Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-06

Japanese kimonos and German caps and
| imita ton German shoes and spectacles-per-
haps they think them, too, part of the Ger
man uniform They maintain the national
tradition for upside-doWnnesS; 1t is they
VINO expel the master, not the master who
expels them
The whole life Of the poor in Japan is
comedy to those who do not have to live
it. Its scene is laid in the street. The poor
Japanese simply live in the street they SIT
outside their houses when they have done
their work, like Sicilians; not that sitting
outside makes any difference. because they
take the front off of their houses whenever
1t is fine enough.
They are only apologies for houses any
way. l have seen houses which had not
cost a sovereign and a man not five feet
high with a hand bucket putting out blaze
which was coming through his roof The
Japanese has his own notions about roofs.
When he Is building his house he builds
the roof first: town roofs are made OF neaVy
channeled tiles and weigh more than all the
rest Of the house. They stand typhoonS
better, and experience has taught him that
in typhOOn it is not your own roof which
falls on you. There Is nothing private IN
his house because there is nothing in it but
a fire box, when its beds are rolled up and
Its owners inside.
Horses Scarce in Japan.
The first thing you notice IN japanese
street after the clatter of clogs is the alb
sence of horses. They have a few, but a
child would not know that they were
horses. They are more like bears. They
ought to be labeled like the articles in shop
windows. The Japanese tailor puts up a
notice, These are trousers"
The beasts Of burden in Japan are human.
1 have seen a stone street roller drawn by
hundred coolies, and a man drawing q
hay cart, and a man carrying a cart load
of hay upon his back They do not use
wagons but hand carts drawn by one or
| two men. If the object is very heavy, ike
piano, 1t is carried. Four little Japs can
| carry a piano with case slung on bamboos
like the shoulder pieces used by London
milkmen before they went into partnership
| with the water companies.
The human horse is more used for cabs
| than carts. There is always riksha bowl
| ing past or crawling for hire, or leaning on
| Its haft, and at night the bobbing of the
| riksha lanterns is one of the features of
japan. No one uses a four-legged horse
without a man to run in front of 1t who
! blows child's horn and acts as human
| cowcatcher. He is wanted, for there is no
country, not even Italy, nor even horse1ess
Venice, where people make house of the
| street as they do in Japan.
Children in the Streets.
The middle Of the road is devoted to
children, little girls playing at skipping
| rope with babies on their backs. little boys
your nose and peg-tops past your toes,
And you run the risk Of being hanged by
old people flying kites from roofs on level
with your neck. Sidewalks in a popular
street are taken up with stalls. The pipe
mender cleans pipes at ten penny, and
carries box like a shoeblack; the ameya
makes toys out Of dough- blowing them like
grass, mostly cocks and Cupids without
noses, ana the. children's cooking stall, q
fascinating copper stove l"f
AS the children who play at it are about
FOUR, 1t Is not an ideal toy, but 1t is of
course, popular, because children have ele-
mental tastes; they like playing with fire
even better than with water. The picca-
hihny winch looks as If 1t had been bought
at LIBERTY s. with it's speckled scarlet dress,
us peady eyes, It's waxy face and its shaver
nead with top and side knots, puts down
It's cash and cooks. It's cash is petty cash,
com with hole in 1t, of which you can
puy ABOUT thousand on straw string for
nlnepence For this it has not only the
rlsht or burning its fingers. but receives
patch OF dough to cook. These stalls are
always surrounded by children who look
wonoerfully wise, only you would know
tnat they weren't dolls If they didn't run
at the nose.
Little Homes of Little People.
Real Japanese streets are unlike anything
european. You can almost see over the
houses. In the treaty ports there are few
streets. like the Gina at Tokyo, quite Eng
iish. having houses with doors and win