The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-04-06

thing, from babyhood up to the time
they take the duties Of real lie. For
them the entire Empire is made
place Of Fairgrounds, playthings and
fcasts IT holidays. 1t is child life
that the American boy, and certainly
the American girl, might not like; but
it is the japanese way.
Go to Yamagata, TO Maycbashi, to
Kobe, to llimc, to Fukuoka, all the
towns and cities Of Japan, and there
you find the girl from infancy being
developed aud trained so that when
she shall have grown UP she may be
servant to someone, may always be
able and willing to work. But the
boy is constantly taught that he is to
be master Of things warrior or
statesman, or a captain Of the sea and
fishes, or banker. He is never al
lowed to forget that if he follows all
the rules of his teachers he will some
day be a leader of something.
Now this boy comes into life and
grows up without ever being kissed by
his father or mother. Not that they
do not love him, but kissing is not
their way Of manifesting affection.
He is well.clothed, well-fed, given
plenty Of toys, such as kites, wooden
birds that fly through the air when
spun on string, and SO on, but he is
not kissed.
The reason for this you would find
in the japanese Book of Laws or
Rules Of Conduct, containing all the
traditions, customs, regulations, and
the like, of hundreds Of years. In
there it says that it is not healthy for
parents to kiss their children, that it
is not cleanly, and that it is vulgar.
This same unkissed boy has no
birthday--that is, no one single birth
day to celebrate all alone for himself
each year. He must celebrate his
birthday in common with every other
boy of the nation. Thus the boy born
on February 12 or May l or August 10
does not observe those days. On the
contrary, on the fifth day of the fifth
month, which would be May ), Of
each year, this boy, in common With
thousands Of other boys, celebrates
the Feast Of the Flags and this
holiday is the recognized birthday Of
every boy born in Japan. The sym
Dol of the day for the boy is the fish
known as the carp. He has always
been taught that of all fish he knows,
none are go quick, go fearless, so brave
as the carp.
His teacher, and perhaps his father,
have said to him:
"Study the carp if you would be
brave and do great things. See how
the carp goes over the greatest water
falls without harm, how it leaps over
rapids, how it swims upstream against
the strong current. The carp is afraid
of nothing, it has head and wisdom;
get you wisdom for yourself"
So on the day of the Feast Of the
Fags the boy buys with the tiny
change given him carps made out of
paper--paper of every kind of color,
cut into the shape of fish. These
fish are carried at the ends of strings
attached to long poles, or are display
ed over the entrances Of houses, OF
strung along the side Of the streets.
Ali over Japan nothing is seen that
day bu. the gayly-oolored paper fish.
The birthday of the girls comes in
March, and is called the "Fesst of
the Dolls" The children Of japan,
boys and girls, have more dolls than
any American child ever dreamed of
having. They have dolls representing
the Emperor aud Empress, dolls that
are for the gode, dolls that are called
Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter,
dolls for the fishes, and dolls for the
spirits supposed to be in the air. So
on the day Of the "Feast of the Dolls"
the entire family collection, many of
the dolls being :~enty, thirty, forty
and fifty years old, are brought out
and placed in front of small tables and
food is served to them just as if they
were human beings.
The Japanese boy must go to school,
If he evades this almost inhexible
rule he is severely punished and dis
graced in his neighborhood. Not to
wish to have knowledge is considered
to be sin. Once in school the boys
study aloud. The teacher then knows
that they are at work, and Ihave been
told that it is supposed to nelp the
memory. The boy has an immense
lot of remembering to do. He has
. O0n NLsoo,. IL