The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

"OkIO. November 2-(Special )-Some
 one has called Japan the paradise
 \ of children, and. paradise or not. the country of children it may well be called. The first thing that strikes the newly arrived traveller Is the amazing ouiverfulness of the country. In city, in village, in hamlet, wherever you go, chil- dren seem to swarm out of the earth or materiallze from thin air. The ior- eigner comes to feel like a Pied Piper of HameIin, so preternatural is his at traction for the little folk. He cannot stop to make a purchase, and much less to take photograph, without be- ing surrounded by a crowd of from twenty to fifty children--bullet- headed, close cropped boys in the cotton kimo- nos, pretty little girls in bright col ored, often garfsh, gowns, with still brighter or more garish sashes (obi). Almost all the girls, moreover, and some of the boys, are certain to be car lying smaller children strapped to their hacks. have seen little girl of ten plodding along with the heads of two sturdy infants dangling at her should CTS. When the stranger moves on, the children very likely come clattering after him on their wooden "geta''- sort Of pattens. Sometimes, on eanntry road, lsnet of school boys ssill follow in ones track for miles, silent for the most part. but sometimes relying on ones ignorance of their lan- suage to make remarks which are any thing but fattering. As rule, of course, the victims susceptibilities are safely encased in incomprehension; but 0 those who happen to know Japan csc, the rudeness of the children is, in s-me parts of the country. serious annoyance. Red headed barbarians is l II. =. fling at the inoffensive tourist, and their elders, be it noted, are never known to check them. s..s5 a.ss .sl
 The odd thing about this appearance of tra-fecundity is that statistiss show it to be in great measure il1usory. If figures are to be trusted, the pop1l- lation of Japan is not increasing any faster than that of England. The somewhat higher birthrate is counter vailed by higher death-rate. Yet t Is certain that one sees ten children in Japan for every one that Is visible in England. This is partly, explained hy the fact that the street is the Jap anese nursery, and that the normal Jap anese house has no walls in the day time. But if the contrast between Ja- pan and England be partly applicable, what of the contrast between Japan and other oriental regions? Both China and India are notably prolific countries; yet in neither is the child anything like so much in evidence as in Japan. The "purdah" of Muhammadan and high caste Hindu women has doubtless some influence in India; the seclusion Of the mothers involves, to some ex- tent. that of the children But there Is no "purdah" in China why. then, should the Chinese child be incompar- ably less conspicuous than the Japan csc? The fact is undoubted, but have never heard it explained.
 One thing must be said for the Jap anese child: He seldom or never begs. In China the children are almost as shameless beggars as in Southern Italy. Once, when was walking with a lady through the labyrinthine alleys of a Chinese city a stark naked well-fed ufchin of eight or so beset us for half T mile, occasionally throwing himself in the mud at our feet, and literally howling for aims. My companion, in- ired to the ways of the place, would lot allow me to buy him off, and at last he desisted from sheer exhaustion. No such experience is possible in Japan.
 What. then, is to become of the bare legged. blue gowned millions of young Nippon? Do they constitute. either po- lltically or industrially. the yellow peril,n of which we hear so much? It must be admitted that. at first sight they seem in some measure to justify fEe apprehension with which they are regarded by many people, both in Amer lea and Australia.
 For they are not only numerous; they