The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1901-12-21
The Pilgrimage Of o'Teya- san.
BY IDA MANSFIELD WILSON.

BY IDA MANSFIELD
Copyright. 1901, by Daily Story Pub. COD
Poor little O'Foya-san! She plucked
nervously at her girdle, while her
mother poured out voluble admoni-
lions as to the necessity Of this dis
tasteful marriage offered to her. Dis
tasteful! What was she, a mere girl,
to have opinions Of her own! AS II
she could be supposed to know What
was best for her future welfare! Here
was a man who would honorably con-
descend to settle ten kokus, of rice
upon her honorable father. besides the
presents of tea and silk which had al
ready been received! Would she In
deed dare to question the wisdom OF
her parents in this matter concerning
her welfare. .
O'Toya-san pouted her red lips and
essayed a feeble protest: But he Is so
old, so yellow. He is like a withered
tree, bent and twisted by storms. HIS
teeth are like the fox-demon's and
when he looks at one his eyes CLEAN
like a ferret's." A shudder Of disgust
quivered through her frame.
The O-kami-san eyed her daughter
with suspicion.
who has put ouch nonsense in your
head?' she queried. This comes of
your visits to the Bund, and the bold
talk of the young girls who hire them
selves to the foreign devils as annals.
1t was not so when I was young. We
knew that in order to be pleasing to
the Buddha we must show filial respect
and piety. Go away from my sight,
ungrateful one, until you learn to
show an obedient spirit to your par
ents' wishes"
O'Toya-san went out into the min
iature garden with bent head and FORE
boding heart. She had 10 eyes for the
pink cherry blossoms, which clustered
in fragrant bloom upon the ~leafless
trees, showing interstices of blue sky
between. In vain they drifted like
prismatic snow-fakes at her small
feet. She relentlessly crushed them.
She was deaf to her Gagged singing
crickets, which greeted her with mu-
steal raptures. The goldfish in the
artificial pond darted to the side In
quest of the tiny morsels of rice cake.
O"Toya-san needed them not, for to-
day she felt that a crisis had come in
to her young life and that she must
pray to Hotai, God of Happiness, to
help her.
That which her mother had said
was true, O'Toya-san reflected. Down
on the Hatoba she had frequently met
certain friends who, with their young
charges-the children of American
tourists-were in the habit of strolling
there. One of them hal accompanied
her employer to America, and in due
time returned with wondrous tales Of
that great and free land.
1t was like a dream Of enchantment
to listen to the greatly-traveled one.
O'Toya-san recalled the description Of
the palaces where n bought beauti-
full things to wear and to eat, of the
tea houses which reached the sky, and
of the small rooms, substitute for
stairs, which moved swiftly up and
down inside these huge buildings.
She described the wonderful cars
which flew up and down hills without
either horses or jinrfkisha runners, at
the command of a man who stood in
the front part and grasped an iron
handle. And then, most strange in
this land of topsy-turvydom. the young
girls kissed the young men! What a
stir that statement had created! 1t
was received with little shrieks of in
.credulity and fearful delight. What!
Really! Are you certain? Impossible!
assailed the ears of the Japanese
Scheherasade. O'Toya-san herself vas
skeptical. No modest, self%-respecting
girl would be guilty of such a breach
of modesty. Still, if one liked some
one else very much-one face rose be-
fore O'Toya-san-and it were the ct
of even a barbarous country
she blushed. Later thought flashed
through her mind which c~rystallized
into a resolve. I will go to the shrine"
she whispered to herself. "and learn
my fate.".
The day was done. All the world