, 1890-05-14

distinguishes the Japanese people, come
out we'll on these occasions. The three OF
four thousand persons suddenly evlcted Dy
this second fire had all, somehow, found
temporary shelter on the same night, al
though the Shiba schoolrOom In ShlmorlnO
had to be thrown open for the reception OF
some of tho sufferers. A publlc.splrlted
citizen, Mr.. Kakino of Kami Nibancho,
generously gave six houses rent free TOT
thirty DAYS to others and almost by that
time no doubt the quarter will be nearly
rebuilt with new buildings, destined-llke
most of the houses in Tokyo, for want OF
good fire engines and broader sire ets-to
repetition of the same fate.
Education in Japan is plentiful, GOOD
and cheap. I lately visited a large and ex'
cellent school here, containg a thousand
pupils, with English and Japanese pro"
~CeSsors, privately managed, where inc
students paid only one yen per month, That
is to say, about So. 3D., for as much learn
ing of various sorts as they could lmolOe'
A second school which we inspected, unde
the direction of a'Canadian mission, was de-
voted to young Japanese ladies OF the up
per and professional Eclass, who IL seems,
will go anywhere to be instructed, regard
less of religious denomination. 1t was
good to see in one large hall about zOO OF
these pretty, demure, gentle Nippon girls
all working hard at learning English, and
many of them fairly proficient in it. The
little ones, to the number of twenty or
thirty, sang US some charming songs, and
went through some graceful calisthenic ex-
ercises with Indian clubs; and certain of
the older maidens played to us on the piano
and reeited passages of English poetry. In
return for this | was called upon to make
them a little speech, and knowing this be-
forehand, | had the boldness to string to-
gether a few sentences in Japanese, the
English of which I first onOunced, aid
then not without an occasional little sot6
ripple of laughter from the pleasant u q
enCe at my ~blunders, this bit of broken ia
panese, which may at least tell you what
this difficult language looks like and sounds
like.
"Nihon bakari, hoka nj kuni wa mai to
III kotO nareba-gO c~humOn-dOIii! Hoka
nj kuni ga takusan ate wa, so wa ikazu.
Mini kuni uchl Eikok.kuniI gakumOn wa,
chikara wa, hon wa, uta wa, hitO wa ichl-
ban. Koko kara mlfru, kuni-ezu no ne nj,
chisai gozarimas. Skikashi Eikok.kuni
hOntoni ichiban okinS gozarimas sore kara
Kpiko y~oroshiil Nihopjin ne Wa eigo wo
tsukan hito ga-onna kodomO de mo-, ina
mimas-taksan gozarimas! EikOk-kuni no
Rotoba wa taihen irikunda mOno da-domo!
taiSo ~muzukashii. Skikashi shidai nj o
yOmi nj hama. ga Saki, mi ga mari, kwalraku
no shurui ga oku mo okiku mo naru wakari
kite iru to skite mireba. Troiro nami'
ka no sewa ga yaketari, samazama no
tsurai koto nj tabi.rabi, atari skite. Aa !
Kurushii Kurushiil Jitsu nj kono yo
gy iva nj natta to toki-dohi omou koto,
mo arimaBhita ga. Sono toki nj tikok go
no o wakari tanoshimi ka kane Ia, ku sarl
ka mochi ka mo shiSan."
All this in my English address would be:
"If only Japan existed-if there we're no
other countries except Japan-t hen, indeed
you could all do as you plea sed. But there
are go many other coun tries which you
must learn about, SO that this is out OF the
question. Of all those cou ntries there is
none so famous or 80 interesting as Eng.
land, whether for learning, for power, for
books, for poetry, or for renowned men.
To look upon her from this place, to study
her ON the map, she, no doubt, seems
small, but in reality she 10 the largest EN-.
pire in all the world. Therefore to study
her language is excellent. Among the
people of Japan there are many who under
stand English, and, as l am glad to see
to-day many also of Japanese ladies. The
grammar of English is, / feae sadly dlth,
cult, grievopsly embarrassing, indeed. But
at tile last it's study produces flowers, pro-
ducees fruit, produces all kinds of pleasures
and advantages. 1t is too certain that III