The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-02-24

japanese HOuse.Bailders in Phflas
s delphia. 2 -

OSRAUoC0 AVuS0'OulA0CID IN I0ll8a
,g~ delphia.
n
His Imperial Majesty, the Mikado o1
Japan, through his deputies, q squad OF
Japanese mechanics, has begun operations
on the slope of Georges hill upon BAN.
boo structure, to be used a. 1 dwe1iinq
during the Centennial ly His Majesty's
commissioners and exhibitors. There are
twelve sturdy Jap artisans, some clad in
American costume from the neck upward
and others from the ankle down, the in
tervening space being covered with close
fitting tights Of blue stuff for the legs and
great baggy tunics of the same color and
material reaching to the middle Of the
thigh and girdled at the waist with what
would pass for longitudinal strip of 10.
seph's coat. On the back xnd on the
breast of the tunic il shield.like patch,
as large - thehead Of = nail key, covered
with fire-cracker hiefoglyphics, indicat.
ing the rank and family Of the wearer
These Japs in their own country rank
seventh in caste, the grades being as fol-
lows: Princes, priests, soldiers, civil of.
ficials, traders, artisans and laborers. A
few days ago the foreman, who seemed to
he mandarin, as his shield patches were
of unusual size and he wore no nat, spent
much Of his time in saving nails, while
strapping up something like fence tn
keep bad Mclean boys from running
away with the cases of bamboo, which
weigh about half ton each. There arc
= number Of trees about the place, and,
as these saved posts, the Japs made their
rails stretch toward every available tree.
The foreman took bits of rope made of
japanese grass, and began fastening the
rails with them to the trees, turning now
and then q look Of Celestial scorn upon
certain officiOus ignOramuses woo offered
him few nails, which they had begged
at Queen Victoria's houses, to win the IA
vOr OF the Mikado's mandarin foreman.
Many a scramble there was among grave
gentlemen and mirthtul boys anxious to
grab up a fragment of the grass rope to
preserve it as a Japanese relic Of the Cen
tennial. But the most curious part of the
days work was the driving of number
OF piles, each six feet long and ten inches
in diameter, upon which is to rest, like q
corr. crib, rectangular structure eighty
four by forty -four feet, and in general ap-
pearance like the pictures Of japanese
houses that children see in their primers.
The way in which the Japs managed the
pile.driving brought many . burst of
laughter from the bystandcrs. They had
a portable tripod, about twenty feet high,
with two fixed pulleys under the apex,
from which was suspended by 4 grass
rope cylindrical iron hammer, weighing
800 pounds. Six Japs on each side Of
the machine seize grass rope which
passes over one of the puIleys, the fore
man stands to one side, holds up his fore
finger, closes one eye, and then apparent
ly not satisfied with this, picks up a short
stick, holds it in a vertical position be-
tween his two toretingers, sights the
pile with it, and at last winks with both
eyes as a signal to the workmen that the
ceremony Of japanese plumb bobbing is
concluded, whereupon the hammtr moves
up and down very rapidly, driving the
pile an inch into the earth at every de-
scent, until it is time for the foreman to
do little more plumb bobbing. One
pile struck q rock, and while everybody
was wondering how things were going to
he managed, one OF the gang ran Oft and
brought back something that had teeth
like a saw, but which was shaped like .
butchers cleaver, but the painting Jap had
severed the sick in about half the time
required for saw OF American make 10 do
the same work.
The Japs draw their planes toward them
instead OF pushing them from them, and
use an ink-li instead of chalk line. 1t
resembles tape line case, and contains q
sponge which may be saturated with ink
OF any color; through this sponge the cord
may be drawn and then wound up, dis.
pensing with the tedious process OF chalk
Ing. The holes tor the plies were marked
out in this odd way: The pos:s, one At
each end Of the foundation, were connected
at the top by tightly-drawn cord; from
end to end Of this the mandarin foreman
walked with his rule, measuring off
spaces which he marked by tying bits Of
string in bow-knots to the main cord, and
then standing off to 60 through his. deli
cate operation Of lumb-bobbing, which
he repeated every time that his men re-
moved the tripod to drive new pile.
Their adze is a remarkable tool, chiefly on
account of its handle, which is shaped as
Hogarth's line of beauty might he if
warped by torrid weather. The wielder
of this tool stands over his timber aud
hacks away, driving the steel far under
meath his loot at every blow. When the
ropes Of the p,le-drivers were too long the
foreman fastened blocks Of wood in slip
knobs to shorten them, but one of these
slipped and dropped on the head of a
young Jap, causing him to let go the rope,
fall backward and roll over to u big log,
upon which he sat down to rest himself
and laugh.
The Japanese square 10 eighteen and a
half inches long and nine and . quarter
wide, and is graduated, like the rule, by
the decimal system, nine and quarter Of
their inches being equal to eight of ours.
In the bamboo building not nail will
be used AL the material is there, dove
tailed, beveled and mortised, ready to be
fastened together with wooden pins. The
artisans live in frame structure within the
Enclosure, Go their own cooking and
laundry work, and live on soup, rice end
dried meats, which they brought with
them in Theoretically sealed cans. The
officials having charge Of japanese opera.
tons in the park refuse to give the slight
est information as to what they are diving.
When asked about their building and in
tended exhibition, the questioner is inva-
riably put of with :" Wait till comes time
you then see." It dispieases them when
spectators laugh at the uncouth mechanical
operations of the flat-nosed and tawny.
featured Observation-Disclosures Times.
Odd Meeting Of Brothers.