St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-03-15
For the Caledonian-
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF JAPAN.
No. 2.

Yokohama to Kobe, for that awful
feeling comes over me as | try to write
and whenever | think of it. We sailed
at IL O'Clock ON Friday, Dec. 2, and
had dinner on board. By 2 O'Clock |
was sick and didn't have another min
ute of comfort except when asleep till
Sunday morning. We had a prince,
YES, two of them, and a princess on
board, and they with their escort of
cavalry men took all the best state
rooms. Ours were in the extreme stern
directly over the propeller where the
motion was great. About 3 o'clock we
three were sitting OF deck in the wind
irving to be comfortable, for we could
not I below, when the captain came
along and spoke to us. Capt. Swain is
a very nice man and always kind to
missionaries. Miss Gulick had met
him before. We explained our situa-
ton and he Immediately invited us all
To his room on the deck amidships
where the motion is least. He made
us as comfortable as possible giving
M the room to us until We landed Sat
urdav night, so in spite of royalty we
were pretty comfortable. Miss Gulick
and Miss Shedd stand the water much
better than | do, and L am already
dreading the trip to KumamOtO. That
night we encountered very heavy
winds, the captain said the worst for a
wear. But enough of this. The shore
all along is wonderfully interesting.
We ran in sight of and all day Satur-
day. The shores are very billy and
rise abruptly from the water, many of
them quite green, the scenery con
stantly changing. b 1t for the winds
we should have reached Kobe at half
past five as it was, it was eight when
we anchored.
Then with our baggage we went
ashore in E'sampans." Miss Hooker
from Kioto, Miss Dudley from Kobe
and Mrs. Theodore Gulick,. o in
Osaka. came down to meet us. Miss
Gulick stayed at Kobe with Miss Dud-
lev. But as Mrs. Gulick had waited so
long for us it was thought best for
Miss Shedd and me to go on with her
an hours ride by railroad to Osaka.
The train was late and it was nearly
midnight before we found a resting
place for our weary heads, in the hos
pitabIe home of Miss Colby, where
Miss Shedd still has headquarters
while | have been taken into the hearts
and homes of the Gulick families, and
made to feel very much at home too.
John Gulick and his family are plan
ming to start for America via Europe
soon, and his brother Theodore and
wife, who have been in Yokohama, are
to live in their house during their alb
sence. Both families are here at pres
ent, and the settling of one and the
unsettling of the other is going on at
the same time. Next door Miss Colby
and Miss Poole of IL mission live and
next to them Mr.. and Mrs Allchin,
and DIR. TaylOr's family not far off.
Miss Colby has been here "a number of
years; will probably have to go home
for rest soon. Miss Poole came last
July. Miss DOughaday has charge of
the Osaka girls school one mile dis
tant she now has 200 pupils in all
with 100 boarders. In all the schools
they have more OF less Japanese teach
ers, their W graduates, and others
whom they can get. At this school
they are very much in need of a music
teacher.
Sunday we rested or read as we
pleased till ) o'clock when we attended
the English church where they have a
service in English every Sunday, the
ministers taking turns preaching. Mr..
Allchin preached that day and it did
seem good to attend service again.
Monday we visited Miss ~DOughaday's
school. Tuesday mt noon we took the
train for Kobe to- attend the mission
ary association meeting held at MIR.
AtkinsOn's. This is an association of
all the different societies in this region
except one. All these societies seem
to be on the best of terms and take
great pains to- work together for the
best ends. The question for discus
sion at this time s GLOW far Is 1t
advisable for our new missionaries to
study the Japanese language to make
it IL medium for imparting spiritual
truth ?" A paper was read by one APP
pointed before hand, then Il free dis
cussion followed. | was very much
Interested. The drift of the meeting
as summed up by the leader was some
thing like this "TO teach in English
is good but to preach or teach in Jap
anese is better, for by that means one
is able to come more into sympathy
with the people and their modes of
thought, and a get at their hearts in
a way not easily done in English"
After the meeting Miss Brown, Miss
Searle and Miss Gunnison, the three
lady teachers in the Kobe girls school,
invited Miss Skedd and me to spend
the night with them and see the school
as much as we wished. So here we
are. Have been visiting classes this
morning. 1t is a very hOmelike place.
Last night when ut 8 o'clock | heard
singing in various parts of the nous
could almost imagine L was back at
H. .nn,5,rr ~, tIa hvn,nS tl,a |
same as we used to sing there. They
have the fifteen minutes prayer meet
ings here as we did there.
KYOTO, Dec. ~.
1t is now two months since | left
home, months so full of new things
that | have ceased to wonder at any
thing. For two weeks we have been
in the sunrise kingdom, admiring its
beauties, looking at its people, inquir-
ing into their habits, peering into
their temples and living upon their
missionaries I | rave visited mission
schools, trying to get ideas and to get
acquainted with missionaries and diff
ferent kinds of work. 1t has been ex-
ceedingly interesting and especially to
find the boarding schools are really so
much like ours. Most of my stay in
this part of the country has been in
Osaka, which is one of the largest
cities of Japan, having a population of
nearly half a million and everything is
so spread out. The houses are 10
and the streets narrow. | don't think
this lazy life is good for me and | find
myself feeling anxious to get to a
place to stay, instead of this perpetual
moving about. Now don't think l am