The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-07-23
Robert J. Burdette. in


LlIe we rest At the EJTte WaN>ldt
/ tea house and drink tiny cups Of Japan
tea. which recalls Bill Nye's description
of the butter product by the '.Tar-beel
COW" IN that It's pallid complexion be
! lies - strength. " l stroll into a little
! field behind the little tea house. 1t j. a
real field Of produce, not part Of the
ornamental garden, ten or twelve feet
square, that invites the visitor 10 inger
at the tea table which is the floor where
on we sit and Try to look unconscious
and comfortable. In this effort we sue
| ceed about as we'll as a man in a dent
lists chair.
| I have waited too long to acquire the
| Buddha squat. 1t was never intended
for people whose doctrine il is to own
the earth. Restless America would
throw forty earthquake fits an hour
| trying to learn it. And the straight
legs Of an Englishman, once thorough
" tied in the bow knot which complete
the squat, would forever after have a
kink in them like a wet clothesline that
had been hastily skeined in the dark.
I have sat at ceremonial teas until
had 10 be pried off the floor with 4
crowbar, and then had 10 run my legs
through a clothes wringer that night
before l could take off my tr-srs.
Physically, you know, the japanese
are not a tall, straight legged race.
They admit this. They have straight
enough backs, and good. well-muscled
backs they are. and their bodies are
normal IN length. nj they are duck
legged. This peculiarly was success
fully concealed 50 long as they wore
clothes like the Jack of hearts. but
when they assumed the trousers of the
Occident. il was useless 10 dissemble.
1t is possible-indesd. the physiologi-
cal specialists declare it to be the fact,
that the early physical training of the
children shortens and bends the legs.
The baby perches on his mother back,
or oftener on his elder sisters back like
a young monkey. Then when he learns
to sit up, he doesn't sit up. He sits
down, with his legs coiled under him
Long as he lives, he squats that fash
ion. Even in the growing years, his
legs have never a chance TO grow. They
are cramped under him. so that when
the time comes for him to stand, he
stands up IN sitting posture.
An American is always ready to leap
to his feet when he is sitting down. He
is half way up already. The oriental
is always ready to sit down when he is
standing up. He is already half way
down. Very characteristic is the old
Arab proverb-I'It is better to walk
than to run; it is better to stand still
than to walk; it is better to sit down
than to sit up There is more of it,
but that s enough for my purpose.
Watching the children playing in
Yokohama Park one day, romping de-
corously and playing running games
quietly, we were told that this was
feature of ''Young Japan that the
children were not wont so 20 play in
the older days, but that now the parks
were thrown open to them. and they
were encouraged to play the running
and jumping. the romping games, that
their legs might grow 20 be useful and
symmetrical members. rather than con-
tinue to be merely folding cushions to
be tucked in under one when one sits
down.
And vet, when Won look at the run
ming legs of your iinriksha man, who
was brought up in the old fashion, you
are inclined to think that while the
psalmist was correct when he declared
that 1.-the Lord taketh no delight in
the legs Of a man. on general prin
ciples, he could hardly help being
pleased with His own handiwork when
He contemplated the running gear of a
japanese jinriksha man. They are
short, but very symmetrically devei
oped And all day long he viii trot,
trot, trot so steadily you implore him
to stop and rest. But he rests himself
by keeping on trotting.
| am told by ''the man. that it
once occurred to an American "sport'
to enter a jinriksha man of the best
endurance in a marathon, to the end
that be might place many large bets
at lOliS Pi'tS piI AIAo uhhADN Il, anu
thereafter wear diamonds While the
other boys wore safety pins. He had
no trouble whatever in placing his bets.
And when his man showed up at the
money end of the marathon he swung
into the last stretch in true jinriksha
forrn-serene, unbreathed, trotting like
a Morgan colt, fresh as daisy and
smiling like spring morning, and
ready for another twenty five miles if
he was called upon. But he was not
called on to DO any more. He had done
enough.
The only disappointing thing about |
his trot down the stretch before the |
grandstand was its loneliness. 1t was
too solitary to be impressive. When !
all the other fellows had limped in the |
crowd thought the race was over, and |
went home. The jinriksha man is a |
good, steady, Jogging trotter. He is not |
a Splinter. There is a strain of endur- |
ance, a power of calling on a reserve |
force after the point of exhaustion is |
reached, that is Anglo-Saxon. Doubt |
less the iinriksha man would kill the !
American who should compete with him !
in the regular daily job in a week. But !
that W0uldn' t be a race.
I ToDauaSa yTrpStInr