Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-10-09

FIowery Kingdom Paradise for Grove
of Happy Children.

F1owery Kingdom Paradise for Crowds
of Happy Children
London Ladies' Pictorial.
OF Japan, with all its marvelously
rapid changes from feudalism and iso-
lation to position among the powers
of the world, it Is true today, as it
was 40 years ago, when Sir Rutherford
Alcock wrote: Japan is the very par
adise of babies.' Sir Rutherford saw
innumerable infants In the three years
he wac in Japan, and as he was ply
stefan as we'll as a diplomat and was
keen observer-as all physicians and
diplomats should be--we may take it
that he spoke the truth. Judging by
his descriptions of the native young
sters, it is small wonder that her
Maiesty's Minister to the court of the
"great prince, or tycoon, as the
shogon called himself in those days.
had to write about them. He could
'tThe Capital OF the Tycoon" is a
vivid and delightful picture of the days
when old Japan was passing away and
new Japan was nearly ready to come
out of its ohrysalis.
Japanese babies of the Twentieth
Century are precouious, for they are
year old the moment they are born and
| two years old the first new year day.
| That is the way the Japanese reckon
| age -oounting the year in which the
| baby is born "one'', the next year
1.-TWO, !" and SO on. II you had been
born in Japan Just as the temple bell
was about to strike u the night of
December 3lst you would be, according
! TO the Japanese mind, two years old
] with the first clang. So in Japan,
which to Europeans and Americans is
very strange country indeed, one of a
| pair of twins might be year older
| than the other.
| Some travellers to this wonderful
empire have said that Japanese babies
never cry. That is not quite true.
They have all the apparatus necessary
--midriff, lungs and vocal chords in
excellent condition-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
youngsters in Japan; he sees them
tumble about 30 on their rather awk-
ward wooden clogs, falling often with
good hard "slap" upon the roadway,
that he wonders at hearing only shouts
of glee and laughter.
The children bound about as harm
lessly as rubber balls. Often when a
youngster stumbles and goes down with
force enough almost to dent the pave
ment, the stranger looking on is sure
that there will be weeping. But the
child is up again quickly; there is the
little pause which children at home
use in gathering all their energy for q
great boo hoo 1.-THE stranger knows it is
coming, and wonders what it will
sound like in Japanese),. then, having
recalled what it was thinking abou
at the instant it fell, the youngste
scampers on as merrily as before. Tit
fall had interrupted it's train o
thought for the moment, that was all
Because the children play all over tn,
streets one needs ghetto" when ON
goes out for drive in Japan.
A .tbetto" is footman--a most ap
propriate word-whose business is t,
] way. He, does not lack for exercise
: for his arms and legs are busy from
the time the drive begins until it j
2 over. Japanese children are not to
careful, and their mothers do not us
> nearly as many safeguards as do tn
women of Western countries, but Their
0 are few accidents. This is rather
mystery, for every Japanese house ha
: an engawa, or porch, and thes
g porches do not have fences along tn
II edge to keep the infants from fallin
o off, nor are there gates at the tops c
stairways, when the houses happen
e have stairways, yet j never saw
q Japanese child fall down stairs or off
y porch, or ever heard of any one els
;. witnessing such a mishap.
Another thing about these youngstel
u is that they are all little gentleme
IS and ladies as merry and happy as pc!
:, sible, but not rough. Mrs. Chaplin
d Ayrton says this trait may be mol
y apparent than real, for a grown perso
y judges of the roughness OF children
s play by the number of things ths
~ break, and in a Japanese house thel
o. is no furniture or brie-a-brac to d
9, stroy-not even ohairs-for the nativ,
II sit on the floor. On the other hant
Prof. Chamberlain, learned man WI
W has lived in Japan great many year
lay this gentleness to less robu
health, which means less amin
spirits than foreign children hav
However this may be, the heal
US officers say that the death rate f
o, children is lower in Japan than it
tn in Europe or America. This is as
m would be in country where the hous
SO arc off the ground foot or two al
lis have no cellars, and the air inside
as fresh as it is out; where, too,
&c such places, at least, as Toxic, ever
of one bathes and has a good scrubbil
he From 500, 900 to 1000 900 persons
in to the public baths of the capital dali
and there are tens of thousands
it private baths besides. This is GO
showing for city with populati
of 2, ZOO, 600. When an infant is sew
days old it's mother displays her tale
as a barber by shaving its head all b
err little bit at the back of the nee
his right at the base of the skull, like
of goatee that had strayed from its prof.
ty- place. Later on she experiments wi
my various designs to discover the m,
cot becoming. Sometimes she shaves I
top and the rim and leaves a tonsul
n a sometimes she leaves only the ri
ain sometimes a scalp lock and two Il
tier locks only, but always her work
way picturesque. This decorative shaw
saA process continues until the youngs