The daily sentinel., 1906-08-01
AN INTERESTING LETTER.
From Mr.. Clayton Nichols. Former
ly of This City, Now of Manila
Who Tells of Tour In
Country of Japan.

The following letter received by
Henry Nichols, of the Mesa County
Abstract company, from his brother.
j. Clayton Nichols, one of the early
residents of Grand Valley who now is
interested in large business enter
prises in Manila, p. l., and who re-
sides there, will be read with inter
est. 1t tells of recent tour Mr.. Mich
OILS made through fair Japan. The fol.
lowing is the letter:
Manila, June 16.. 1906
Dear Henry
The first stunt the average tour
list does in Japan and China is to hike
on to the temples and tombs, and
gaze at something that exists only
in Imagination or at some places
wheresomething has been in the far
distance and indefinite past. In
Europe the churches and grave yards
/ receive the first attention from the
sentimental traveller. There things
tell nothing of the life struggle and
ambitions of the living.
To see beautiful and sublime seen
cry you do not have to leave the
boundaries of your own state and the
main attractions for me travelling in
foreign countries is to see man and
/ his works. He can be seen to much
/ better advantage alive and at work
than dead, picked, and in a tomb
! Therefore, / had a lively time in ia
pan as | cut out most of the temple
tomb business. However. my rick
shaw man induced me to visit the
largest temple in the empire. One is
not allowed TO tramp the floor with
his shoes and the rickshaw men car
ry canvass maccasines which they
slip over ones shoes. l was particu-
larly interested in the people and
their devotions. They were kneeling
in front of the images with their
hands together praying fashion, with
little burning sticks in front of them
and with string of beads which they
would now and then appear to count
My travelling companions, who
were devout Christians told me tina
was paganism. / came here from
Manila, went to the Cathedral saw
the people kneeling in the same imag.
es burning candles and counting their
beads and the good people here tell
me that is Christianity. To a man up
tree IL is impossible to tell where
paganism ends and Christianity be-
gins. | am from Missouri. My COM
panions who were four globe trotting
ladies who were out to see the sights. |
were very curious to see the world |
famous geisha Japan. At Kioto they |
''N'N Aciieo anu tdl nest De-
tween themselves and at last decided |
to ask me if | would favor them by |
showing them the show and that
money was no object to them If they |
could see. | arranged for the troupe |
that performs for royalty and we had |
royal time. You can read in books |
about the studied grace, the nerve |
rasping music and the soul splitting
sounds, but these things have to be |
heard and seen to know that you
do not appreciate them Skirt dance. |
rag time. and Sweet Marie" are
more to our national taste
When l struck warm weather and |
dug up my tropical rags | found that |
they had not anticipated the avoir- |
dupoise while in America | had to |
use a cinch to get my trousers to meet |
over my aldermanic proportions and |
! had saddle gals on my back until |
rushed the tailor for new duds. |
Since arriving here | was willing |
victim of another woman's curiosity |
On the ship ! met noted artist who |
was hunting objects for her daubs.
She would like "Oh so much" to see
cock-hght, so during the week |
asked some of the native laborers
about the best cock pit. They said
the hottest fights were at Caloocan.
How is that | asked" Oh, the bets
are very much larger there than at
any other pits and the roosters fight
much harder there. They said this
just as though the birds knew about
the stakes. Well last Sunday / took
the artist to the Caloocan cock pits.
When the cocks are put in the pits
for battle each is armed, or legged
with steel blade two or three inches
long and three sizteenths of an inch
wide and as sharp as a razor 1t is
case of death with one or both. There
were only two or three passes be
tween the cocks in the first fight we
saw, when the intestines of one of the
birds were dragging on the ground
but he fought with viciousness that |
made his opponent think there was
still something doing. This was too /
much for the tender hearted artist
who proposed that we go wheneverl
was tired. | was not ready until |
after half dozen fights and | saw
that her curiosity was satisfied.
Your affectionate brother,
CLAYTON |