Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1878-03-29
An Augusta Lady in japan.

PROPER Y-THE RELIGIOUS oBsER-
yaNCEs OF THE JAPANEsE-THE STU
DY OF THE LANGUAGE-soClAA LIFE.
&C.. &C., "o'
Correspondence of Staunton VlNploAtohl
YoKoHAMA.-Aboutt this time last year
l was brimful Of the Centennial at Fhlia-
delpha | have just been pl oportlonably
excited by a visit to the HaKurahkal or
Japanese Exposition. Imagine me seated
at l1:3O, on Wednesday, September 18th,
| in a ginrikasha, en- route for IoKla, the
capital | send q photograph VI one OF
these web icles, which take the place OF our
street cars, and can be mad at any time
I for 10 cents or less an hour, they ara ike
| a small JWo-wheeled ciiaIse, OF an extra
sized bah. cart, and are drawn by one or
| two men. U.ltil within Il few years past
there were 10 wheeled vehicles III use'iahu
it is said tie ginliAa was invented oy an
| American The coolies who draw Them
| are power' al fellows and move with won
| delful vel ,clty. A ginrlka-niith brought
Miss Crosby forty TWO miles GOWN Tie
| mountain i, one day
We only 90 TO the station, however, IN
| our eiurik., where we buy our tickets ana
| al passed enough the gateway III " Truly
American hustle. The cars are numbered
| first, secuI and third class, our slcRet
puts us into Il second class car, which is
| something like street Ia ilWay car, WIN
cane mat ed seats running lengthWlse, the
| backs cushioned with dark leather. 1OKia
| is seventeen miles distant, d nj we are luSt
| 0ne hour getting to our dest nation. hlce
| fields lie on every side, tlnte q In llgnt OF
| dark green us il appears IN various Stages
| of growth to the right \ edo bay presents
smooth glittering surface, dotteu WIN
| uriOus water craft, or broken by the
straight uprising walls of very peaceful
| looking forts on the left We skirt quaint
| little vallies and hills that seerQ 10 oe drop
| ped abou. through them with fantastic
! disregard of appearance, | have seen no
| gentle sloping hillsdes in Japan, no undu-
| latlons of surface, 1t is either Sudden I'M
expected steepness or picturesque sue
! cession OF terraced gardens that meets the
| eye. At length the station at Iokla Is
| reached, and after forcing our way
| through the persistent crowd we take a
| ginrika for two, with team tan dem, ana
I proceed to Rev. Mr.. Blanchett, MISSION
| airy of the Episcopal Board, whose wife
! was former acquaintance i'll Albany. lie
! is living in house that formerly belonged
/ to wealthy Damaic, who with the rest OF
! that class had their estate conhScaIed IN
| the revolution of $50. l wish l could de-
| scribe a Japanese house IN terms Cnat
! would enable YOU to realize its alrlneSS, It's
I quaint devices for comfort and elegat ce.
/ the strange and wonderful composition OF
| walls that are no VI ais, nut only screens,
| or glass partitions the curious matted
( floors, soft as if sod with velvety moss
! and the air that sits upon all things III this
! miniature country, taking one unconscious
! ly back to the days Of dolls and hopDy
| horses.
THE WORSHIP OF IDOLS.
After dinner. olf friends start out with
us for the exposition. The buildings are
erected In the Yedo or Public garden. we
approach the main entrance by wide az
enue, bordered with fine trees, and giving
glimpses on either side, OF temples ana
shrines all sacred to Puddfis ism or Shin
tooism. There was magnificent display
of silk and lacquer work, exquisite
| cabinets, &C.. many of these articles were
intended for the Paris Exposition. some
were on exhibition at the Centennial. and
nv patriotism was awakened by seeing
tW O articles, bearing the medal from the
Intern ational at Philadelphia. After
spending two afternoons inspecting the
Hakaraukai, Mr. Blanchett took us to
Asak usa, large suburb of Toxic, to visit
a popular Buddhist temple. The front OF
tie temple is sort of vesJibule with large
pillars, and filed with immense Chinese
lanterns. some Of them larger than hogs
head. On one side sat a featurelesS almost
i shapeless block of wood, once the image OF
a man, and to him, came the manned the
bait and the blind FOR cure by passing their
hands over that part OF the IDOL winch
was affected in their own bodies. Before
the altar were many poor creatures kneei-
ing in prayer OF standing up, clapping their
hands to call the attention OF the god VINO
was sleeping, or perhaps on q journey as
in the days OF Bal.
STREET TRAVEL.
On our return to the station there were
two of us in ginrika, with a coolie trot-
ting on behind to accelerate the motion,
Imagine the anxiety of a novice, at pitch
! ing headlong through a crowded street on
| dark night, lit only by the millions OF
lanterns that hang from every possible
crook the coolies shouting Hal ~ with
a screech or a yell that sends every body
and every thing flying right and left, just
as you are in for crush aud crash anu
the real fun it is after all You are never
run over, but we did run right into wo-
| man with the inevitable baby on her back
and the coolie, instead of picking her up
gave her scolding for what she could not
help. and | could say noting, although rea-
dy to burst with indignation. en- treat
| their wives in horribly cruel manner,
| even those who are becl ming civilized IN
other respects.
LEARNING THE LANGUAGE.
You might perhaps wonder how spend
| nv Sabbaths MI. Ballagh's native services
| are held at 8. A, NJ. in the Union church.
| Foreign service is held in the same place
| by the Missionaries, alternately, at IL, A.
| M. At 3, 2. NJ, we have Sunday school
| for the pupils at the Home. The church
| prayer meeting is held IN our parlor at s,
| in the evening, and closes the services for
| the day. | want soon to begin attendance
! ON the native service, | can read the Ian
| guage sufficiently to sing with them. and
| think it will help in acquiring 1t, to hear
| it read and spoken. There are two alpha
| bets, the katakana, which is composed OF
| the simplest characters. forty-seven in all,
| and the hiragani with the same number OF
characters, but an indefinite variety of
| each one, taken principally from the Chi
nese. | am sometimes thoroughly disgust
ed in my efforts to reduce the material |
have to work with to any definite shape;
for instance [ give my-teacher this SEN
tence for translation. Il have gone.'' one
word expresses it in six syllables, very
well-now, ''Have you gone % forthwith
there comes stream of words, utterly
new, utteraly unacceptable, absolutely
appalling, when you consider that this. is
only sc pluribus union,'' My teacher
Mr., Humane is very intelligent Japanese
for his station. They are educated, but
rarely intelligent. He comes to me for an
hour every day.
Night before last was awakened with
a sudden jerk, and reused up to find the
house rocking from an earthquake. They
| come on an aVera ge of one a week. but no