, 1885-04-15
JAPANESE SAYINGS.
a RETURNED TRAVELLER CALLS TO.
MIND A FEW OF THEM.
Our Acknowledged Brethren Never voia-
BILE or Noisy-Proverbs and Epigrams-
Practical Jokes Never imported
Into the Empire Of Niphon.


lNuM lOFh SUM-
An American gentleman, lately returned
to this city utter a prolonged residence in
Japan, was recently discovered in the stock
exchange by a reporter. The returned
traveller ~recognizsd the reporter, whom no
greeted Cordially but mutely, as he refused
to utter or listen to a word until both had
escaped from the din and found Themselves
in the comparative quiet of a neighboring
restaurant There. after seating himself at
a table and passing his hand across his fore
head in a dazed fashion, he found his voice
"a voice faint and low at first, like that of
one who had just suffered from severe shock
or a surgical operation.
~You can hardly imagine how a native OF
Japan would be affected by such a hends'
carnival US we have just witnessed, y he said.
The Japanese are such great slaves to
~stiqustts that l doubt if they could forget
even in sleep the iron rule of conventional
propriety. They are never voluble or noisy
and are apt al expressing In a few words. by
proverbs and epigrams, ideas that less con-
sentative nations, like our own, elaborate.
What, for example, could be more appropri-
ate to the financial exhaustion Of some OF
those shouting, and perhaps sinking.
brokers, than the japanese proverb. Man
may shout when he can no longer swim
While the tongue works, the brain
sleeps IL another saying Of theirs expressing
their contempt for many = worded men
Even oratory, as our stump speakers under
stand the term. is discouraged or barely toll
Grated. He Is a wise man who can preach
a short Sermon and The silent man is often
worth listening to- are Jap sayings to the
same effect. They are. also, as a people
quick at repartee; their wit is keen and
tempered, and they can often administer a
perfent snub in brief tsrse form"
Are not the Japanese exceedingly polite.
like the French1n inquired the reporter.
"Scrupulously. so, and. l think, unlike the
French, naturally so. The exquisite delight
of staring a stranger who dimes in public
away from his dinner, so often practised in
France AMI. l observe, sometimes copied
CHANGING at a persistant starer at the next
table-"m our own country, would not bs
understood or appreciated in Nippon, and
practical jokes are never imported into that
polite empire. Another of their proverbs,
TO be ogerpolite is TO be rude tolls the
whole story o. their conception of true court
esy. Why, even their familiar form OF fare
well saluiation, May tomorrow be all you
wish, il "a little heathenish in its factoring
nomination Of you as the future clerk OF the
weather, is, after all, the essential oil of po-
likeness and very soothing, when you know
that If the weather tomorrow be bad you
will not be held responsible for it."
HANo NoihahS iiBhG Baihoo any ioob
holi in Japanl
Mot yet, and one or two Of their pro
verbal phrases would seem TO Indicate that
Japan is a cold, raw soil for that doctrine to
be planted in. "A prudent wife rarely
crosses her husbands threshold After
death a woman can plan no deceit Trus
your wife while your mothers eyes are OIL
her, and Death alone makes a woman con
tented are not encourag ing texts for preach
ing the doctrine of equal rights. There Is,
too, a certain bitter flavor OF experience il
the phrase, 1t is safer to dwell near Foosl
yania than with a wife's mother. ."
80 the stale raillery against mothers-in
law has even found sympathizers in Japan"
observed the reporter, who had once tried to
obtain a mother-in-law, but had failed.
Exactly. But you cannot call many Of
their proverbs stale or Improbable. For
instance, Dig two graves before curling u
neighbor' and Tell no secrets to thy ssrv-
ant are not bad rules to follow. have
sometimes wondered, too, whether the Bard
Of Avon stole the japanese proverbs, A
man who lends money to a friend shall
never see either his friend or his monsy
again. which recalls the sage advice OF
Polonius to his son, For loan oft loseth both
itself aud friend The Japanese sayings,
To know the new, search the old and II
you hate ii man let him live and even
their Famous swords ars made Of iron
s~crapings,' are old friends in new dress. But
l must DO off, y looking at his watch and at
the reporter re~proachfully. II am late now.
Good day"