The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-09-14
OUTDOOR LIFE. OF A.. -. !:
CHILDREN OF ORIENT
DtOeers in Occident Haze Something to Learn From,
People of Far East.

While it took Western civilization
to teach man the way to freedom and
to strike the shackles from woman
hood, the Orient anticipated the re-
mainder of the world by centuries in
approaching the value Of a life in the
open for children.
The youngster of China, Japan,
India, Egypt, the Philippines never
had to be freed. He has ever been so.
A pessimist might say that the
fathers and mothers of the Far East
are too lazy to give that care to their
offspring that is so typical of parents
in the New World. This, they argue,
accounts for the manner in which the
dark-hued youngster has been allowed
to spend his young life in the open
air, adding sunburn to his already
copper or black cuticle and never
knowing anything but the health-giv-
ing joy of the fresh air and the open.
Perhaps this is true, but travellers
will tell you that the Oriental father
and mother are not lacking in affec-
ton, particularly when the offspring
is boy. Among the wealthy, where
every wish of the young is quickly
responded to, the same open life is
permitted the children, nay, is thought
to be essential to their healthy future
There is none of the coddling, none
of the wrapping in cotton that seems
to be spreading in the United States.
The wise Chinese or Japanese father
and mother reason that above all>
things their offspring should be kept
close to nature.
This idea even affects the nobility,
and where man born to the purple
fears to let his child run wild with
other youngsters, for fear kidnappers
might steal him for ransom, he makes
the same outdoor life possible with
safety by building large garden.
Here the boy roams his younger days,
unbothered by books or tutors, free
till such time as the father decides
that he is old enough to have brain
ready for knowledge and constitution
to bear him through the strain of hard
application.
This latter case has related particu-
larly to the Japs, who more than any
other Oriental nation appreciate the
value of education, and count no ex-
IRENE of money wasted that goes to
prepare a boy or girl for the future.
Little Japs play as one would ex-
pect the children of somewhat tact
turn people to play. They enjoy them
selves hugely, but except for wide
grins, which disclose fine teeth, there
is little evidence of the good time they
are getting from striving to keep out
of the way of the chaser whose eyes
are yelled.
Motherhood is strong instinct
with the Japanese girl, just as the
warlike spirit seems to dominate the
boy.
The real little mother in her high
est estate can be found in Toxic,
Chefu, Nagassaki and hundred 9th
er places. It is no uncommon sight
for a girl of ten to have in charge
half a dozen brothers and sisters,
arranged in steps and going all the
way down to one and two years.
Patience and gentleness to an as
tonishing degree mark the care these
little mothers lavish on their young
charges.
Playtime to a Japanese girl often
means little more than years spent in
taking care of the future heads of
families.
Chinese children with their yellow
faces and fat bodies make you think
irresistibly of rolls of butter bound
about with bright hued wrappers.
The Chinese baby is much more