Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1899-10-05
SHEPHERDSTOWN W. VA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5. 1899.

hours, we travelled over ffty-fve miles
by iinrikisha through a range Of noun
tains. The men who pulled us
changed at intervals of about two
miles. On another day, the same
man drew one of us, with about fifty
pounds of baggage, nearly thirty-fve
miles. Notwithstanding the summer
heat and the end of this journey,
which had greatly fatigued us, found
him cheerfully smiling and anxious to
take US further next day The charge
for his jinrikisba and his work was the
equivalent of so cents. On the prin-
cipal that such grit and amiability
under a summer sun deserves recon-
pense, we gave him dollar.
The natural scenery Of Japan is very
picturesque. Il is not the stupendous
splendor of snow-clad mountains, as
in Switzerland. It's the sublime beau
ty of infinite variety of landscape,
clad in dense green garb, striped by
silver streams, and sharply defined by
irregular, angular, precipitous peaks
whose barren SUBMITS pierce the sky.
The wondrously green, wondrously cul-
tivated valleys seem to have been CHS
eled out of the mountains by the myth
ical gods of grotesque creation. Only
about one-twelfth of the area is said
to be arabic. But nowhere else have |
seen such fertility, such careful cultlva-
ton. This is all the more marvellous,
when one considers the rude imple-
ments and the primitive methods of
labor. The machine to plow, to SOW,
to reap, to thresh, to transport to the
local market is almost unknown. The
domestic animal is very, very rarely
employed in agriculture. Replace
briar-scythe, on a short straight ham
die, by a four-inch-wide hoe-blade Of
similar shape and length, and you have
close approximation to the sole agri-
cultural implement of this country. 1t
is, at most, supplemented by hand
cart. Yet with infinite care and toll,
by the literal labor Of the hand, the
naturally sterile, sandy soil has been
made the most luxuriantly productive
of any that have ever seen. l have
seen even women hauling out ma
nure" in baskets attached to their
backs and spreading it with their
hands Although this is exceptional,
it indicates the persistent energy, in
dustry and toll of the agricultural
class.
Although most agricultural pro-
ducts, including barley, millet, wheat,
cotton and vegetables, are grown, rice
is the staple product. Not only Is
the soil, for the rice crop, fertilized
and prepared with greatest care, but,
after it is planted, every ounce of it
is moved several times by human fin
gers, in Junching and wedding pro-
cesses.
When the crops are matured they
are reaped with sickle, which resem-
bles our crooked corn chopper, carried
on the back, more rarely in hand
carts, to the store-houSe. The grains
are usually exposed to the sun for dry
ing in a way that resembles a vertical
thatched roof. Not even is the fail
universally used for threshing. l have
more frequently seen the heads
threshed by striking them on solid
rocks. The industrious peasant, bend
ing among his crops or trudging be-
tween the small patches Of growing
produce, is an inseparable part Of ev-
cry rural scene. So intently is he oc-
cupied, that not even the marvellous
majesty of nineteenth century rail-
way train laundering by causes his
head to rise. Here is a type Of pa
tience, industry, absorption in ones
occupation that irritates even the ad-
miring European passenger. Side by
side with the bending peasant, in a.
most every instance, is his docile wife.
Faithful, frugal, industrious pair, from
early dawn till deepening twilight,
they stoop and toll in silence, or rise
and trudge together.
Still more laborious, still more prim
tive in his methods, than the Ger
man peasant, the japanese peasant
derives a larger product from an equal
area. In one sense, he receives also
greater measure of social justice than
his brother in the West. AS bread
producer, as staunch, reliable, patriot
ic citizen, he IS accorded a social rank
next only to the nobilIty-above arti-
san and merchant alike.
Follow some serpentine stream up
from the sun-bathed valley through It's
Joo,, o,t vooupfaip ooroa Tho ccana