Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-10-23
JAPANESE ODDITIES.
Queer Because One Never Sees Them i
ChrysanthemumL Land.


Chrysanthemum Land.
One sees lots of queer things in
Japan, and Mr.. Kaneko, the assistant
minister of commerce and agriculture,
tells me, says a correspondent of the
| Chicago Record, that he is writing a
book on the peculiarities of his people.
The Japanese address letters the re-
verse from what we do, writing the
country first. the State or province
next, then the city, the street and
number and the name last of all,
| which, when you come to think of it,
is very sensible method, and would
be encouraged by our postmen and the
distributing clerks in our postofices.
The japanese carpenter has the
blade of his plane fastened upward in
| the top of his bench and shoves the
board or the plank across it. He pulls
his saw toward him. instead of showing
it away from him with his weight up
on it.
The needle woman sews from her
body, instead of toward it, The eye
of the needle is at the point, and the
thread is not cut from the spool until
the seam is finished, but is drawn
along through every stitch. She uses
a paper thimble, oiled and waxed, in
steam of a metal one.
A tailor makes the lining to a gar
ment first, and cuts out the cloth from
it as pattern.
Horses are always hitched tail first
in the stall and are fed from nose bags,
and an arrangement that looks like a
hammock of knitted rope holds the
hay. The name and harness fasten-
| - L Il. kho Iof<
side, and the rider mounts from the
right side.
A Japanese book begins at the last
page and reads from right to left in
stead OF the reverse, as with us. The
lines run up and down the page, and
the foot notes" are at the top. The
first column of newspaper is on the
right hand edge of the page, and the
favorite place for advertisements is in
the middle instead of at the top or
bottom of a column.
Every house has garden behind it
with foliage plants and flowers con-
cealed from the public, and generally
little fountain and basin of water
with goldfish in it, while the clubhouse.
which we place In the rear of our
dwellings and conceal as much as pos
sible, is usually near the front en-
trance.
The Japanese build the roof of their
house first upon the ground. 1t is
then raised and the walls are placed
under it. The walls are usually of
braided bamboo, plastered inside and
out, and then covered with clapboards
or heavy coating as stucco. Wooden
houses are seldom painted, but the ma
tural color of the wood is allowed to
ripen. Stucco houses are always
painted black and the surface is polish
ed so that it shines like a new stove.
| The keys to japanese locks always
turn in the opposite way from those OF
ours and the lock is placed upon the
jamb instead of upon the floor.
Articles upon the bills of fare in
hotels and restaurants are numbered
and you order by number instead Of
the name. This is a great advantage
| to people who do not understand the
language nor know how to pronounce
| 1t.
Police and railway officials carry
paper lanterns properly marked with
their names and numbers and othel
useful in formation.
| A felt want is that gnawing at The
stomach after you have eaten full
meal, and can't eat any more, and ye
there is that feeling as though yor
had eaten nothing. What is wanted
then is dose of Simmons Liver Regu
lator, the best Dyspepsia cure, for thai