go home,’ said the manager; think the matter over and let me know your decision in the morning.’ “In the morning the actress sent manager this wire: *‘Give me my terms and you can have the jowels.' " the S righter t He Looked, An erratic Memphis editor was & great admirer of John Sharp Willlams, though he had never seen him. This editor in blind faith printed column after column in pralse of the “gentleman from Yasoo." There was not an edition that didn't have something exalting Willlams, and one day ‘John Sharp,” on his way home from Washington, dropped off at Memphis to get something to eat in the raliroad restaurant. It was early In the morning, and the editor was eating at the same place, after a night of work. The proprietor called the con- attention to the editor. sald the restaurant manager, ““John," “that fellow over there has been saying some pretty nice things sbout you.” “I'd Mke to meet him,” sald Willlams 8o the editor was brought over and intro- duced. He rubbed his hands across his face wearily several times and sald ‘Willlams? Willlams? What? gressman “Yes," modestly assented that gentieman, “the same." “You're not John Sharp Willlame?" “There's no question about my identity,” broke In the somewhat exasperated Wil lama, rather testily. “Well, all T can say 1" muttered the editor as he shook hands with the states- man, “yeu're a damsight brighter than you look." The con- BOYS GO ABOUT WITH DRUMS AND FLAGS, WHILE THEIR TRUMPETERS BLOW-—By a Japanese Artist. On the third day of March every year oc- curs & great girl's holiday, known as the feast of the dolls. On this day the boys have to stand in the background. Thelr patents pay little attention to them and they make the girls, for the time, the chief members of the family. It is the one day in the year when they are more lmportant than the boys. At this time every girl gets a new doll, and all the dolls of the family, including those of mother, grand- mother and great-grandmother, are brought out to be admired and played with. The dolls used at this time are not like ordinary dolls and they are played with only once a year, and then lald, away for twelve months, when the next doll festival comes. These dolls represent some favorite prince or princess, some hero or heroine and sometimes the emperor or empress. There is a little throne of steps made for them In the back of the parlor in the house, and they are placed upon this in rows. The children then sit down in front of them and talk to them. They put food and drink before them In tiny dishes, and listen to stories about them. They give them doll toys, which are as fine as they can afford. In rich families the toy dishes are sometimes pf silver with little silver chop sticks for the toy emperor and em- press to eat with. They serve toy wine, made especially for this feast, In toy cups, Bome familles have collection of dolls, which have been saved by the children for generations and which go back for a hun- dred years or more. Then the stores are filled with dollies for this feast, and the little yellow skinned girls trot around In bright kimenos on their wooden clogs, admiring them and ploking out the ones which are to be bought for this festival Teddy Bears of Japan. The ordinary Japanese doll used by the girls fs not like the American article. It is a minlature Japanese child or woman, with the blackest of black eyes, with queerly ressed Japanese hair, wearing a kimono and wooden shces. Such dolls are of all sizes, from as blg as your finger to your little baby sister, and the children in playing with them often carry them about on thelr backs, tying them on with strings, just as the real Japanese bables are tled In the stores there are all sorts of doll furniture, and one can get a full house- keeping outfit for a very few cents. Among the queerest playthings in the way of pets are whai might be called the “Teddy Bears of Japan. I call them puppy eats. They are in reality & sort of & cross between a dog and cat, made of papler mache and paintea n gorgeous col- ors. The Japanese call them ‘ino hau- rico,” and it is not heneath the dignity of the boys to play with them. They are as popular here as the “Teddy Bears” with us, and they would, I doubt not, be great favorites with our children If introduced at home. Day 1 oys. The boys of Japan have their specia day also. This is May 6, and it Is known as the feast of flags, or as the festival of the god of war. On that day every houss has a pole of bamboo from which to flcat gaudy fish made of tough paper. The wind blows into the mouths of the fish and in- flates them, and they swim about through the air. Sometimes there will be a half dozen of these fish on one pole. There will be a big cne at the top and smaller ones below, untll the one at the bottom may be the size of a minnow. Each fish represents a son of the family and not a few have six or more. Some of these fish may be fifty feet long, and they look like great whales as thoy swim in the air. They rep- resent the carp, which Is noted for Its strength and daring. Every one wants his son to become a strong man, and this fish means strength, The Japanese boys are great kite flyers. I have counted 100 kites in the air at one time over a Japanese village. The kites are of all sizes, but they are usually square or oblong Instead of the shapes known in America. They are often made llke birds, with wings, and sometimes like fish. A favorite amusement is fighting kites. In this sport the strings are first soaked in glue and then dusted with powdered glass This is done for a long dlstance from the kite and it makes that part of the string a sort of flexible file! When two boys fight thelr kites they try to make the strings cross as the kites are flying and by sawing cut one string in two. The kite which breaks away first then becomes the property of the owner of the one which & still flying. The favorite time for kite fly- ing s In the winter, and it s at its hight about New Year. There are kite stores in the Japanese cities, whose sign Is a cuttlefish perched on the top of a high pole. The word kite and cuttlefish sound the same in Japanese and for this reason the signs. In the Toy Stores. The toys of Japan are an evidence of tho love wnich these beople have for thelr children. Every family spends money in amusing its little ones and a great industry 1s carried on In toy making. There are toy stores everywhere. Every village that is large enough to hold a shop has one or more. They are to be found In the poorest parts of the cities, especlally near the temples, where the streets are lined with them. Some of the favorite toys are made of dough, and there are peddling cooks who go around selling them. There are men who carry toy stoves through the streets and rent them out to the children at so much per hour. They furnish cakes and other things for the little ones to cook, so that for two or three cents a party of &irls can have a stove for an hour and cook & whole meal for themselves, Some of the toys are made of lacquer and many of paper. One can buy a very nlce gun for §8 and a tin sword for 10 cents. Many of the toys and games are used in teaching the children. There are playing cards with classical poetry on them, used much Ike our game of authors. Another pack of cards teaches the old Japanese proverbs and another the names and forms of animals. The Japanese are experts in top spinning. They have whistling tops and can keep a half dozen of them going at one time. They pl battledore and shuttlecock, especlally at New Year, and at that time the stores are filled with bats and balls. Many toys are used In the kindergartens and there are games which teach history and geography and also cleanliness, unselfishness and morality. The Japanese have falry tales of all kinds. They have stories like Goody-Two- Shoes and Hop-o-my-Thump. The Hop-b- my-Thump of Japan s a priest one inch long, who does all sorta of curlous things. Another popular falry tale i known as the Lucky Teakettle, another the Battle of the Monkey and the Crab and a third the 0ld Man Who Made the Dead Trees to Blossom. The Story of Urishima, & sort of a Japanese Rip Van Winkle, Is exceedingly popular, as are also many fables about the badger, which might be called the Bre'r Rabbit of Japanese childhood. —— In a Japanese Home. But suppose we call upon some of our little Japanese friends. Thelr house is sit- uated In a beautiful garden. Its roof is covered with black tiles and it has double walls of wood. The outer walls of each side are shoved back during the daytime into little cupboard at the corners, and the fine inner walls of sash filled with space between the two walls, and in this we sit while awalting our friends. They soon appear. They get down on thelr knees and bump their heads on the floor in bowing to us, and then ask us in. We take off our shoes and leave them outside. This is the custom of all Japane The houses are exceedingly clean, and the floors are covered with thick mats of woven white straw which would be hurt by the nails in our shoes. The mats are so soft that our feet sink into them, and we feel like lying down and rolling over and over. In the meantime our little Japanese friends have laid cushlons on the mats aud beg us to sit. These people do not use chalrs or sofas. They have tables for eating which are not more than a foot high and they sit and sleep on the floor. The mats are soft and when thsy have taken them out and spread on them some well padded comforters they have a very soft bed. In the daytime these comforters are rolled up in a bundle and put away in a cupboard or hole in the wall, which by a siiding door is 8o covered that you would not suppose It was there. By this means the bed room is turned into a parlor and when a table is brought in it is a dining room as well. As we sit on the mats our little friends tell us about their homes, explaining some customs which are different from ours. They say that the mats are cleaner than our carpets and that they are very con- venient in describing a house, as they are always of the same size. They show us that each mat ls three feet wide and six feet long and say that the size of a house or room is known by the number of mats it takes to cover the floor. The room we are In has eight mats. Large rooms have twenty or thirty mats, and when a carpenter starts to bulld a house he asks the owner how many mats he wants, and thus fixes the size and price. All land In Japan s measured by the unit of the mats, a tsubo belng six feet square or two mats in size. Land here is measured by stubo not acres. It takes more than 1,00 tsubos to make one acre of land, How the Children Bath By and by we go out to look at the bath room. The Japancse children are very cleanly and they take a redhot bath every day. The bath tub Is about as high as our shoulders. It has a stoveplpe running through it with a board resting against the pipe to protect one's body from it when Fifty Years of Wedded Happiness is Theirs HEN they were 21, Jamle Nich- olson and Miss Jessle Mail were united in marriage at the village of K'rk In Newton Stew- art, Wigtonshire, Bcotland. Both were born and ralsed in the parish. Fifty years later, on Satur- day, February 27, 1909, Mr. and Mrs. James Nicholson were again the main participants in a marriage ocelebration—this time at Grand Island, Neb. The difference in time and location s strikingly lllustrated by the two photographs herewith printed, the one taken in bonnie Scotland when all the earth, like life itself, was young; the other in bright Nebraska, when the principals are enjoying a hale and happy old age, and with an unshakable faith are awaiting the end of the partnership began so very long ago. As both are In good health, it appears as if they would yet enjoy many years of life. They are only 71, not very old for folks ralsed among the heather. After the marriage in Scotland, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson went to Manchester, Eng- land; and in 1887 they salled for America, golng direct to Grand Island after landing. Members of their family had located at the Hall county metropolis some years be- fore. Happiness and prosperity has tended their lives In this state, and today Jamie Nicholson and his gude wife are en- at- joying such good health their activity is remarkable. As evidence of his renewed youth and exuberant vitality, on the day his golden wedding was celebrated, Mr. Nicholson danced a Highland fling in a way to make many of the youngsters ashamed. In his younger days he was for many years an active man among the Royal Caledonlan curlers. That he could lay a stane” with the best of them is evidenced by a gold medal he still has which was won when he was a member of & team that took the championship of the British isles at the roarin’ game. The contest was held at Bouthport, England, in 1876, and extended over several days, MR. AND MRS, JAMES NICHOLSON. CHILDREN WHO CALL OUT TO STRANGERS. he gets in. The pipe is filled with charcoal and lighted. Tt soon heats the water to bolling, and when it begins to steam, the Japanese jump in. Even little bables are put in this hot water. It turns their skin red, and when they come out they are the color of bects. We try such bathing our- sclves. It is 80 hot that we jump quickly out and cannot be Induced to attempt It agaln. The Japaness have many public bath houses. There are hundreds in Kyoto, where one can get a good hot plunge for 8 or 4 cents. oo Houses W Chimneys. You would think that houses so thin and open as this one, where we are visiting, would need steam or hot water, or at any rate great coal or wcod fires to make them comfortable during the winter. Noth- ing of the kind is known to the children of Japan. If we should go up in a flying machine and look down upon the roofs of Kyoto we could not count a hundred chim- neys on Its tens of thousands of houses. These people have no fireplaces, no grates and no means of heating like ours. The cooking is done with charcoal in little clay ovens, and if one would give a blg dinner he must have many such stoves. For warmth a small, brass-lined box filled with ashes with a little burning charcoal within it is most common. This warms only one's hands, and he keeps his feet from freezing by sitting upon them. Sometimes a wood fire Is made In a box of this kind. This, however, is only In the poorer houses, and the smoke goes out where It can. We take a meal with our friends, Each of us has his own little table. The meal is served in individual dishes and the girls bend low and bow before they offer them to us. The meal begins with sweet cake and candy. Then thers is & bowl of soup in & dish of wood covered with lacquer, & varnish so bright that one can see his face in it. There s fish, raw and cooked, and fried cels, which taste delicious. The raw fish s not bad. It Is served upcn ice, cut into little slices mo we can eat it with chop sticks. After all, why should not one cat raw fish as well as raw oysters? And then there are salads and pickles, apples and pears and great red persim- mons ® blg as tomatoes. The rice Is brought in at the close of the meal In a wooden bucket bound with brass rims We are told again and again to help our- selves to the rice, for one is supposed to complete his dinner with it, as, with rice in plenty, no one can go hungry. We find some difffculty ih conveylng the rice to our mouths with the chopsticks and finally raise the bowl to our lips and shovel it in. As it grows cold we pour a little hot tea over it, laughing with the Japenese ohil- dren as they do the same. e How the Children Dress. But there are 50 many strange things among the little ones we see all about us that it would take a long time to mentlofts, them all. The children wear shoes of wood or of straw, and thelr stockings are foot mittens, with a finger for the big toe. The mittens stop above the ankle and the rest of the leg goes bare except for the gown or kimono, which falls from the shoulder The kimono has very long sleeves. These, In the case of the women, hang down, forming quite large bags at the wrist, which serve as pockets. The boys have smaller sleeves. The girls have great belts called obls, which are tled at the back and which hold thelr kimonos together. For the same purpose the boys have sashes which are scarcely larger than ropes. The girls wear bright red underclothing, al- though thelr kimonos are usually of more modest hues. All the school their own dress. children of Japan have The boys wear a divided skirt, which reaches from the walst al- most to the ankles, and the girls have fuller skirts not divided. Both boys and girls wear kimonos, which are tucked in- side thelr skirts and which cover the up- per parts of ihelr bodies. From this one would think it almost im- possible to tell the boys from the girls. It is not so. The skirts of the girls are elther dark red or of the color of a blue damson plum, while those of the hoys are steel gray. The girls go bareheaded and their halr 1s twisted up on the top of thelr heads. The boys wear caps or hats and their hair is cut short and it stands out like a shoe brush in bristles over the scalp. In the schools of Japan the boys and glrls do not sit together, although they have the same studles. They now use desks and chairs, but they used to study sitting on the floor. In other respects thelr schools are not very unlike our schools at home. FRANK G. CARPENTER. Quaint Features of Life Surgeons Have Another Guess. IGHT-YEAR-OLD Rosie Cohen and her brother, Joseph, age 11 years, were sent to the H risburg (Pa.) hospital, suffering [BORIN) (rom cnlarsed tonsils. The girl — was glven ether and by mistake was sent to the operating room with several other patients and operated on for appendi- elitls, The surgeons say they found her appen dix somewhat Inflamed and, therefore, were not aware that a mistake had been made until the parents called and found that the operation had been performed. The oper- ation was “successful” and the child re- covered. Btrangely enough, the doctors say would have develcped appendicits before long and the operation would have been necessary, anyway Twenty-Year Game Ended. A card-playing contest which has raged continuously for twenty-six years came t an end at Mancelona, Mich., March 1 when John W. Wallace scooped in D. W. Lazelle's pedio and remarked: “That puts me out.” Twenty years ago, while at a soclal af falr, Lazelle and Wallace each claimed the village pedro championship. The conten tion resulted in & challenge, the champlon- ship to go to the one who first won ten stralght game Every day or evening, Bundays excepted, the men have met at elther home. In those twenty years of continuous play, through spare time study, they have acquired an inner knowledge of the game that has frightened off all ether players from engaging with them. Beveral times one man got six or seven stralght games, but not untll the finish night aid one succeed in getting ten. Unraly Girls Whipped in Court. Hattle Hood, aged 13 years, and Sallle Ogles, aged 17, were whipped in police court of Atlanta, Ga., by order of Recorder Brolles, who had been appeled to by the parents of the girls to punish them for thelr uoruly conduet. After hearing the evidence in the case the recorder said: “A goad whipping is what these @rie need. That will do them more good thaa a fine. A great many girls might protit these days If they were given a tas's of the switch." Tre recorder ordered straps to be fur. niehed and while the girls were held by policemen the parents lald on with & good will s Lands a Big Fi Four sturgeon, the largest being ten feet two Inches In length and welghing 404 pounds, were caught by Gustave Patten, Frank Vincent and 8. C. Wamsley of Ilo, I1daho, In Snake river, near the mouth of Red Bird creek, southeast of Spokane. A two-horse team was required to haul the 1110-pound catch tp town. The men used 60 feet of heavy rope aa a line, the rod being a tree. A steel hook was balted with a large eel and weighted with twenty pounds of lead. To permit the fish to play on the line the shore end was fastened ‘to a tree, which swayed with every movement of the sturgeon in thelr endeavor to get away The fisherman say they had the most dif- ficulty in landing the smallest fish, which was six feet in length and weighed 200 pounds. It fought and lashed the water for almost an hour before it was brought to the river bank. These are the largest fish caught in the Snake river this season, where students of Izaak Walton have been busy for months. “Wet” Reetpe Dry” Paper. Charles M. Stuart, recently appointed ed- ftor of the Northwestern Christian Advo- cate, has his own troubles. In last week's lssue of his publication appeared the fol- lowing recipe for poundcake: “Cream together one cup of butter snd three cups of sugar. All the yolks of five exgs and beat the whole untll It is very lght. Then stir In one wineglass of whisky, one nutmeg, grated, and then one cup of milk, end when these ingredien are well mixed beat fn four cups of flour, ote Mr. Stuart prepared a correction whieh appears In this week's lssue. Mesnwhile he had explained verbally that the recipe crept into the columns without the knowl- edge of himselt or his assoclates, About s nearly as he could fiv the responsibliity he declared it rested upon the prinier's “devil" .. —