The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-07-23
Strange Mixture ct Worship and
Pleasure Among People WHO
s33s Visit kwannon.
3lNzURU, HEALER or ALL ILLS.
Description of Japanese Mid
way Scenes Within
Temple.
.4 --------------------. N
4By Eleanor Franklin.

ls2l TOXIC, July 1.--Tapan doesn't even play
Lay like anyhcdy else. In her plcasureinEs, III
n 1er ordinary summer holiday foolishncss,
1 4 she is. ms In all things else, Quite unique,
3 quite isolate, apart from all other
q peoples: selfish. Resentment avails
us nothing. however for she Is
entirely Indifferent to our approval
\ In all things save the ono III
q which she Is able TO command 1t. She Is
II Gargnnt,un baby defylng precedent, and
! though we cuDnot eat with her, we can-
not drink with her. We cannot even play
with her, VIC must acknowledge her one
of us, and not the least Of us. iii the
4 great comfy Of nations. because she is
Z superior In that#thing which has counted
y for superiority always In all the history
h of all the world.
The closer one gets to Japan, the
more one knows about her. sees Of her,
K the less one is able to understand that
thing which she has done. Is doing in
Manchuria. The other day down at
A Asakusa, the Japanese Concy Island, the
i conglomerate pleasure place about which
4 nm going to write, there was,a iugger
in an outlandish comic opera costume
sitting In the shadow OF n sacred Budd-
hist lantern dcliEhting a gaping crowd
with skillfu tricks Of necromancy. He
LOOK fTtIIl Ills rbIS hliilOllo SiccNC d w
i Of brown paper, common, una ttracttve
brown paper. and proceeded, after care
fully showing it to the audience. to roll
jitfup into a little round ball about the
size of n robins egg. He showed 1t 70
&us and smiled foolishly, Struggling his
shoulders comically, then he rolled 1t
around Il time or two again, opened his
hands and, presto! It was gone. or course,
4 he reached UP and produced II from the
back Of his neck with a child-likc smile
which made the audience Taught as IL
1t had not seen the same trick done
a thp,,-cIfid times before. But this was
s..str;all Again he began to slowly roll
1t around and then he shutiit up In one
II hand and blew upon It knowingly Pretty
soon he began to pull out from between
d his fingers yards upon yards Of crepe
paper cut in fine strips. lie blew upon
4 his hand again, gave tia funny little flip
and Il perfect cloud Of confetti few out
< over the heads Of the people. He made
x believe to shut his hand up Very tight
and then he began to dig into 1t with
his other fingers. and in a. moment he
pulled out Il whole Towering peony bush
3 of crepe paper which spread itself out
into perfect gorgeousncss. Nobody could
have expected more than that, but that
was not all. He began to push ono
finger vigorously into this wonderful
closed fist and pretty soon IL long stick.
began 10 appear which grew and grew
until 1t became a huge umbrella which
he opened with a click In answer to
the enthusiastic plaudts Of the crowd
Wonders Out of Nothing,
Well" II thought III that doesn't
exactly Illustrate the genius Of Japan
7 never saw anything that did There
y it was. Marvcls out Of nothing. Japan
Is unfolding marvels Of herself every
day before an admlring world and to
ever increasing applause, but to us. her
visitors, her most intimate Observers she
IS as the bit of brown paper revealing
y TO our unassisted mental vision absolute
IL no evidence Of the wonderful powers
with which she is endowed This is
the thought which goes with me always
BIS watder around along her cruditics
and oddities trying TO bridge the gulf
which is fixed between us and her. fixed
as surely as broad oceans are fixed be-
tween our shores. Even In the midst
pf the countrys most recently Imported
modernities this thought is sure to in