The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-04-16
JAPANESE SCHOOLS.

The eunrlae Kingdom Has Adopted
Western Ways Of Training Children.
japanese children used to sit upon
their heels In the school-rOom. grouped
round their master on the soft mating,
chanting together their Iroha, or read
ing In concert the wise maxims from
their readers which have been the mem
tai food of countless generations of
their race. change has come, and
now they sit on benches before desks
IN Western fashion. though they do not
think this method Of sitting very COM
Portable, and are glad on returning
home to indulge In the usual squat.
But they still recite In concert, in q
monotonous sort Of chant, the Iroha
(ee-ro-hah), which corresponds to our
alphabet.
Under the former system of school
ing, all japanese children learned to
read and write the Hiragana charac-
ters, and to calculate; and 1t was an un-
heard of thing for grown person to
be unable at least to read and write,
and do simple calculation. They were
seldom sent to school before the age
of seven, and were not hard pressed
in their studies. In learning to write,
they were acquiring the dexterIty of
finger and wrist needful In drawing,
and without doubt their method of
writing is one Of the traits which have
tended to make the japanese a nation
Of artistic tendencies. A soft paper is
used, and brush instead of a pen.
Care and exactness are necessary, ow-
ing to the nature of the materials, and
1t Is impossible to use the hand In
cramped or stiff position; hence free
dom and grace Of movement result The
child holds the paper In one hand and
the brush In the other; the whole arm
works. motion coming from the shoul-
der. elbow, and wrist as well as from
the finger muscles. The paper, as soon
as touched absorbs the Indian ink with
which he writes. The child thus finds
1t necessary to touch with precision
and care, and acquires insensibly GER
tain power of drawing in this precise
touch and In the exercise Of the arm
and hand muscles.
Western principles In education as
well as Western school furniture have
been adopted In the Sunrise Kingdom.
The Arabic numerals. l, 2, 3, etc.. are
used; for the japanese at once recog-
nized the advantage of these signs for
numbers instead of their own cumber-
some ones. Maps, charts, diagrams.
are seen on the school-room walls, OBJ
jeet lessons are given; and foreigners,
hearing the ehildren's recitations, even
though not understanding their speech.
recognize that the young japanese are
getting some good results OF modern
civilization.
In the government colleges the stu.
dents eat food prepared in Western
style. using knives and forks and spoons
instead Of chop-sticks. and sleep on beds
instead of on the mating. When beds
were first introduced. in a few cases
they were not supplied with mattresses,
and the officials, ignorant that these ar
ticles were a necessity, required their
unfortunate students to sleep on the
hard wooden Stats covered only by two
or three quilts; so between the tOrtur-
ing beds by night, and the uncomfor-
table, because unusual. position of sit
ting by day, the poor students had
hard time of 1t. 1t was not wonderful
that they thought the foreigners ways
absurd and barbarousi-St. Nicholas.