The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-11-29

a htC die there III nOTQ6S. Inoy
are the elect people of Japan, and g
man would be torn in pieces who in
vaded their rights They come into
your box unasked and eat your sweet
meats without word except the pre-
: llnlinary please and the final thank
you" The tots go behind the certain
and invade the dressing rooms of the
actors and no one says them nay.
SOME CONDITIONS.
i The speaker described the govern
ment Of the nation as limited mon
archy, and delivered a short history
/ on the change from the reign of the
Shoguns, with which all are familiar
The social status is good with the ex-
! ception of the women, who are bought
and sold A man may buy a wife or
| a servant. Divorces are common. So
soon as man divorces a wife he may
marry again. He cannot, however, di-
vorce his wife without consent of his
father, if the old man be living. If
the woman offends her father-in-law
she is divorced, and the son has no al
tentative. When man buys wife she
must be acceptable to the father of the
groom first. Then she is one of the
| family, and the father-in-law becomes
her father. So long as she retains the
good will of the old man she is prac-
tically safe, no matter what her hus-
band may think The women are un-
educated and have one custom which
may be the cause of a great deal of
domestic infelicity. So soon as Wo-
man marries she is supposed to do
something TO prevent her attracting
other men. She blacks her teeth and
sometimes initiates her features so
she may be unattractiVe. 1t is some
times the case that she renders herself
unattractive to her husband by these
means.
The speaker did not think the gov
eminent would long endure. He I'M
derstood there was a plan to over
throw it. Not that the imperial gov
eminent was to be disturbed but the
government surrounding it. The Japan
csc believe in the divine origin Of the
Mikado. They reverse the order of
things as we believe in them. We des-
ignate the moon as a female because
of its Inconsistency. The japanese des-
ignate it as a male for the same rea-
son and call the sun a female be-
cause of his constancy. Those who de-
sire to overthrow the government are
those who desire to keep out the for
eigners, while they adopt his customs.
AS TO RELIGION.
AS to religion, there is practically no
religion. The speaker asked his guide
if he was a Shinto and he replied in
the negative. care you Buddhist
No "a follower of Confucius?"
No" Then what are your "a Chris
tan" We'll, what do you believer
ooh, nothing" The Shintos are those
who worship their ancestors. The
Buddhists came with his numerous
gods and his doctrines of reincarnation
and grated them on and this religion
became quite popular with the common
people. The imperial family are still
Shintoists. The Japanese pray to their
gods whenever they want something
they cannot attain. They are self-re-
liant and they do not appeal to their
gods when they can attain by ordi-
the mothers, are prone to show more
respect to their gods. The offerings to
the demon mother are profuse, espec-
tally about the time child is born,
when they offer little garments in the
temples The demon mother was
woman who devoured her own children
but was purified by Buddha and be-
came the especial protector of the chill
dren.
The japanese have one god who is
the one who takes care of the spirits
of the children who die. His name
sounds very much like Jesus, but he
was a god long centuries ere the Jap
anese heard of the Saviour of men.
When the little ones cross the river
which divides the land of shadows
from this world they build little mon
uments of pebbles as prayers for the
father and mother and brothers and
sisters they have left behind. From
up out of the river comes demons who
brighten them with horrible cries.
This god appears and says to them
Fear not, little ones, 1 will protect
you" and gathers them to him and dis
perses the demons. About his statue
the fathers and mothers who have lost
children and the children who have
brothers and sisters in the spirit land
cast pebbles that the little ghost chill
dren may have no trouble in building
their prayer monuments.
CHINA AS IT Is.
From Japan the speaker took his au-
dience to China. There is an entirely
different race of people. While the
japanese works for eight and ten cents
per day in our money, the Chinaman
is content to labor for four and six
cents. For $40 of cent he gets
meal of rice and wheat Small things
are in his way. He is insensible to
pain. The speaker told q story of a
Chinaman who visited a battlefield for
the purpose of picking up shells so he
tearing the bullet from a loaded one,
it exploded and blew three fingers from
one hand. He went home and washed,
something very uncommon in that
country, and returned. He found a
shell from d cannon, in taking it apart
it exploded and blew off an arm and a
leg. He laid there all night on the
field and was found by a. mandarin,
who directed his coolies to take him
to hospital. They tired of the bur
den and threw him in a ditch under a
hedge to die. He laid there "a hours
and was finally taken by some others
to a hospital. Six months later that
of a man was engaged in
sorting shells on that same battlefield.
The government is one merely of tax
alton. Sometimes they cut off the col
lector's head and the emperor appoints
a new one.
They are great agriculturists. They
raise three crops per year on land
which has been titled 5000 years. They
economic beyond conception The
speaker related a tale of one woman
who went to a graveyard to die so her
children would not have the expense
of hauling her thither They assimilate
everything. They win victories by
They have no wants which
are our wants Until they can be in
dueed to acquire customs which de-
mand a greater supply of things from
this world they will be dangerous COM
petitors. Civilization may sweep over
them, but they will retain only what
they want and the balance will go by
unnotPd