The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1908-04-18

kid either goes into fits or lets out a
howl that makes the mother wish
that murder was not a punishable Of
tense.
If you have ever INDUCED In that ten
der little pastime, then you can have
some idea Of my frame of mind when
the old Jap performed this strange
antic. Backing away from him, !
shook my head violently and thrust
my purse into my pocket; when he
plucked me by the sleeve, and with a
whine that would have done credit
to a Hester street old clothes man,
said: "Kanye, Kanye"
mo, l can't. and I'm hanged IL I
ever will" and with that turned away,
and the negotiation was at an end.
Now, what do you think was tho
matter with the old fellow? Why. he
was not only little touched in the
upper story, but he knew nothing of
the cash system of his country later
than the vintage of 1868. He had been
left to tend the shop for a few
moments, and as usual l fell a vic
tim to the change Of circumstances.
Let 1t be said, that, according to Del
mar, the standard formerly was, as
In China, the small round iron or
bronze coins with the square hole in
the center which we're of three denom-
nations: First, the mon; second, the
bunkyu; third, the shi-mon. The shi
was an oblong silver coin, and the
ichi-bu another; the latter being equal
to four shi. Kan-ye means the era of
coinage; but the era on the old coins
does not Indicate the age of the
coin. For example, coins made about
1860 bear the name of the era kanye.
The manufacture of all these ceased
at the beginning of the present era of
Meidji, that Is to say, the 25th Of
January, 1868, which. was the year
when the present emperor assumed
sovereign power. The mon is now
valued at one rim, and the bunkyu at
one and one-half rim. The old gold coins
and the oblong silver ones are only
to be found in the curio shops.
When her husband dies, even though
she may be young and charming. the
widows hair is cut on, and she is
doomed for the rest of her life TO
single blessedness and q cropped head.
An old-time custom, which Is fortu-
nately dying out, was to blacken .
woman's teeth when she got married.
So 1t was hard to tell which was
most disfiguring-getting a husband
or losing one. Every district has its
own distinctive marriage ceremony.
but the following Is the one in gen.
eral use:
No priest oficiates at the marriage
ceremony. An elderly couple, called
the "go-betweens," conduct the court
ship and assist the bride and groom
to perform the rite that makes them
man and wife, which consists of
nine cups of wine drunk alternately
by the bride and groom, who hand
them to each other. This Is called
the "san-san-kudo," literally three
three-nine," and means that they will
share the bitter and the sweet in LIES
cup together.
Sometimes there are the images Of
an old man and woman, a couple who
lived happily for hundred years;
also bough of plum-blossoms, SYM
Dol Of conjugal happiness.
The bride wears white. the mourn
ing color in japan, to signify that her
old life is ended-for marriage Is too
often a sort of death-in-life to the
Japanese woman. She IL virtually the
slave of her motherin-law. and must
live only for her husbands family,
whe exact from her the most abtect
submission. She marries at is and
begins life of drudgery that makes
her an old woman at 80 or 50, and her
only CLEAN of hope in life lies In her
having sons who will marry and place
her in the envied position Of mother
in-law.
The flowing veil Of the western
bride Is. for the Japanese woman. .