Los Angeles herald., 1909-05-23

Esy4Eg7HERE was little shop in the village
&zssSS&sss<<A where all manner of fancul woodwork
HfN[<%z was sold to the foreigners who came by,
s&3kSf HHS or to the dealers who Travelled through
ENcA&xA the country stock their bazaars IN
E&SzzeezEA the great towns. Hama baskets OF
wistara stem, gray-green and mystic
with the silence of their birthplace, pure and class,
zeal in FORM always found ready buyers and the Khd
woman the wood shop would say, as she Haluea
over the piles of copper Ground coarse coppers with
square hole to string them BY winch represented
Hanas tiny gains, ooh, Hama San, bring me more OF
the wistaria baskets That crcenshaped one always
liked and as for the gourd with the hanging vine
why could sell ten OF those tor every one you ofhg
Then Hama would smile her thanks and return 10
Kaoyo exactly ten per cent of what she had received
as a thank offering for her trouble, and would say
Every WE'LL Kamoyo San | will see II l can make
some soon. l am grateful, ana my poverty Is
enriched by all your kindnessF But as She went away
after tucng the little packet OF money inside her SASH
she would say to herself rather sadly, hamoyo San
sells she does make the things 1t the sun Is SHIN
ing and the birds singing weave the tuli stems
and think of pretty shapes for them; but when the
DAYS are short and the rain down, the full is
cold and gray, and l want to work with the warm
pine needles those strong brown ferns 1t is strange
fhat Kamoyo San does not understand!
For Hama was an artist in an humble unconscious
avay and the artist is Natures born disciple He may
make break other aegances but to her ne is always
true.
Hama had many things to do beside her .woodsy
weaving; there the house to sweep and the food
10 see to clothes to wash in the tumblng brook and
her grandfahers pipe and tobacco box with its mimic
Fuyama of wistara ash to set IN order against his
Homecoming Now and then pilgrims travellers
would ask if they might rest while the polished
yeranda seat, and when they did, it was not long
before Hama brought out her tray, carved like lotus
leaf and her best blue eacups full of fragrant topaz
colored for their refreshment also the second best
tobacco box with pipe and all complete Some offered
money and others thanks Tor the hospitality but the
thanks all she would accept. Then when they
went on their way she would wish them good-luck and
SMILE and her tasks by the time they stopped
to look back at her from the last bend of the climbing
road Once a dainty lady had come, in beautiful
basket-wor1 paanquin followed by train of servants
She was pretty and smiling that Hama had fell
,,,ot5a hero sent f has
in the shape of a young moon, with trail of wild
ivy dropping its edge and another twined in the
delicate chain from which it meant to swing; and
the lady had said it lovely and fastened it to the
inner roof of her litter and she gave Hama in ex-
change picture book that she had been looking at as
she journeyed and the book was now one OF Hanas
greatest treasures. She kept it wrapped in bit OF
purple crepe that Kamoyo had given her. and when her
work done she would spread out the mat and
tell herself stories about all the pictures. Some of them
we're portraits of the Emperor and the Imperial family
and the very first time she opened it she saw the givers
own face looking at her from OF the pages. She
was unused to the world and its ways that this only
struck her as a most delightful surprise; but when
her grandfather came home and she showed him her
treasure he looked quite awestruck and at last told
her she must have made mistake. She shook her
head triumphantly No. indeed, there was no mistake
The lady in the picture had her hair more grandy
dressed and her robe not the same; but that was
her face and otherl 1t rather peculiar face
with the dark hair growing in FIVE deep points round
the brow the eyebrows unusually arched and the
mouth smiling and there quaint dmple at one
which the court photographer had caught very
glasses and began to spell out the lettering beneath:
"Her Imperial Hghness the Princess Chiye Takehito,
the cousin of the Emperor
few days after the Princess has passed that way,
another visitor came to the cottage the hill This
was young whom Hama had met two three
times in Kamoyo's house, for he a cousin OF the
kind shopkeeper, and when Hama had some heavy
bundles to carry home, Kamoyo had suggested that he
should 90 with her and take the rice bag and the roll
of mating which seemed beyond her strength. Hama
had laughed at the idea of anything being beyond her
strength but she was glad Of the young conpanionshp
and lima talked pleasantly and told her such funny
stories, that she hoped quite lnnocenty that he would
come again.
He had been with her nearly week when Hama
down from the hills for of her periodical
visits to the village; several pretty heads had been
ercised about the handsome lad and all of
errands invented TO bring their into the shop
dozen times a day The country maidens have
liberty than their sisters in the towns and Matsu,
whose father the innkeeper told her parents frankly
that if she had her way there the husband for her
But Lima was not dazzled by her preference or her
prospective fortune.
He didnot want to talk tc Matsu or any other girl
they all silly creaures And then Hama, the maid OF
the woods, had in with her full of her pretty
wares the soft shadows and sudden sunbeams of the
forest still in her eye and some OF its music IN her
voice; her feet fell lightly the leaf from the tree
and in her crown of shining hair baby pine cone had
been stuck for pin Her blue and white robe snelled
of the mountain flowers, and lima thought he had
any beautiful in his life. His big,
foolish heart (for no heart is over wise at twenty
jumped wildly and then stood still Hama had paused
in the doorway; the sun behind her framed her in
golden haze and, indeed, the girl was picture OF
sweet and happy innocence.
She looked shyly at the young and then kamoyo
had hurried forward relieve her of her baskets and
they all began to talk, and lima was himself
again. Then had come the walk up the hill and the
sight of Hanas forest home Old Sakube had received
him kindly and thanked him for helping the child
For the next few days Ijimas moods alternated be-
tween dreams of ambition and dreams of love. When
the sterner fit him he silent, and rather
lordly with good Aunt Kamoyo. But in the soft sunset
hour, when he would stroll out to smoke his pipe by
the that emptied itself into the broad lake. then
remembrance of Hanas sweet face and laughing
eyes would come back to him. and the pines reaching
down long green to the water would seem to
sigh her name 1t only pet after all, but
lima had heard her called by other. 1t meant
Blossoms" and must have been made for her alone,
to judge by its fitness
Seen in the light of those about Hama, his mental
landscape changed The distant horizons looked less
inviting, nearer sweetness sweet,
So it was a foregone conclusion that lima should
climb the hill the next morning and knock tinidly
at the cottage door. No one answered him. Old