Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1896-09-16
lDYLuiC LIFE IN JAPAN.
Dainty Little Houses Set in a Rustic
Glen.


Ter of the village In the ravine behind
tue temple, Inhabited by priests and su.
perlor folk; and the far rayine holds the
Momijl, or Maple-leaf, Tea-house-
mcst bewitching cluster of doll-houses
in the most picturesque setting ever
found In Japan. There Is the usual
large living room, or office of the land
lord, and general food preparing"
room for the establishment opening on
the roadway; but within the gates one
finds a deep, green glen, an awful
chasm some fifteen feet deep and twice
as wide, all Allied with delicate, airy
branches of cut-leaf naples. A terri
ble torrent some two feet wide dashes
madly down from the mountain side,
spreads out into lake the size of u
large dinner table, with a wooden sauce
boat moored at one side
Each vantage spot on the steep bank
holds one, two or three roomed doll
house-such dainty, exquisite little toy
dwellings, with such fairy balconies,
such spotless screens and soft, shining
mats, that one hesitates to desecrate
them with the clumsy, deflling, destruc-
tive appurtenances of the simplest for
elgn living; and as for himself fitting
into one of these midget mansions. it
Is Gulliyer alive among the Lilllputlans.
Our life in that glen of maple leaves
was full of interest, from the moment
of slipping back the screens in the
morning with some anxiety lest the
mite of glen and its midget lake were
not there or real-rolled up over night,
and some other charming japanese drop
banging of the amados, or wooden outer
screens, at night.
The deer were friends and nelghbors
from the moment Of our arrival, coming
to drink from the musical fountain Jet
in our three-feet-square court of en-
trance, and then to the edge Of our
porch to bob their heads In well-man-
nered appeals for deer cake. These
pretty beggars, with their lovely eyes.
their sharp muzzles, and delicate feet,
seemed to know the value of their
charms, and having no fear of man,
hnd only to pose few moments to move
tho stoniest and most ndolent heart
to wait on them. 1t was even more
idyllic In the early morning to find
some antlered friend, or an equally
fearless doe and her tiny fawn, waiting
by the lakeside to share our breakfast.
After Miyajima one may well boast
Of having lived In Arcadia, and each
day, more idyllic than the other. puts
one In the better spirit for enjoying the
rare Japanese charm of 1t all. The
peace of the island Is as perfect as its
pety, and few sounds but the gently
dashlng stream and the flutter of ma
tie glen. One spoke softly, as befitted
place of such perfect beauty. Neigh
oors came to the doll houses across the
chasm, but only the rat-tat of their
pipes on the bamboo cups of the tobacco
trays was evidence of their presence
there.
In that simple, intimate life there
were no mysteries, not even of the
menu. All the villagers who passed
might stop and watch our cook making
his highly colored curry for our midday
meal; and the peddlers who came to
tempt the tea house maids with gay
kimono patterns watched his strange
concoctions, and sought preteXts to
watch our further play with the knife
ard fork as we sat at feast on our lit
tie veranda over the lake. The small
boy Of the tea house added the comic
element, and his morning pursuit of
our dinner chicken was always fea-
ture. He would chase the angry hen
around and around the lake, and when
1t fed cackling up the bank, a swift
movement of his palm across the lake
would squirt such showers of water on
the ruffled fowl as might soon empty
the whole vast deep and rob the ra-
vine of it's choicest landscape ornament
When the tea house staff had combined
against the hen, our majordomo would
bring the captive to US in his arms and
display the fine stew chicken"
There was a solidity and an adaman-
tine fibre to the Miyajima fowls that
resisted ordinary cooking, and we COM
manded one day that the bird should
be divided at every joint, the body quar-
tered, and all kept stewing for three
hours during which we expected to be
zone on an excursion. Summoned tC
see If all was right, we found the pallid
luncooked chicken dismembered to the
last joint; but the whole puzzle had
Ipeen neatly put together again, and the
lbird wound over and over with the
closest network Of fine spool cotton-a
strange travesty on that Gulliyer tC
whom we were always comparing our
selves.-Century