Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1895-06-21
SPRING IN JAPAN.
An Interesting Letter from Miss
Alice RI. Otto.

Our Most Ordinary Flowers are
Priced Above all Others In the
Orient.---Public School Com
mencement.---A Hint for Her
Friends.
YoNEzAwA, JAPAN, May Is
DEAR FRIENDS OF THE GRAPH
IC:-It has been some time since |
last wrote you but let me assure
you twas only for lack OF time,
the moments pass so rapidly here
in this work that can scarcely
keep track of the days, and it does
not seem possible that neatly nine
months have passed since ] left
our beloved America.
l meant to write letter de-
cribing the winter scenes in Yone-
zawa, while we were almost buried
with snow six and seven feet deep,
with icecicleS six inches in width
(not roundD hanging from the
roof to the ground till one could
scarcely tell whether their growth
has been upward or downward;
but now since spring is here |
think the colder subject will keep
till some time in the future and |
will take up the other while the
scenes are fresh in my mind.
/ wish that the powers of accur-
ate description were mine that |
might picture to you some of the
fair scenes that greet us here in
early spring The mountains which
were so grand during the winter,
wrapped in mantle of white, are
no less beautiful now covered with
numerous varieties of evergreens
and shrubs clothed in their fresh
tints of green.
On the crest and in the
deep ravines down the mountain
sides the snow still fingers con-
trasting beautifully in the morn
ing sunlight with the verdure that
covers the slopes.
One of the chief attractions oil
Japan, at this season is the plum
and cherry blossoms. 1t will no
doubt seem strange to you that
flowers we think so little about at
home are priced above all Others
here; but you would cease to won
der if you could see them once in
all their beauty. The trees are
loaded with red, white, pink and
cream blossoms as double as the
most perfect rose. The plum
flower is about the size of our OWL
but the cherry is larger than oul
apple and peach blossoms. The
Flora of Japan seems as widely
separated from that of America as
the two countries are by the broaC
ocean that rolls between them.
watched with no little interest fol
the first flowers of spring and VI
to this time have seen only three
species that grow in that locality
The sturdy old dandeiion grow:
here just as thrifty as it does there
| was surprised to see what | hat
supposed to be only common
hedge fence turn into a fragran
mass of pink and white blossoms
with the first few warm days; i
seems that the most unpretentiou.
looking shrubs bear lovely flowers
There is such a great variety o
ferns here and the kinds that W,
search for at home in the depths o
the woods, grow here in the street
all along the edges of the waite
ways and in everybody's yard
This land is indeed good to lool
at and it only needs the refining
power of the Gospel to Transform
it into a Garden of Eden; for theS
fair scenes are sadly marred b.
the immortality and vice whicl
reigns on every hand.
The commencement exercises Q
the schools here are held in Apr
l or May,-I speak of the Govern
ment schools, and only those pee
: pie attend that receive an INVITA-
ton. | had the honor of bein
4 invited to the exercises of tn
largest school in this place.
There are about so teachers i
t the school and over 5000 childre
a attend. This year over 80 pupil
graduated from the advanced de
partment and over 400 from tn