The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1889-03-23
IlJibDoanx 5tntintl
SATURDAY, MARCH %, 1889,
Among the japanese.
SOME OF THE PLEASANT THINGS TO BE
SEEN IN THE LAND OF n MIKADO.

The first thing that strikes the Wis
itor to Japan is the exceedingly civil
ity of every body, custom-house Off
GERS included. Cheerfulness, good tenn
per and %politeness are universal. The
mothers smile, the children chatter
without q%uarleling in the streets, and
it is a pleasure to watch the ordinary
wOrk-people as they meet and go
through the prescribed etiquette of
bowling and shaking hands with each
other. Differences over the carriage
Of your person and effects-if they
exist-are speedily settled without the
use Of bad language and angry oaths,
and in less time than it takes to write,
the traveller and his baggage are put
into "jinrikishas" Tor light carriages
drawn by one or more men %scantily
dressed. with funny white hats shaped
like mushrOOms), and are trOtted off
to the Grang Hotel, famous for it's
English comfort and French cuisine.
These Sjinrikishas," or men-power
carriages, deserve IA word or two in
passing. OF modern invention, they
have been improvised to supply the
want Of horses and fys, and it ia
marvellous to see what power of endur-
ance and capacity for toll is to be
found amongst the little broad should
cred coolies who draw them. 1t ia
quite a common thing for them to
keep up a good steady pace of six or
even miles an hour, on a diet of rice,
fish or tea, for rs many hours in the
day, and all this for the scanty wage
OF q little over two cents a mile.
These are stubborn facts, which, by
comparison, make one tremble for
the future of the English working
classes, unless they make up their
minds to grid themselves up for the
coming struggle. The bitter cry of
employers ut home increases yearly |
with the increasing dislike of the ris- |
ing generation to hard manual labor.
Throughout Europe and Asia is the
same stOry-Germans and Japanese
beat us with our W weapons, because
they work harder, longer and for less
wages. 1t was not always SO ; but ed
ucation has softened us, and philan-
throphy, with the best intentions, is
doing all it a to destroy the sturdy
of self Independence, once the
pride Of the British workman.
In Japan man certainly "wants but
little here below" With cotton
clothes, a diet of rice and fish, and a
of waffle and daub, domestic
bills are not high. An ordinary coolie
labOrer in the fields is content with
half q dollar a week. A clerk in a
government Office is we'll paid with
ESQ q year, and a Cabinet Minister
With 5000. The so-called necessi-
les of life in all classes are at least
,ne.third of what they would be in
he United States, or in Europe.
The street and roads in and about
he capital are good, clean, fairly
lighted and admirably policed, and
he railroad Of eighteen miles TO
rokio|built,. like all the railroads of
he country, after the English model
little to be desired. The
itself extends over a..large area,
is said to contain a million inhab-
tants. The area it covers is. enor-
nous, embracing as it does numerous
emples surrounded by groves of
.vergreen trees, and parks laid out in
European fashion.-Nineteenth Centm-
y. II