Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-26

talked worse Japanese, but we finally con-
GUIDED that we understood each other. I
.kichi' for short. The long e sound of the
! made 1t so pretty. l decided that. she
was more beautiful than ever, and told the
broker to hurry up the
MARRIED BY NATIVE RITES.
II intended to have the nuptial bonds
solemnized by some missionary. but the
broker said that it was not necessary.
she mack good wife he volunteered,
and heartily agreed with him.
there were a few flowers scattered
around. and Sakichi and / broke the rice
cake. The simplicity of the whole thing
startled me. but my pride appeared salts
fled, and l had TO be. l paid the broker his
charges, an insignificant sum, and | was a
married man.
Were we happy? sakichi appeared to
be. and | can say that | was. She was the
she had a bright mind. and the way she
learned English was surprising. She, was
very domestic in her tastes, and Kept the
little house l had bought in perfect order.
l was as proud of her as I could abe, and
whenever / went out in the evening on hol-
days | took her with me. When I CAME
home from business she was Away wait
ing to receive me. and | had to give her
about a thousand kisses before l sor inside
of the house. Thus matters went eon for
three months. D A
'One day business called me into the
north part OF the island, and I expected to
50 and see a famous Shinto temple on MY
journey. IL was, pfactlcallN Impossible Tor
me to take Sakichi with me. ands I told
her that she must stay and keep house for
me.
You no come back she said, tear
fully.
Ives, I will, Kichi.' I said. as kissed
her.
Il expected to return in three weeks. but
1t was hard to get coolies for the jinriki-
shaw, the roads were not in the best con-
dition at that time of the year. and it was
five weeks before l was home again. {
lNaiI fhn onn1inc trn n, LJ,YrN ny fn. =
was anxious to see Kichi.
FOUND HIS BRIDE HAD MARRIED.
when l arrived l found the house de-
serted. kichi was gone. l asked the peo-
pie in the neighborhood. and they were
surprised to see me. They gave me to UNI
a week before. Finally l found her. She
was married to a young and handsome
Japanese policeman. Perhaps hat is the
day. | was furious, and Sakichi, who
never expected to see me again. was in
tears. | asked her what she meant by de-
sorting me in that style. After l had
waded through the sobs and broken Eng
lish, | learned that she had always under
stood that our marriage was one of those
temporary matrimonial bargains for the
benefit of foreigners.
II told her that such was not the case;
that had intended to marry her for Keeps.
l insisted that she return to me. To this
her new husband strenuously objected. He
had married her according to the orthodox
methods of the country, and she was his
for life. l appealed to the broker. and
then kicked him out of his hut. He, too,
told me there was no hope. ! tried to en-
list the aid of the. authorities, but they told
me would have to get another wife. The
broker whom l had kicked came up and
offered to provide me with a spouse who
would discount Sakichi. l got furious and
threatened to kick him again:
broken. She said she would never love any
one as she did her American husband.
around, l came to the conclusiont that I
had better make the best of it. l did the
graceful thing by presenting my former
wife and her policeman husband with the
house wherein we had spent the three
months of our married life. Then. l left
Yokohama, never to return. To some 1t
will appear like a huge joke. but will
state that those were the happiest days of
my life. I often wonder whether Sakichi
is still living, and whether she thinks of
her former husband as often as he, does of
her. -. ~ Ilng4 MA