The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-01

| aglee." We had scarcely got well settled Tn our places before the rain came pour ing down upon us. and drove us into the dining saloon, which was on the same
 scale as the sabins, and tight as if it had | been designed for the express purpose of shutting out any breath of atmosphere. | When.the rain was overland fortunately | 1t did not last a great while-we again | ventured upon the sloppy decks, prefer | ring anything to asphyxiation. As night came on the temperature dropped to a most comfortable point, and the sky above us fairly blazed with stars, the | blessed familiar stars that hover over all lands. Nothing could be more tran l quilizing than gazing into the azure depths of space made radiant by gleam | of uncounted worlds
 The boats fare. from the Japanese point of view. was excellent in quality and abundant in quantity and was served with great neatness on individual lac quered trays. Much of 1t was quite pal atable, even to an American taste. The | fried fish, in particular, were done to a
 turn, and could not have been better, but such articles as fish raw, pickled bur dock roots, dried mushrooms, etc., were too much for me. Neither could easily swallow a dish of rice favored with strong tea. It is not my purpose to say that these things are intrinsically uneat- | able; not at all. The contrary is proven | by the fact that the Japanese actually | eat them. But a man at 50 finds it diff | ficulty to revolutionize the habits and capacities of a lifetime. Most grateful, | therefore, was I for the lunch basket | which Mr. Hagar brought on ship as we | were leaving Kobe, as we'll as for the drip coffee pot in which MT. Mosely dis | titled more than one amber cup of the
 Brazilian beverage. With such rein | forcements of creature comforts, to say l noting of the luscious peaches that we | bought at various places, we made our voyage most cheerfully. The only unto-
 ward incident was in my lack of con- | formity at one point to the laws of Jap anese etiquette. On finishing a meal it Is | the proper thing for all those at the table | to rise and bow respectfully to whoever | chances to be in the position of host. I l failed to conform, another case of blum dering through what Dr. Sam Johnson would call pure ignorance"
 Our first destination was Beppu, a city | of perhaps 10000 inhabitants, in Kyushu, 15o miles below Kobe It is a queer looking place, utterly Japanese in every | particular I did not see in all the l town a single American or European | house, nor anything else that reminded
 me even in the least of Europe or Amer lea. The whole region round about is of NOicdHlC OTlSiu, dHu S1SnS or present | volcanic action abound on every hand. At
 many places nearby there are Assures in
 the earth through which hot gases are constantly escaping, and over which the people do their cooking. Hot springs and wells are innumerable. For a long time sick folk have resorted thither for the baths, and the stream of such visit ors grows constantly larger. They are of both sexes, of all ages, ard afflicted xzyff ,II ,; rTyi-- largest bathhouses hold 400 people, and are often crowded with patients. For | merly there was the greatest promiscuity of the sexes and the most absolute dis regard of raiment, but of recent years the government has enforced sort of respect | for what we regard as the decencies of i fife. In spite, however, of the police reg | ulation, there are still most shocking dis l plays of immodesty. When a gentleman | called my attention to some postcard pie lures of these scenes and asked me whether I did not wish to purchase them
 as curiosities, I told him quite flatly: ''No. I would not be caught dead with them on my person." One of the most curious sights is that of hundreds of
 men and women halfburied in the hot
 moist sands by the seashore, which Is re- garded as particular beneficial form of treatment for various sorts of diseases. Among the thousands of unfortunates who resort thither for what help they
 can get the missionaries do effective work in preaching and in the distribution of
 Christian literature. Numerous small in-
 dustries thrive in the town. l saw sev-
 eral maccaroni factories and many places
 in which bamboo baskets and trays
 carved with remarkable skill, are made
 in great number.
 Eight miles distant and reached by
 an electric line that runs between the foot of d mountain and the margin of
 the bay, is the larger city of Oita, the
 capital of the ken or state. It has
 much more attractive look than Beppu, though 1t cannot be said to be beauti- sul. The chief object of interest in it is q famous old castle, still kept in fine state of repair, and the moat of which are filled with lotus plants, in full bloom at the time of my visit. In company with Mir. Callahan, I went through the prefectural of capitol building. The. officials showed us the most perfect courtesy, serving tea and in every way trying to put us at our ease. When it comes to the matter of politeness. there are no people on the earth who can surpass the Japanese They seem to have an instinctive sense of what Is becoming, and they never forget their manners, unless they chance to become very angry, in which event they some times cast off all
 restraints. My chief source of discom-
 fort on this trip was the lack of good drinking water. The Japanese quench
 their thirst with tea, which is usually
 repid. By actual experiment they have
 learned that the unboiled and unfilter-
 ed water of their country is usually
 unhealthy. and they have therefore con-
 cluded that all cold water should be
 avoided. Ice Is not much used No-
 where is 1t regarded as n necessity.
 Fifty times over. I longed to lie down
 under the spiggot of an ice-watsr
 barrel and drink my fill. Give even
 he most seasoned old topper a few
 weeks of such experience. and he will
 be likely to admit that there are worse
 things than pure water.
 On my way back to Kobe I spent two
 days at Matsuyama in Shikoku with the
 Rev. MT. Demaree, who 25 years ago
 was my student at Vanderbilt univer-
 sity. This city of 10000 or 5O.000 Is the
 cleanest and one of the prettiest that
 saw in Japan. It Is dominated by d
 great castle that looks down upon it
 from a lofty hill. and it spreads out
 into level plains, beyond which there
 are immense rice fields that give the sense of plenty to the eye of the be- holder. Not far distant is manufactur- ed the beautiful Tobi ware, not often seen in the United States, a cream coored porcelain without much orna- ncntation. but with finish of ex- 1uisite smoothness. To my mind it Is mach more tasteful than many of the noted porcelains. Almost opposite Mat suyama and only three or four hours