The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-06-07
LEE IN JAPAN.
THE COUNTRY AND ITS CUs-
 TOMS
. Foreigners view--The People a
 Once Quaint and Attractive.

Japan is country of striking impress sions, writes the Rev. H. V. S. Peake in ..the Christian Work and Evangel- ist." The globe trotter spends his six weeks between Nagasaki and Nikko, and finds it one continual feast of nov city. The beauties of scenery are gene rally of a dininutive order, but they have a charm all their own. The peo- pie are at once quaint and attractive, their homes and habits are like nothing he has seen before, yet in contrast to much that is Oriental they are not at all repulsive-indeed, quite the contra ry.
 Nor are the striking and pleasing iIn- pressions limited to the first six weeks. The old resident finds that for some of Japan's best scenes, Miyajima, Nara or the Haruna Temples he needs a taste cultivated by years of residence. SSuch scenes never pail on him. But, besides that, as years and acquaintance with the people and their language in- crease, the striking and pleasing inn pressions come from quite different S source Even the comparatively young 'old resident has ever before him a vivid and attractive contrast between the old and the new, both in social life and social institutions.
 It is not quite true that everything ir Japan has been revolutionized. The parent stock is in almost every case still to be found; only the graft has been developed, forced on, at such an astonishing rate that the original stock is not readily apparent. These changes are almost invariably for the better, generally in the line of Occidental civil ization but quite assimilated to Japa- 1lese conditions, and in a number of in- stances quite surpassing the original copy. The interior of the country, even, has become a very tolerable place of residence to the person who has an ac- quaintance with the language. and Is free from that overweening conceit that calls every shade of cuticle darker than its own. ''Dago."
 Take, for instance the post-office. Hardly more than quarter of a centu- ry ago it was organized along western lines. For some time some of the na- tions declined to intrust their conmuni- cations to the Japanese post but no real complaint is heard now. The tele- phone Is yet undeveloped except in the largest cities, but in every considerable town, and at many a mere crossroads, you finda fully equipped post and tele- graph office; the post box, with stamps for sale in neighboring house, is ubi- quitous, and the delivery service car ries packages and mail matter to the ramotest farmhouse. The parcels post carries packages up, to eight cubic feet of contents and up to thirteen pounds in weight. Packages can be sent to a customer and trade charges will be col 1ected and returned. Money may be sent by mail or telegraph. In sending to large cities the payment can be ef- fected at the addressee's door. Tele- grams can be sent in Japanese or in a foreign language. If your post-office has no telegraphic connections, you can forward your telegram by mail. with out cost, to the neasest telegraph sta- ton, and your telegram will be deliv- cred by mail from a post-office even if It does not have telegraph line. The delivery man passes not simply along the highway, but along the byways. Your residence may be summer cot tage half mile back in the hills, but It is his business to reach you, and reach you he will.
 Every postoffice has also it's savings