The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1929-04-03
MISS BURMEISTER
WRITES FROM JAPAN
Redwood Falls Girl in Mission
ary Field Relates Many
Interesting Experiences.

A letter dated February 9th and
postmarked Kumamoto, Japan was
received by Mr. and Mrs. A. c. Bur-
meister from their daughter, Mar
garet who has been in Japan for the
past two and one-half years doing
missionary work Miss Burmeister
tells of many interesting and quaint
Nippon customs in her letter, which
follows:
''It is a horrid morning, for few
days we had spring but now it has
turned cold again and is splitting rain
and sleet. Our little maid has been
sick, for about two weeks now her
voice has been affected and so she
stayed at home. We've had to do
the cleaning, she is here this morn
ing, able to speak so l guess we are
safely over that for a while.
"Last week went much as usual, ]
went to school on Friday but had to
come home early to attend the fun
eral of the father-in-law of Nagai
San, who died the day before. He
was very old and caught pneumonia,
so there was very little hope for his
recovery. The very old lady is liv-
ing as a firm Buddhist so the funeral
was Buddhist. 1t is the first one OF
that kind that | have ever been to.
1t really seemed quite senseless be-
cause no one could understand what
the old priest was saying. They had
permission to bury without cremation.
The casket is round and the body is
put in sitting down. The procession
is made up of lanterns and the mour-
ners do not follow it to the cemetery,
only some relative to represent the
family. Beforehand they had a big
feast which was brought in and not
cooked in the house. The expenses
are terrible, the temple alone must
be paid 100 yen. We did not go to
the feast, none of the Christians did.
Saturday we had Ojokwai and
there were not so many as there has
been many times. It's easier to work
with about fifteen than with thirty
or forty. Sunday l had foreign serv-
ice. | read a chapter of Maude Roy
den'g new book, and every one SEEM
ed to like it very much. We went for
a walk afterwards and of course the
dog went along and we had an awful
time because he would chase all the
chickens and then the people would
get mad of course. He's mess real
ly and l guess we'll have to get rid
Zof him soon. When the new young
sters come to kindergarten in April
it will pretty bad because he runs
around them and they get frightened
and we'll, it's awful; every one crying.
monday was Takai Sans wedding
and we went to the church to deco
rate. She is one of our best OJokwal
members and we surely hate to lose
her. She comes from a very infiu-
entail family and the boy, while from
a good family, is not rich by any
means. He graduated from the I'M
perial University this year and has a
job at Aoyama Gakuin for the COM
ing year. The wedding itself was
very nice and I'm sure it is a real
love match as they both looked so
happy. They called yesterday and
were simply beaming all over. They
have been friends for over six years.
There was no dinner of any kind
afterwards as his father had died only
recently, They leave today for Tokyo.
"Well must bring this to close
as Kayano San is waiting for me
and there is much to do before the
cooking class"