Evening star., 1926-04-25
BY ALICE ROGERS HAGER.

ing figure of Lincoln shine softly in
the quiet mirror of water: where the
slender shaft of the first President
pushes up into the Spring sky, and
near at hand Is the house of the pres
ent Executive in it's white beauty
here come. in the first days of April
each year, frail lovely visitors from
land beyond the sea. 'Sakura, y
Towering cherry. exquisite and fragile
flowers of Japan, are tossed up to the
breeZes like a pink cloud or sunset
colored wave in spray, by the old
mother trees that made the weary,
uncertain Journey to alien soil to root
deeper the friendship between their
land and ours. Like all truly lovely
things, they fling their brief JOY to
the heavens and are gone--a dream,
a wrath, a mist,
Then. when their faint odor is still
in the nostrils, when wind and
weather have taken them, farther out
along the Speedway and around the
edges of the Point. suddenly, like
resurrection, they are here again,
though now in double blossom.
And that is what is happening TINS
year. The first glory is over ana the
second Is delaying until warmer Gays
are sure. But they. too, will be briefly
with us,
The picture of the earlier flowers
filed NV mind the other day with a
sudden picture of another year anu
another place-their place in Dal
Nippon" in the Island of Flowers
Toxic was astir with the awakening
season. The bamboo was putting
forth delicate green shoots TO wave
invitingly over garden wall. the Dor
ders of the Imperial Moat were shim'
IL. n
lows-evervwhere was green. Then,
overnight almost. the cherries came
into bloom and the city went mad
with happiness.
National Holiday Created.
The japanese are unique. | think, in
their love of flowers. Certainly Tue
"sakura .no-mi." or viewing OF the
cherries, is a national holiday. Snops
close, schools are dismissed. servants
who work seven days week during
the balance of the year. come III 10
ask "Danna san" eagerly. if they may
90 on festival. In the parks, carnival
is let loose. the masks and domlnos OF
the men mingling colors in the crowos
with the gay kimono of the geisha'
An imperial garden party is held ca'i'
ing together all the high personases
of the nation. and all the distinguished
ones in the foreign colony
In Kvoto. the famous dance of the
cherries $ given by trained ge!sha-
a delightful pageant OF hsht anu
grace.
Toxic shows its trees in the ancleh'
marks of Shiba and Uyeno. spreading
a canopy about the tori that marx
temple entrances and the stone idh
terms of the long dead
For a mile beside the river at Mu-
koiima. the stretching canopy Is
snread again. and here dedicated 10
the special Joy of the common peo-
pJe. who come to it with revelry AKIN
in spirit to the Roman saturnalla'
In earlier times. the Emperor and
bis court used the garden party as
festival of poetry. and the branches
.of the imperial trees We're hung with
Auttering paper garlands OF song. For
noetrv and flowers are OF the same
stuff in the Japanese mind-so NO
cucbi the modern cries: ITS acci-
dent to exist as a flower or poet
nere twist of evolution. but from the
Same force" And ono nt IN" "'r"Nt
naths TO the understanding or the ma.
tion that has sent us. as slshiitcan'
mark of esteem and friendship. theT
oost delicate and cherished posses
sion is to read the lines about 1t Ina I'M
have been written by thelr poets Ine
Eiku or chrvsanthemum. may ne the
imperial insignia. but IN 'he , neai' Vi
the people. the cherry mas no i'|''
Eyanescent Beauty.
The spirit life of the Orieh! II
to,r,ded in the evanescence OF al,
,t,;,,cS oven though they he materlai
and visible. What more natural. tneh'
,to+ heauty should he most eVaheS-
onpt of all? Basho. one of the maSter
,oets of Japan, sings. in incompar-
able verse:
.Srring nirht. O cherry howers'
A few swift flying hourEs' cherry eowers!"
And then Spring dawn. u cherrS
And again: sur oor.r,
"Old battle field. iresn with "P
All tbat is left of the dream o,.;,"
81 twice ten thousand warriors siah
,,,,,noyn poet adds his word on
perfection
FLOWERS have I seen and honey nave
And heard the cuckoo's song through 10
Nou the in enbi this world or in the next. dear
sbaIl forever know life was not "as'eu'
In the Manyosho. an anthology VI
yerse that dates from $50 ALL dle
fnund two that particular! express
The necessity of briefness:
90 cherry flowers, in perfect beauty Eday daGn''
fam would hid you fali ana of nie YOU Stay
So should your lovers worship VI ~" ~
Forever at the height
..rf cherrv blossoms in their prlqe
Covered the far flung mouh!alnsuh
nav after day the summer tnIoss.7" I u
Sh0uld we praise them as we w
And in fading time:
.1,hree things in this world never eeS So
tn wait man : peaSure--1aui',s ~
Rivers that seward take their way
And passing hours
Famous Poem.
The most famous poem OF the
Sbinto priest, Arakida Morltake' rs
thought: back to their branch
i've faIlnn flowers float ana rise.
7 IIooi,ed agaip-lo twas the butterhies.
while Yekei Hoshi about $50 ADJ
raioices where the house that mas peen
eraced bv a tree is empty SO thal
9hare is no one to grieve their depar-
ture: .,osso,s
81 the tenantless house
on the reed plain
Must with an easy heart
Fall in the wind.
And Ono no Komachl, poetess'
"a lied to the Imperial nouSeho'u w
cause of her beauty and her POEMS
sighs:
The fairest flowers most quickly IAN
Beaten with rain
And vet more vain.
NJ, heaIlty fadeth once for all
~ And will not bloom again.
And:
>-.ugbt ;s so feeting as the cherry flower
Yau Yaus sayEyet / remember well the hour
When lfe's bloom withered AT one spohe"
And not a breath had stirred
The Don Juan of Japan. Narlnara'
tho hero of an early novel. Use Mono.
eatari." shows us the other side OF
the picture:
Too heart full were the Joy Of spring 50 nnou
did not the cherry blossoms BID us Kho"
How swift and sure must go
Each fairest thing.
Plea to Slave Boys.
Nr;,arooto no Kintada, who lived