The Dickinson press., 1896-10-03
A HATLEss EOPL
The Japs Not Afraid of the Direct
Rays of the Sun.

Ine J0p0 Not Afraid OF tho Direct
Rays of the SUM-.
Said the man from Japan rs he read
Of eighteen men and women overcome
by the heat in a single day: II never
heard Of a sunstroke over there among
the natives. l don't believe there Is a
word for it in the japanese language.
I'm going back 1 don't want to drop
on the street and have an ambulance
jolt out the little life left in getting ME
to the hospital just in time for q death
certificate.
II cau't say why folk don't have
sunstroke IN Japan. Foreigners that
have been long in the country declare
that it is the electricity in the atuios-
phe.c. Perhaps it is. l never heard
the action Of electricity explained.
zone doesn't hear Of sunstroke ex-
cept from globe trotters arG 'grifhns.'
'Grif1ns' are newcomers. They have
elaborate outfits of camphOr bags,
cholera belts, p;th helmets lined with
sponge and double-felted hats with
patent ventilators. They also carry
umbrellas, and If they walk four steps
at any time between sunrise and sun
set they drink brandy pegs to reduce
their temperature. A peg said a
globe trOtter once, is q panacea for
every ILL.,
"Surely, IL a sunstroke were possible
In Japan there would have been no
japanese to conquer China, for from
the time they are born the u has
every possible chance to kill them.
They are taken out before their eyes
are open or q; single hair can be de-
tected IN their bobbing heads, and,
with no covering, they are trotted
about on the backs of their wee nurses.
These nurses themselves are only
large enough to walk, and, like their
infant charges, they are ~bareheaded.
1.-THE principal occupation Of these
balya, as they are called, is playing
hop-scotch. This they do all summer
long, the infants on their backs being
Of secondary consideration. The babes
bearers shoulders, while the rays
from the sun pour down with no more
effect, apparently, than to develop q
healthylooking brown complexion.
"The wearing of hats Is a new fash.
ion to the Japanese, and is quite un-
necessary. The word for hat is 'shap-
po.' from the French 'chapeau.' Hats
are common enough in the cities,
where there is an idea that, like swal.
l0w-tail coats, they are a mark of civ.
i%lization; but throughout the rural dis
trictS they ire seldom seen, and In the
towns the children have NO use fol
them. Youngsters' heads r shaved
In various fanciful ways, and hats
would hide the tufts Of soft black hair
which are al much a mothers pride
as are the golden curls on the heads o.
the precious little Fauntleroys O
America.
"Some children are always out O.
doors in Japan, except when they ca
or sleep, but danger from sunstroke i
never thought of. Upon the farms til
men wear q .fundoshi' only. This is
strip Of cloths six feet long and one foo
wide. They are brown as the soil the!
till, but are never sunstruck. Thei
wives, who work beside them, ar,
naked to the waist. Boatmen, too, G,
naked well nigh the whole year round
and coolies are not burdened will
much clothing. Yet they thrive.
II grew skeptical of sunstrokes sool
after / reached Japan, and despite til
protests Of other new arrivals, I dis
carded hat and clothes. l never fel
better In my life than I did then. Yes
I'm going back to Japan, nature an,
the sunshine."-New York Press.