Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-01-25
WINTER IN JAPAN


y reader OF this page writes TO me
Of her desire to know more about Japar
and the life OF The missionaries there
Yesterday morning as the wintry sun
shine struggled with the snowfiakes !
was reminded OF many such days that J
passed during my six years there.
vt the beginu.ns. let me tell you that
.,APan is. a. most of you know, COM
.osed OF a thousand islands. Some arc
-.S large a. several of our counties. one
CT Two almost as large as our smallest
state. but hundreds are very small, and
an acre is more land than is on many
OF them. With millions and millions
people over there il takes every inch
of SOL TO support them. The govern
ment owns the forests, and as soon as
trees are cut the place is replanted, for
they have nurseries for young pines
lust as we have for apples. peach OF
orange trees. 1 have seen islands not q
quarter OF an acre above the sea with
a temple TO the god of the waves and
4 few pine trees on it.
On account of the country being not
only surrounded by water. but the area
being small, the dampness is excessive
This cold season has shown many of US
that a greater amount of dry cold can
be borne than rainy. cold weathe
When I went over there ! was told that
the city Of Hiroshima was in the same
degree of latitude as Augusta, Ga, but
when 7 reached there I found that the
winters there demanded as heavy cloth
ing as the same damp cold does in
Chicago. 1t is a constant fight with
frOst-bitten fingers and ears, and chill
blains are the usual result wherever
Chilblain can appear. We Americans sent
home for felt shoes and wore them con-
stantly when il was permissible to
wear shoes, hut the houses over there
do not have the same sort of floor COW
ering as we do Their mating is very
soft and il is as impolite to wear ones
shoes in the house as il would be for
you to go to your table with your haI
on So my sister crocheted a pair of
slippers for me to wear in cold weather
when walking on the floors. The roofs
of the older houses were made of straw
and a box filled with fine dust had live
Goals on top Of the dust. The people
sit on their feet, so they kept moderate
ly warm, and by keeping close to the
firebox Chibachi) and wearing an album.
dance OF clothing one could be comfort
able 1t was when one moved about that
the cold struck them. But Japan has
progressed, the modern houses have tile
roofs and stoves. in at least one room
/ suppose in a city of a hundred thou
sand there may be fifty houses with
stoves TO warm one room, but those
houses are'in the big cities where the
people meet the foreigners from every
land.
The soil is so damp that the snow
does not lie on the ground. Perhaps
three times while 1 was there there
were SHOWS that lay on the ground sew
eral days, but many. many times from
November till March we had snow so
thick that you could scarcely see across
the street, and those snow storms would
last all day, or even longer.
As I've told you several times, the
churches over here are so fond of their
money that they can't bear to Iet
much of it cross the ocean for the ad- !
vance of Gods kingdom. Nine miles
from Hiroshima was village that
had one Christian. home in it, The
daughters from that home came to our
school. boarded there, but she and her
mother wanted a Sunday school and !
went down there to help them.
We had a room full of children.
used to go on the train Sunday morn
ing and in the winter it was a trying
experience. My Bible woman and 1 got
up and walked at least a mile to the
station to get on a train that left any
where from 20 o.OVs ana sometimes
took an hour and half to make the
nine miles. The only one that we could
return on was Supposed to reach our
city at 3. Yamanouchi San and I would
eat our lunch and if the weather per-
mitter walking We would start to walk
half way. for We had no expense fund
to pay our railroad fare. Some times
we walked the nine miles. but when
the weather was too inclement we went
to the station to wait for the train. 4
shed enclosed on three sides, with 4
dirt floor and narrow bench was
where I've spent many an hour. with the
snow so thick that I could not read the
name Of the incoming train There was
a tighter waiting room with a large
fire box in il. but il was across the
track from where we got on and We
dared not stay there after our train was
due for there might have been another
one between US and the one for Hiro-
shima. And right here let me tell you
that a fourteen-yer-old boy, who went
To that Sunday school, learned the Com
mandments, "Beatitudes." and a dozen
or more songs, asked to buy Bible. He