Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-10-06

The lines are built and worked by the
japanese, and all kinds of material and in
struments are turned out of the imperial
workshops. Therefore, you see, in many
respects this is not slow nation.
The Jinrickisha.
This fact is further exemplified in the
general use of the jinrickisha, the some
what high sounding name of vehicle on
two wheels, not unlike what Oliver Wen
dell Holmes called "the one horse shay"
Literally, the word means imam power We
hicle." Hence witty English friend in
lists on calling it pullman car" That
Is about what it is. But what a comfort
You can hire a cody at from 80 to IS cents
a day, and he will await your beck and call
morning, noon and night. He will whit
you over the ground at I rate of six miles
an hour and can easily make 60 miles day
A common trip is from Kioto TO Nara, 30
miles apart. Starting at 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 IL
due to the lightness of the 'rickshaw," az
Englishmen abbreviate the word, and the
admirable character of the roads. My own
particular cody, on pinch, once carried
me five miles in 30 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
Tip" as with one. / have observed, too,
that they will stand a great deal of i'll
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 as a com
pliment.
An Evening Stroll.
Another of the enjoyable features of life
in Japan is when you submit yourself to
the operations of the blind shampooers.
They go through the streets at night, staff
in hand, with a peculiar whistle that is
one of the Characteristic sounds of every
japanese village. Their treatment is re-
ally 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
find out the seat of your trouble in two
minutes without your telling it. The pro-
cess is much recommended to tired ped4s-
trians and to persons suffering from lum-
of the grip, | 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 yet thou
sands of miles distant. You begin to see
modern Europeanized buildings, hotels,
banks, government Offices, asylums and fa-
miliar faces. There are homelke club and
reading rooms, libraries, billiard tables and
bowling Kinks, yet there is something 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 chatter
of the clogs, the dainty children who follow
you about in crowds, scanning every article
Of your own and wifes 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 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 taste unknown else
where. | must add, however, that while
there is much here that appeals to the eye,
both Yokohama and Toxic possess not a
little that appeals to the nose.
G. w. c.
ONE TPtp CIIPCR Linn