The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-13

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WAR ~ rental activity fefeg ~ rt,f
A. Fseaekea ~ ifs Hosppv street Brorklyu
White Pref Fpseckea y lpsy di,h he
pf0fesai1n, NJ hasls time ~ study ths lara.
neas laaeniaae IN OF,tsS 10 equip hisuarli .,
that he nay sons dag heconss q iafcaiio.
HsaEn. 80 began hi study som" tina
bsfofv the outbreak ~ the Russc-Jspanras
war with the help u q japgners young man,
who fvslensd IN q month Os two In favor n
another, who IN turn surrvfaiered his scep'm
othop Fessns teachef, Prof. JIhei Haahisuchi
0f % Liberty street, ~HrUohlyn.
whsn tins last narne,I In tho list n thu
last r,ictorA Tor the first tins call~d IN tho
elderly professor two years ago, ins, a
littie after the outbreak of the war, h'
prospective pupil, who Appeared 60 him
TO he q very genial man, showed him Her.
burns Japane~e-Engllah dictionary and
q lttls original Japaneas primary school
rsaisr which no had In his poe~esAon.
Prof. Franchen IL not satisfied merely
with being abs 90 cay some words In
Japanees.s He must 60 at tho bottom d
tho thing and be abls tn read books, not
only In the Roman alphabet. hut alec 10
the original writing.
With this In view the teacher and the
pupil commenced plugging, the former
assuming for convenience all the air Of an
elderly person, while the latter for tho
came reason transformed himself into a
little japanese boy Of Q. One evening a
week for two years continually; except
for O month during the last summer when
the teacher had to 20 10 Portsmouth for
the peace conference, the two could be
seen ut the pupils home. digging the roots
and stems Of the Japanese verbs and trans
Iating literally az well a. freely the Japanets
sentences into English.
Hepburn's dictionary has q brief out
line Of tho Japanese grammar explained
In English. This grammar war supple
msnted with several numbers Of japan
and America. Q monthly magazine pub
lished In New York three years ago, now
discontinued, In which the grammar was
printed.
As for tho original japanese writings.
they went over what the pupil had learned
beginning with the syllabariss. There arc
fifty syIlabaries In the Japanese language,
They are written In tho primary reader
in q table beginning with q column Of Ave
novels, q, /, u, Q, o and the rest being formsd
by adding systematically X, Q, T. n, b, n.
y, r, ", to the vowels. There are two etyles
Of writing these Asyllabaries, Hirakana and
Kstakana. -,
After the primary reader was read
through Prof. Franoken secured q To-
reader from q Japanese book store IN san
Francisco, and later o complete set Of
eiyteen volumes Of the authorised grammar
and high school readers from Japan.
Already Prof. Francken has mastered Eve
Of the grammar school readers. In them
are a number Of Chinese characters. which
are used In combination with the japanese
syllabaries.
He acquired the art Of using the Japanese
brush and ink, and Is nov able to write
as good as many Of the natives of JAPAN,
As he reads the chapters In the readers
he copies the writings with the brush dipped
in ink on q sheet OF paper, transcribes 1t in
Roman alphabet at the foot OF the original
writing. and adds Epgiish translation to It:
Already he has q hundred OF these sheets.
The art Of using the brush and ink is by
no means an easy one, although IL Is not
30 very much complicated. First, you
hold O solid block Of ink, a sort OF Indian
Ink. and scratch II on'a little stone mortar
with water on 1t.
The longer you continue scratching
the blaoker the dissolved ink becomes,
The mortar has a basin for this.
You hold your brush between the thumb
and two or three fingers Of your right hand,
You dip the tip Of the brush in the Ink.
Holding the brush perpendioularly, you
write upon q sheet OF paper.
There is a bit Of science In the art OF WELD.
Ing the brush. You must let the soitened
tip Of the ink laden brush slide gracefully,
and In making zach stroke must twist and
turn the tip according to its natural trend,
Otherwise. an ideograph or a japanese
syllabary written, or, more appropriately
speaking, painted, may appear but a biotch
Of black ink.
Prof. Franoken now can write the ideo-
graphs and syllabaries In a perfectly legibls
manner Hepbun's grammar had already
been conquered. Now along Gomez Plants
Japanese Conversation Grammar. Be-
sides the grammar the book contains ex-
ercises and reading lessons, all In Roman
alphabet. Tho selections for the read
ing lessons have been made from popular
legends and articles describing life and
~soeneries.
whats the use Of studying the Jap
anese language many may say. BE.
sides, how could q maj over expect % read
Japaneee writlngsf'
Some one has said, 4the devil created the
Chinese language This man exposed bis
ignorance and IA some order OF devil him
self, for Prof. Franoren says repeatedly:
'Why, Mr.. Hashiguohf, this Is marvel
lousl The Western people do not know what
Is good for themselves, They ought to