Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1871-01-19
CHILDREN In JAPAN.
BY e. A. ERLACHER.

By Z. A. ERLACHER.
The little folks of that strange coun-
try do not have as much time for enjoy
ment in childhood as the children in
Europe and America. From the time
that they are able to walk they are
forced to work in some way.
[ have seen them often when about
four years old and just able to waddle
along the road, with their younger
brother or sister ON their back, much
the same as the Indian women carry
their children. Their parents being
poor, and not able to hire nurses, the
older children, whether boy or girl,
have to perform the duties that are gen.
orally performed by the mothers or
nurses with us. The children viii,
with this burden forced on them,
through weakness and carelessness,
frequently st lmbie and fall down; in
doing so they will awake their sleeping
companion, or perhaps bruise him,
when both nurse and child will cry
that being the balm that children all
the world over use to cure their aches
and pains. But there they get little
sympathy or attention given them, so
tlstt there 10 very llelic VI ~
/ have seen Rrents who, not being
able through poverty to bring their
chSldren up in the way they would like
them to 90, dispose of them to parties
having means to do so. Although this
seems heartless and cruel, still in many
cases it Is greatly to the benefit of
them, they being taken care of and
taught the trade or profession that is
best adapted to them.
All persons are compelled by the
laws of the land to attend school until
they have attained sufficient knowledge
of heir written and spoken language,
so that all are at least able to read and
write. They have their higher courses
and accomplishments as we have-the
learned man being as much esteemed
and respected as with us, they being
with the doctors the only classes of
men who wear their boards there; for
you must remember that the beard is
not, and only small portion of the
hair on the head is worn there The
children at a very tendar age undergo
the shaving process-that is, the
shaving of the head when they are four
months old-they do so believing it
will come out much stronger in growth
than if left as with us.
watched a child who objected to
being used in this manner The moth
er, to keep the child quiet, placed it in
a bath-tub, the water being up to the
poor little ones chin. In its struggles
to get away, the water got into its
mouth. SO with natural instinct that
it might get drowned, it was with little
difficulty relieved of the few hairs that
had grown on its head.
After boy or girl is five years old
the hair is allowed to grow in this wise;
The hair on the top of the head of the
boy is shaved off; the han on the back
and top and forehead is then made in
to a cue and laid on the top of the
head When a boy is fourteen years
of age, the hair on the forehead is
shaved off-from thence he is consid-
cred a man. The girls do not shave
but little after they are grown, only a
spot on the fore part of the head about
an inch square When the girl
is married the hair is al
lowed to grow. She then shaves off
her eyebrows and blacks her teeth,
which gives the married woman a hid
eous appearance The BARRIERS are in
great demand, and can be seen at all
hours in the public streets working on
the heads of the natives. Their hair is
dressed almost every day, but to pre-
vent it being disarranged when Sleep
ing, they have a small box about six
inches long by three inches wide at the
bottom, which tapers to a height of
five inches; on this is fastened small
round bag of rice chat. This is their
pillow, and is placed under the back of
the neck. My sensations when trying
to use it during my visit in the interior,
when / had been lying on it about ten
minutes, was that it was quite hard,
then quite high; then turned it over,
and found it would not do, so | threw
it away in disgust, thinking a log of
wood were preferable.
As hats are not generally worn, the
little hair they have left is not of much
use, and very little ornament in the
way which they wear it. The women
get their hair up In much
neater style than with us-theirs be-
ing quite modest and becoming,
MACA COlupdlCu Will Tile iluiCuiOuo ldSu-
ion now in vogue with us.
/ saw during my travels great many
schools, every district being provided
with three or four. The children there,
although deprived of great part of the
recreation, as with us. are the same in
nature q in any other part of the world
full ofplay and mischief The school
master is not the trim and sedate-look-
ing person we have here, who with
rule of iron holds sway over a few doz-
en- of their own species, and who think
themselves paragons of perfection, never
allowing that youth should have its
faults. In Japan, the teacher comes
down from that lofty sphere and min
giles with his scholars-praising here,
correcting there, and giving words of
encouragement toalL Ihaye seen them
at their plays, the teacher always taking
all the punishment that the little ones
with their tiny hands could infict.
The teachers are mostly gentlemen, the
ladies not having ths opportunities for
getting sufficient education to teach.
They are not employed as teachers.
Their principal studies are reading,
writing, and arithmetic The writing
is done with a hair pencil and India
ink. There being 4,00G and upward of
characters in the ordinary written Ian
guage, it takes at least three years to
get the least knowledge of it, SO that
there are but few amongst the poorer
people who are well educated. Each
character represents sound. The let
ter l. has nothing to represent it. The
natives cannot correctly pronounce an
English word with it in. Mostly, all of
our common words they can command,
and are very apt at learning them
Their reading is as with their writing,
very difficult to acquire. They have
no spelling that would suit the children
here, but fir m the small knowledge
that got of the language while living