Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-11-14
MISS FLORENCE PATTON

Writes the Editor of the Ledger An
Interesting Letter From Japan
Her Many Friends in Mexico
Will Be Glad to Know
That She is Well.
Miss Florence d. Patton, as the read
ers of the LEDGER are aware, is mis-
sionary to Japan from the Presbyter-
ian church OF Mexico. She writes the
editor of the LEDGER the following
personal letter, which will be of in
terest to all our readers:
Correspondence of the Ledger.
OSAKA, JAPAN, Oct. IL, 1s95.-Ihave
thought SO many times of writing you
a few lines, but / have been moving
around SO much and / am not yet set
tied, as my station is Tokushima, and
l am staying in Osaka at present.
Cannot go to my station yet, as Mrs.
Hope, with whom I am to live, is sick
and not able to leave Kobe, so / en-
braced the opportunity to come here
and study under a very fine teacher.
know ! have your sympathy when
you consider what it means for a
woman to be unable to talk. Not on
ly that, but when you get a word, and
at the first opportunity use it, some
one Immediately tells you that tho
word means something entirely diff
ferent in that sentence. l learned the
word "gozen",rice. Last Sabbath
the preacher took the collection
baskets and as he handed them to the
deaeons said something about"
/ wondered what he could be saying
about rice. When l reached home l
looked in the dictionary and saw that
"gozen'' meant forenoon also.
Consequently to my teacher l re-
marked that l did SO and so "~gozen."1
"Oh, mol" he said, 'syou must say
'hiru- mae1 which also means fore
noon" On looking up the word for
"rice" the dictionary gave only
twenty-four different words, any one
of which may be used, but only in a
certain place.
But / do enjoy studying the Ian
guage and using the words, too. The
Japanese seem delighted when we use
their language, and with them ETH
quette is of paramount Importance,
and at your most ludicrous mistakes
they never smile. TO Judge from their
expression you would think you were
doing yourself proud in the use of the
language, but just take a peep after
they have stepped out and you will
see them convulsed with laughter.
Another funny thing in the language
is the use of two little particles, sga''
and "wa," used to designate the sub
ject of a sentence. For instance, we
would say sthe man did So" The ia
panese say "man ga" or sman
wa," and the question is, which
is it, "man gan or 'sman wa?" No
body in all Japan has a rule and
everybody is looking for me, but my
teacher has a rule which he always
lapplies to me, and it is this: When /
say "wa" he tells me / must say "ga,"
and when I say ssga" he tells me /
must say "wa.n But "ga" or iva" I
am gaining about a pound and a half
a week in advoirdupois.
The Northern Presbyterian church
sustained such a sad loss this week in
the death of Mr.. Woodruff. He was
such a useful man and leaves a sick
wife and three little children. His
home is here in Osaka but he died in
Kyoto, which to the Japanese seems
very strange, as they have a horror
of dying away from home, and if pos
sible they get the sick person home to
die. Sometime ago a Japanese of
considerable rank, whose home was
here in this city, had gone to Kyoto;
while there he was taken very sick
and died before they could start home
with him. A strange procedure fol-
lowed. His friends felt the situation
SO keenly that they were determined
to thwart the result, so they had his
body embalmed in a sitting posture,
using vermilion to give a glow in his
cheeks; took him to the train; took
him into the coach; placed him in a
seat next to the window and a friend
sat by and held him there until they
reached this place, when they put him
in a carriage with open window and
held him SO the people could see him
as they rode through the streets of
Osaka. They took him to his home
and kept him for several days, then
announced that he was dead, had the
funeral and buried him.
After a death they have a period of
forty-nine days for mourning, at the
close of which the family Of the de-
ceased send presents to all who at
tended the funeral, thereby signifying
that the period for mourning is at an
end. This envelope I inclose is used
to send the present in and is sacred to
that purpose. The lotus flower is
sacred to Buddha; the writing is. the
announcement in Chinese character.
1t is also a rule of the Medes and
P~ersians that everyone who receives
a present must return another OF
similar value. This rule Is very hard
on the poor people but they all con-
form to it.
Ihave only heard twice from Mex
leo as my address has not been known.
but it is Tokushima, japan. hope to
hear from you all. Remember me tc
all my friends with best wishes.
Sincerely,
FLORENCE ID. PATTON.
Acme Plaster,
La Crosse Lumber Co,
Married at the Southern.
- z~x-- Al. Gl1lA o-nx.~ -