Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-09-27
F|REF[|ES ROYAL
/ GIFT OF JAPANESE
10000 Donated to Prince
Regent by Emperor.
{ Sold in Booths.

White House officials recently were
puzzled over a gift of, n Tasmanian
wallaby. What would they have done
ii the White House, instead OF the Inn
perial palce of Japan, had been the
address on a recent consignment or
20, 800 f1refiies? The Emperor gave
half his insect stock to the prince re-
giant and pastured the rest IN the
loyal gardens at Nlkko.
1.-THE quickening sense of beauty
which Americans feel before the mag
nificence of a skyscraper or the vast
ness of a stadium, the Japanese catch
from small things; freely freed in a
garden, the tilt of a flower in vase
or the Staccato song of cricket,
says a bulletin of the National Geo
graphic Society from its headquarters
here.
Crickets Popular Pets.
"Fireflies and ,crickets are always
popular merchandise at temple festi-
walls. a midday of booths selling
toys and flowers. gewgaws and games
Is a main attraction at these ceiebra-
tons To buy a FREELY one joins a
n-..,:l. s-"wd in the temple park at
plight under the soft vari-colored gieam
IRON hundreds of lanterns. Every
gaudy stall in the lane seems an over
81 lantern cut away on one side to
Hood the passing throng with light.
THE FREELY bazaar itself is like
nothing else in the world. lnnumer-
able tiny straw and transparent paper
cages breathe in darkness and eXpel
glow in slow pulsation. Among his
tirefiies the merchant stands like an
idling leader of an orchestra OF nghts
which seem ever to be tuning Tor
grand symphony of illumination that
never comes off. Each of these truly
nrllV a
OF a cent.
Bound I'D in a common japanese
phrase is a legend about their cher
ished f1reflies. 1t is companion Tor
the story of young Abraham Lincoln
working problems in the Pickering
freight with a shovel for a slate.
FREELY Legend.
There lived in Japan a very poor
family, as poor in their nation as
Abraha Lincolns father and foster
mother were in lllihois. They were
blessed with sou who had great
eagerness for lear1ung. But the poor
parents could not afford to send their
son to school. They could not buy
candles that he might study at night
So the boy collected firetiies from the
fields, imprisoning them i'll cage.
BY crowdlng this curious lantern close
10 his borrowed books he could make
out the characters. Winter came,
snuffing out his FREELY lantern, but he
learned TO hold his book where 1t
caught the dim light reflected by snow
against the window. Study and work
brought him honor and success.
To-day when a Japanese student
wishes to remark about a fellow stu
dent burning the midnight OIL he
says that he is using 'hotaru no hikart
mado no yuki,' literally FREELY light
and window snow.
Before one sees the cricket booth
one hears 1t. A miniature storm OF
noise rises above the murmur OF con-
versation. Elbow your way to the
front of the crowd and it will soon b
apparent that crickets are not all just
crickets. Sweet singers among the
crickets come high, just is good colo
ratura canaries command a good price
In the Occident. There is the weaver
cricket, whose whirring tune Is the
sound of a hand loom. Another shrills
like an electric bell heard in the dis
lance. But it is not the true 'suZu-
mushi or bell cricket. The "suzu-
mushi song is that of juggling tiny
bells Shinto prieStesSes use in sacred
dances.
Only the Male Sings.
1.-The attraction OF cricketS Tor lght
makes their capture easy by country
men with lanterns. Male and female
are usually imprisoned at the same
time, since Cricket's wife is always
tagging along. But mankind is ruth
less with these family ties; the male
is Immediately separated from the fe-
male, for he alone sings. Placed in
company with his mate he ceases to
sing and soon dies. His silent partner
is kept for breeding purposes.
Breeding crickets are placed in
crooks half filled with moist clay. The
male dies first and the female lives
only until her eggs are laid. Left to
the normal course, the eggs hatch
about the middle of July. But mer
chants incubate crickets for the early
Spring trade in warm rooms A cheap
diet of eggplant parings, melon rind.
cucumber rtnd or the soft interior
parts of the white onion satisfies the
singing crickets.
Musical frogs also delight the
heart Of the Japanese. Certain places
in the vicinity Of Toxic are well
known and often visited in the eve
ming by people who love to listen to
a certain species of small frog whose
Soptr ia highly esteemed >"