Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1919-03-05

the Ford being a great favorite. They
tell me at the Office, Sale & Frazer are
the Ford agents; that the main dif.
ficulty is to get enough Fords. and not
to sell them. Most of the bodies are
made here, each one being made tc
suit the buyer. ! saw one the other
day which had three seats in place
OF two. The sedan is not popular
here because the Japanese must have
a driver. One of the men at the Of
flee said that Japanese driving his
own car was just about like driving
his own rickshaw. Speaking OF rick
shaws, l had my first ride in one this
morning. 1t was raining so l thought
rather than to get wet and muddy
(there are very few sidewalks here)
I would ride. Well | certainly felt
as though l had turned baby again
and my nurse was taking me out for
an airing. There are two wheels
about four feet high and the body Is
Just wide enough to sit in. A fat
man must have trouble getting in
There is a top like Grace's carriage
and then a curtain, which covers the
front in tight, that is in stormy wealth
er or if the wind Is too strong, or II
for any other reason, you don't wish
to be exposed. Well after you are
all tucked in the rickshaw man takes
up the shafts which, Of course, are
short and not very heavy, and starts
of on a run. / surely had my moneys
worth this morning for had nice
ride for 12hc, rainy day prices; in
good weather 1t would have cost TIC.
You can ride for an hour for soc,
which is not bad, I call it; for think
is much better sport than driving a
horse and am not sure but one would
20 about as far.
Yesterday they gave us an earth
quake, suppose for my special bene-
fit. 1t was only small one, but the
rocking OF the buildings was very
much in evidence was on the third
floor. The sensation was about like
we had at the time Of the big NUM-
tion explosion at Elizabeth.
Last night l went over on the main
business street to take in some OF the
sights. Most OF the stores have re-
movable fronts so that during business
hours the store is wide open. In prob
ably half of them the people in charge
were sitting on straw mats and show
ing their goods to customers who were
also seated. In others they mad
counters and people were walking
about the way we do at home. They
tell me that there is one department
store on the street run on the Amer
lean plan but 1t closes at 5 o'clock SO
of course did not see it. will make
a special trip over some day and go
through it. There were a large
number of st:ss out on the sidewalk
where you could buy anything from
a toy chicken which would run down
an inclined board, to violin. There
were other stalls where they were
evidently selling books for the sales
man was turning over the pages OF the
book and l suppose reading a portion
of each page. He did not stay on one
page long enough to have read the
whole OF it.
Today l was taken to the Tokyo
Club for lunch. 1t surely is some
swell place. It have never been IN
as nice one unless it Is at the Yale
Club in New York. understand
that l am to be a visiting member
which will give me the privileges OF
the club for three or four months. That
will very fine, am sure. They cer-
tainly are doing everything possible
to make my stay out here as pleasant
as possible.
had a talk with Mr.. Frazer this
morning and il things go right we will
never finish the program in the allot-
ted six months, but, of course there
are great many things to decide be-
fore we will know that. l haven't
been able to do anything yet to speak
Of, consequently 1t is all speculation.
They had a wedding reception here
tonight and it surely was some swell
affair. They follow the custom here
Of the parents making all arrange
ments, and the bride does not see the
groom until the wedding, SO of course,
she doesn't dislike him, neither does
she like him. They are total strang-
ers and they are in for it, for better
or for worse. Real system, eh!
Well I reckon | have written about
all that will go in one envelop SO will
call this letter for this time. Hope
NO have letter from you when the
next steamer gets here which will be
in about a week.
With 1--we m all