Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-10-13

The lines are built md worked by the
Japanese. and all kinds Of material and IN
struments are turned nj of the imperial
workshops. therefore, you see, in many
respects this is not a slow nation.
The J%inrickisha.
This fact is further exempliied in the
general use Of the jinrickisha, the some
what high sounding name of II vehicle on
two wheels, not unlike what Oliver Wen
dell Holmes called 1.-THE one horse shay"
Literally, the word means "man power We
hicle." Hence IL witty English friend in
sists on calling it n pullman car" That
is about what it is. But what II comfort!
You can hire IL cody at from IS to IS cents
day. and he will await your beck and call,
morning, noon and night. He will whirl
you over the ground ut the rate of six miles
All hour and can easily make GO miles a day.
\ common trip is from kioto to Nara, 80
miles apart. Starting ut : O'Clock in the
morning from one of these points, we have
returned in time for dinner. The cody
will run all day, stopping for say only two
hours rest out of IL. OF course the speed
and the luxury of this kind of travel is
due to the lightness of the "rickshaw," MS
Englishmen abbreviate the word, and the
admirable character of the roads. My own
particular cody, on a pinch, once carried
me five miles in 80 minutes. may say
here that servants of all kinds in Japan,
while not averse to fees, never ask for them
and will treat you just as well without IL
tip rs with one. l nave observed, too,
that they will stand IL great deal of ill
treatment from inconsiderate persons with
out retaliating. They seem to enjoy being
called "a liar" My only explanation is
that, being anxious to acquire European
customs, they regard the epithet us a COM
pliment.
An Evening Stroll.
Another of the enjoyable features of life
n Japan is when you submit yourself to
the operations of the blind shampooers.
They &C through the streets at night, staff
in hand, with Il peculiar'whistle that is
one of the characteristic sounds of every
Japanese village. Their treatment is re-
ally a species of massage and consists of a
peculiar way of picking up every muscle,
and, so to speak, kneading it until your
pains and aches disappear and you feel re-
freshed. So expert are they that they will
lind out the seat of your trouble in two
minutes without your telling it. The pro-
cess is much recommended to tired pedes-
TRANS and to persons suffering from lum-
bago and rheumatism. Having an attack
OF the grip, l found the treatment of one of
these blind shampooers better than all the
medicines that had been prescribed, and
the fee was only 80 cents an honr.
When you have got this far around the
world, journeying by way of the Mediter-
%ranean, Red sea, India and China and set
foot on the soil of Yokohama, you feel as if
you were almost home, though vet thou
sands of miles distant. You begin to see
modern Europeanized buildings, hotels,
banks, government offices, asylums and ia
miliar faces. There are homelike club and
reading rooms, libraries, billiard tables and
bowling Kinks, yet there is somethingin indie
%scribably interesting in the things that are
foreign, and you want to linger. You are
attracted by the quaint little houses, the
native dress which western fashions and
fabrics have not yet completely driven out,
the open air life of the people, the clatter
of the clogs, the dainty children who follow
you about in crowds, scanning every article
of your WI and wife's attire and laughing
IN great glee, the grotesqueness of the SO
called European costumes of many of the
ladies and gentlemen of the middle class
and the manner in which they are worn.
and finally the shops and shopkeepers, po-
lite, eager and ever anxious to drive a bar
gain.
In fact, to stroll down the "Broadway"
OF Toxic or Yokohama of an evening is a
liberal education in everyday art, for what
ever these people fashion, from the toy of
an hour to the triumphs of the highest
skill, is touched by a taste unknown else
where. l must add, however, that while
there is much here that appeals to the EYE,
both Yokohama aud Toxic possess not a
little that appeals to the nose.
G. w. C.