The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-10-14
JAPAN'S CONTRARIET[ES
r'No9 DONE BACKWARD AND
UPSIDE DOWN.

"eSS 10 Carried.
me childish belief thai On tha ot,
~ sue OF our globe all things arc oe
"siey upside down is strangely
eloash' pack TO a person when he
9ets loot on Japanese soil r.
nls Hrst glance does not disclose Ma
iiHei'es IN the everyday feat Of stand.
,ns calmly on their heads. it does Of
os'o. reveal them looking at the world
from the standpoint of that or.
cehtrlc posture, for thew seem To hin,
= See ana do everything topsy-turyv.
Il the inversion be not precisely
Tue klrd he expected it is none the
i1as striking and impressiblv moro
cal 10 speak backwards write
D1oh"arus and read backwards. is
ou1 the of their country The
inversion extends deeper than mere
modes of expression down into 40
IAy matter OF thought Ideas of ours
WITCH Iancled innate find in them no
ii'i1e' Wnlle methods which strike lis
as preposterously unnatural appear TO
ne tnelr inheritance. From the stand
ms VI wet umbrella on its handle
instead OF its head to drip. to the
Serlkihg OF a match away in place Of
toward one, there seems TO he no 40.
Ion Oh our daily lives but finds with
sleM us appropriate reaction. In a
,tAlu where, on entering house, one |
Deslhs, not taking off his hat. but by /
removing his boots, he gets at the
very threshold a hint that humanity
IS 10 be approached the wrong end
to.
a japanese baby is ushered into
'iiis world in sadly impersonal man
ler' Tor he is not even accorded the
oistlnctlon of birthday. From the
moment he makes his appearance he
y spoken OF as a year Old. and this
Same age he continues to be consider
ed, with utter disregard for reality.
until the beginning of the next cal
endar year. When New Years day
comes ne is credited with another
year but. SO is everybody else. and he
mas ne IS only one of many Upon
ne disadvantages of being consider
7d from ones birth up at least ono
'ear older than one really is. 1t
les beyond the purpose Of this article
o enlarge, but it is quite evident
nat woman has had no voice in in
shutting such reckoning. {
Ii the baby chances to he bov
Everybody is immensely pleased, if i
girl there is considerably less CT t
uslon shown IN the latter case the !
lore lmpulslye relatives are unmis- t
akably sorry, while the more philos- n
phic evidently hope for better luck Q
ext time.
From tho privacy of the domestic S
lrcle, the infants entrance into pub D
G life is performed pick-a-back. .
trapped securely to the shoulders of o
slightly older sister, out he goes. il
unsigned to the tender mercies of b
beng scarcely more than a baby y
erself. The diminutiveness of the D
urse perbulators is the most surpris- RI
Ig part OF the performance. That il
lould be possible to entrust the safe IL
or one infant to another proves pt
le preconsciousness of the children 81
1t this surprising maturity of the di
)ung implies the law Of conseuuent "
Of the race. That which ca
is less to grow UP to naturally te
'ows up its limit sooner. liz
At school a student has a mono-
lous time. He is given the "Trmet- Of
cal Classic" to start on, that he may SO
arm the characters by heart. and in lie
1entally pick up few ideas. This III
followed by the Century of Sur ii
mes" which is q catalogue of this be
rnily of clan names. Next comes tel
e Thousand Character Classic" a co
epic as feat of skill, for OF pli
e thousand characters which it con gr
ns not enc is repeated. How those din
ildren must hate to go to school! in.
Three more books succeed these &C
st volumes, differing from one an DO
Ter in form, but in substance sngul- S5v
" alike, being highly moral and
JUS. Ere
Marriage to the far Oriental is the dy
'st important mercantile transaction PEI
his whole life; it is therefore too abb
lightly a matter to be intrusted to vie
youthful indiscretion, for although tut
person chosen is of lamentably lit. eni
account in the bargain, the charac-
of her worldly circumstances is eat
st material to it,. 1t is certainly Tn
ier, if less fitting, to get a wife as ant
ne people do their clothes, not to she
ir own order, but ready made, and ve1
the more reason for it when the rud
gain is for ones son, not ones self has
Japan looks at the arrangement yer
m a strictly paternal standpoint or.
ignores such trifles as personal strt