The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920, 1910-11-19
~ CLARENCE POE
lA.-ln the Land of Upside Down. s.

CAN NOT HELP thinking" said On. ., nv,
iriends to me when left home that when
you get over on the other side Of the world.
IN japan and China, you will have to walk unsd
oown ike the flies on the ceng!" And while
nnd that this is not true in a phvsical son,o -
10 true, as Mr. Percival Lowell has pointed ont
that with regard to the manners and customs of
Ae peopie' everything is reversed, and the surest
way to go right is to take pains to go dead
Wions 10 speak backwards, write backwards
ieaa BACKWARDS, is but the c Of Oriental con-
.rariety. Alice need not have gone to Wonder
land she should have come to japan.
am not yet used, for example, to seeing men
start at what would be with us the back side of
DOCK or paper and read toward the front and
II is said that no European or American ever gets
USED to the construction of Japanese sentence
considered merely from the standpoint of thought
arrangement I had noticed that the Japanesa
usually ended their sentences with an emphatic
upward push or squirt before I learned that with
them the subject OF a sentence usually comes last
Uf at alb, as for example. "By a rough road YES
terday came john" instead of, John came by
rough road yesterday"
Land OF Contradictions
And this. OF course, is but one illustration of
thousands that might be given to justify my title,
Tho Land OF Upside Down." the land of contra
dictions to our ideas That It is a land where
the flowers have no odor and the birds no song"
and similarly, the far-famed cherry blossoms bear
no fruit The typesetters saw in the Kokumin
Shimbum office were singing like BIRDS but the
Held hands / saw at Komaba were as silent as
church worshippers. The women carry children
on their backs and not in their arms The
girls dance with their hands. not with their feet
and alone, not with partners. An OK Is worth
more than horse. The people battle frequently,
but In dirty water. most artistic people, the
stone lions" at Nikko Temple look much like
bulldogs. mans birthday is not celebrated, but
the anniversary OF his death 10. The people are
immeasurably polite. and yet often unendurably
cocky and conceited kissing watzing, even
for man and wife. would be improper in public,
but the exposure of the human body excites no
surprise. The National Government is supposed
TO be modern. and yet only per cent OF the peo-
pe-the wealthiest--can vote. Famed for kind
ness. the brutality OF Japanese soldiers to the
Chinese at Port Arthur would damn the fairest
nation on earth" The Nation equally noted for
simplicity OF living. II is a Japanese banker,
Ing to New York. who breaks even Americas
record for extravaganza, by giving banquet cost
ing $40 plate. The people supposed to be
singularly contented and yet Socialism has had a
rapid growth The Emperor Is supposed to be
sacred and almost infallible, and yet the Crown
Prince Is not a legitimate In the first Shnto
temple visited the priests offered me sake (the
National liquor) to drink. With a government
the most autocratic on earth, 1t has nevertheless
adopted many high "paternalistic" schemes
government ownership OF railways and telegraphs,
for example The people work all the time. but
they refuse to work strenuously as Americans
The temples attract thousands Of people, but
usually only in a spirit OF frolc. Labor per day
Is amazingly cheap, but in actual results, little
cheaper than in America.
It is amid such maze OF contradictions and sur
prises that one moves In Japan. When go into
Japanese home. for example, 1t is a hundred times
more important to take of my shoes than 1t is to
take off my hat-even though, as happened this
week when I called on celebrated Japanese
singer there be holes In my left stocking! Out