The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-01-26
A CITY WITHOUT HORSES.

Rule
A CITY WITHOUT HORSES.
Sir Edwin Arnold on the Sights and
Silence of the Great Japanese city.
Nature has done much for Toxic.
She has given her not merely seven
hills as to ancient Rome, but seventy,
which rise all round about the great
sea marsh on which the city is princi-
pally built redeeming its appearance
with handsome rolling border of rich
foliage and lofty banks of residences,
besides bestowing the two intraurban
parks of Ueno and Shi ba, which arc full
of noble forest timber, cryptomeria,
oak, bamboo, camphor and elm. 1t is,
moreover, when you begin to traverse
Toxic from end to end, ON various
errands of pleasure or business in diff
ferent directions, that you learn what
huge and busy world of life and in
dustry it is There are over $500
temples and shrines in the streets and
lanes, of which ten out of eleven are
Buddhist There are thousands of
bridges, 'arge and small, for Toxic is
or Venice. Tens of thousands of quaint,
high-prowed boats and barges go up
and down these networks of water. On
their banks and in the open spaces are
to be seen thronged and busy markets.
Every street and lane is lined with
shops large and small, wherein
all sorts of trades and small man.
nfAnfnFRC An nd
stream of citizens, male and female,
old and young, lettering for pleasure or
Fastening upon business, fills the cause
ways, viii h have no sidewalks, and
therefore seem to run like living rivers
banks high. All the children of each
neig hborhood, moreover, make the adj
jacent street their playground. They
fly their kites there, there they beat to
and fro their shuttlecocks; they play
there, in merry little demure groups, at
ken, the Japanese "Buck! Buck! how
many fingers do / hold up?' or at the
foX-game, or at the ''bllnd-devil;" or
they gather round the Ameya, to see
him blow sweetmeats of grotesque shape
out of bean-paste; while the vender of
fish shuffies along with his tubs; the
newspaper man rings his bell; the
babies ''wobble" on the backs of their
mothers, sisters and aunts; and the neat
ly decked geishas, with sober haori COW
ering their finery, and black tresses
coiffeed until not single hair is astray.
trot on Gathering geta to the dinner
party where they are engaged to dance
and sing.
Why is it, then, you ask yourself, that
in this vast capital there prevails such
peace and calm? Fresh from New York,
from Chicago. from San Francisco, the
immense solitudes of the Pacific have
scarcely succeeded in effacing from
your tinkling nerves and throbbinQ
ears the rattle and hurry and clamor OF
modern American existence in the great
centers of republican civilization. What
makes Toxic so different? Why can
you stroll along its endless streets,
absorbed in fancies or memories,
without being recalled to vigilance by
deafening uproar or by actual danger
to life or limb? The answer lies in the
absence of horse traffic. 1t is that and
the happy lack of tram cars, electric
cars, omnibuses and all the other We
hicles of daily use in America, which
gives to these Asiatic highways their
tranquility and safety. Except in the
Gina and Nihombasni. with one or two
other main thoroughfares, those noisy
necessities of locomotion will not be
SEEN The little two-wheeled "riclxsha,"
gliding everywhere innocently and
noiselessly, transacts almost all the
movement of the great capital, so
that the streets are as safe for children
and infirm people as they are quiet for
everybody. There must be more than
100, 900 jinrikishas in Toxic. for all the
world rides in these cheap, commodious
and rapid, if ridiculous, conveyances,
of which the two-legged steeds never
shy nor jib nor bolt, and very seldom
stumble or fall Not the least marvel
Gus or remarkable thing about modern
Japan is the manner in which she has
invented, and universally adopted,
mode of locomotion that so exactly
suits her people, her towns and cities
and her narrow roads. The happy con-
sequence is that all her days are peace
full, and that at night her citizens sleep
the "sleep of the just" undisturbed by
any noise except that of the ubiquitos
nezumi the Toxic rat and the occasional
ominous sound of the hansho--the
dreaded firebell- -Cosmopolitan.
disappointed.
Negroes. even more than white peo-