The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-18

erfords day. They are precocious. too.
 for they are year old the moment they
 are born and two years old the f1rst new
 year day. That Is the way the Japanese
 recKon age-counting the year in which
 the baby is born ''one." the next year
 two" and so on. If you had been born
 In Japan just as the temple .peii vas about to strike 12 the night of December 31, you would be, according to the Jap anese mind, years old with the hrst clang. So ip Japan, which to Europeans and Americans is a very strange country. indeed, one of a pair Of twins mght DC a year older than the other.
 Crowds of Happy Children.
 Some travellers to this wonderful Elm pire have said that Japanese babies never cry That Is not quite true. They have all the apparatus necessary-ioriH iuhss and vocal chords in excellent conditionI,
 and they know how to use these with effect but, nevertheless, one sees fewer tears in the land of the rising sun and hears less wailing than in other countries
 This surprises the visitor. for he notes the
 throngs of children in the streets-the
 playground for almost all the youngests in Japan; he sees them tumble about so on their rather awkward wooden clogs. falling often with a hard "slaR upon the roadway, that he wonders at hearing
 only shouts of glee and laughter. The
 children bounce about as harmiessiy as
 rubber balls. Often when youngster
 stumbles and goes down with force
 enough dlInOSt IO utHl tIlc PdNNHOhe'
 stranger looking on is sure there VII
 be weeping. But the child is up again
 quickly: there is the little pause wmcn
 children at home use in gathering all
 stranger knows it is coming. and wonders
 what 1t will sound like in Japanese). then,
 having recalled what it was thinking
 about at the instant 1t fell, the young
 The. fall had interrupted Its train of
 thought for the moment, that was all.
 Because the children play all over tne
 streets, one needs "betto when one
 goes out for drive in Japan. pe.ao
 Is a footman-a most appropriate word whose business is to run on ahead or the
 horse to clear the way. He does not iack for exercise, for his arms and legs are
 busy from the time the drive begins unsn aen careful, and their mothers do not use nearly as many safeguards as do the women of Western countries, but there are few accidents: This Is rather a mys- tery, for every Japanese house has an engawa or porch. and these porcneS oo not have fences along the edge to keep l tn infants from falling on. nor are there gates at the tops of the stalrways, Whei the houses happen to have stairways, vel I never saw a Japanese child fall down stairs or off a norch, or ever heard oi any one else witnessing such mishap. r The Death Rate Low.
 | Another thing about these youngsters IS that they are all llttlc BehtiSmSh e.he ladies merry and happy as possible. bu,
 not rough Mrs. Chaplin Ayrton says tnis | trait may be more apparent than real l for a grown person judges of the rough, l ness of children's play by the number oi l things they break, and In Japanese | house there is no furniture or bric-a-hrat to destroy-not even chairs, for the ma lives sit on the floor. On the other hand | Professor Chamberlain, a learned mar who has lived In Japan great man, years, lays this gentleness to less robus | health, which means less animal spirits | than foreign children have. However this may be- the health officers say that tho l death rate for children is lower in Japan | than 1t is in Europe and in America | This is as 1t would be In a country whe"e | the houses are off the ground a foot or | two and have no cellars, and the air in- side IS as fresh as it is out; where, too in such places, at least. as Tokio. every
 one bathes and has a good scrubbine every day. From S0o.000 to 10000 per. sons go to the public baths of the capital daily, and there are .enS of thousands ol private baths besides That Is a good showing for a city with a population Of | 2.O00000.. When an infant is seven days old it's mother displays her talent as a little bit at the back of the neck right at the base of the skull, like goatee that had strayed from it's proper place. Later on she experiments with various designs to discover the most becoming. Sometimes she slaves the top and the rim and leaves a tonsure, sometimes sne leaves only the rim, sometimes scalp lock and two love locks only, but always her work is picturesque. This decorative shaving process continues until the young ster goes to school, say. when he or she is : 6.