El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-26

KY = ASHINGTON, D. C., Oct. %
NA( The japanese at this time Of
year have a sort of HallOw-
cen Of their own. When the autumn
leaves begin to drop off the trees, the
children are told that witches are
throwing them down; and there is one
particular night, not far from October
81, when a sort OF congress Of demons
assemblies, and It is imprudent to ven
ture abroad, lest mischief befalL
The worst Of all the witches in the
mikado's realm is Hannyan- She is a
kind OF witch goddess, and is supposed
to be the representative OF Ieml-
nine envy and jealousy. Sometimes IN
Japanese art, she appears holding IN
her hand the head of a murdered in
FAINT, and grinning over the accom-
plishment OF the dreadful deed
Japan's symbol Of Hatred.
Hatred and treachery in Japan find
their favor1te symbol IN the serpent
which there assumes the character OF
firstclass demon. Its silent and stealthy
mode of getting about coupled with the
poisonous character of its venom, may
perhaps Justify the choice Of this rep
tile as the emblem Of malice. But
there are in that country other types
of fiends and COLLINS with which We
are not acquainted For example there
are goblin cats, and even goblin rats,
which il is most unsafe to encounter
"A
the supernatural creatures Of Nippon
do not venture abroad custOmarly IN
the day time, the nocturnal hours be-
ing more appropriate for the exercise
of their alarming activities
One of the most similar stories (to
children in Japan is that of boy
named Kihachi, who was employed as
acOlyte in temple. Unfortunately, ne
was far from being success In that
capacity, his inclination being to de
vote practically all Of his time to the
drawing of cats. It is true that the
cats he drew were wonderfully lifelike,
but the priests of the temple had en-
gagged his services for other purposes,
and when he drew pictures OF cats not
only upon his own clothing, but even
upon the prayer rolls, they decided that
there was nothing to do but to dis
picture Cats Become Real
Finding himself thus thrown upon
the world, he started off and wandered
on until he came across deserted
tempIe. 1t was attended by neither
priest nor acolyte and everything IN
it was covered with dust. Obeying
mere habit he busted the altar and
cleaned things up in a general way; ana
then, the work belng Ilhlsheo, ne Us
covered that there was screen with
a big blank space. on which. irresist-
IDLY tempted, he drew large number
of cats.
When he had filled the screen with
cats he went to sleep on the floor But
in the middle OF the night he was
awakened by screams and yells incon-
ceivably alarming For while he lay
trembling. not daring to move, and al
ter a while all was still, and again he
slept.
After daybreak he awoke, and there
on the floor of the temple was the body
of a terrible rata rat as big as
COW. 1t was nothing more or less than
the corpse of a monster rat goblin. But
the boy saw something more wonderful
yet The mouths of all the cats he had
drawn on the screen were covered with
blood. They had come alive in the
night and had eaten the demon rat
Subsequent inquiry proved that the
monster rat goblin had haunted the
temple for a long time past-which was
the reason why it was deserted Many
persons who visited the place had never
returned. and the presumption was that
they had been devOured.
AS for the boy, Kihachi, he became
great and successful artist - especially
famous for his cats. which Gas every
body who knows anything Of art is
alvarez are the most difficult OF all
animals to draw in a lifeliSe manner.
Queer Kind of Goblin.
There is in Japan, BY the way, a