BIOGRAPHY OF A RED FOX.
i
X
Japan the Lar)d of
the ChrysaQth)emun)
Modes and Manners In the
Supremacy In
WAR between Russia anil
Japan must bring somo
thing Hkt a pang of regret
to the hearts of those who
have known and lived la
Che happy land of the
mootiflower. No ono who loves sim
plicity and the sweetness of natnro
unspoiled, can contemplate without a
sympathetic shudder even tho possi
bility of tho conquering Muscovite
trampling his uncouth "way across tho
'smiling rlco Holds, and under the an
cient Jorii boforo tho temples of a
thousand gods. Japan Is tho last laud
of the beautiful left to an over-civilized
world. It is also the youngest
hlld of conquest, for scarcely 50
SAYING GOOD MOIiNING IN JA1AN.
3'ears have passed since Its gates were
lirst thrown open to tho nations of tho
"west.
Nippon, "country of peaceful
shores," In tho native speech, is
rapidly admitting European customs,
ideas of dress, and manners of liv
ing, to tho destruction of much that
was picturesque and that had no coun
terpart in other lands.
But away, tucked close among Its
hills and valleys, in the very kernel of
Old Japan, there still remain to-day
quiet llttlo nooks, howored in cherry
l)lossom and wisteria; happy little
;ltle3 of sweetness and light; quaint
little nests of gray-stone temples,
lichen-covered shrines, and Buddhas-by-the-wayslde.
And here tho mis
sionaries have not been, the fatal foot
of the trader has not yet trod, and
even tho . face of the white man has
rarely baen seen, sometimes not at all.
Here is real Japan, in all its truth
and purity, and here the real Japanese,
the most simple-hearted creature
breathing, whom we of the western
world know nothing of, lives his sim
plo life and die3 his simple death.
For that is the keynote of Japanese
character simplicity. And It brings
a goddess in its train beauty, the
handmaiden of nature.
Many aro the curious customs, cu
rious to us, which are matters of com
mon habit in Japan. Up to late years
the facial charm of femininity has
leen rigidly restricted to the young
jind unmarried, for after tho wed
ding ceremony the bride, as a mark
f honor to her husband, must blacken
3JTTLE JAPS IN OTANI PARK,
KYOTO.
her teeth and shave her eyebrows.
But even this, an Immemorial ob
servance, is yielding to tho advanco
of knowledge and the roports-of the
traveled and moro enlightened, and
will presently die out.
Tho visitor, especially one who has
sojourned In India, China, and other
eastern places, Is at once struck by tho
extreme cleanliness of Japanese cities,
by -tho entlro absence of beggars In the
streets, and of those degraded crea
tures who swarm In the great capi
tals. Tho street crle3 aro all melo
dious, and tho avoidance of nolso Is
overywhero tho first cbnslderatlon.
Tho watchman who goes the rounds
at night beats two pieces of wood to
gether. The hells have uo clappers,
Island Empire That SeeKs
the par East.
but nro struck with the hand on tlu
outside. A molancholy, plover-llkt
note on a reed pipe, which regularly'
sounds in tho streets every morning,
is the call of tho blind. Theso have
the monopoly of a lucrative profes
sion, boing shampoocrs and mna
sageurs (massago has been practiced
in Japan for centuries, and brought
to the highest state of efficiency possi
ble). Its blind professors possess some
knack of hand or personal magnetism
which has subdued tho most inveter
ate i cases of rheumatism, and have
ven conquered paralysis.
Japan is a country allvo with
legend and myth, but tho Btudent ol
its mythology will bo Impressed by
the ono feature which distinguishes It
from all others, and particularly from
all of eastern origin. Its Olympus la
peopled by no vengeful or blood
thirsty gods demanding sacrificial al
tars and tho offerings of immolation.
The Japaueso deities aro as kindly
and gentle-hearted as tho people
themselves. Their story of tho crea
tion is quaint, and wholly without the
elements of slaughter and dissension
which aro tho groundwork in other
mythologlc accounts of tho Bame
event Two gods (whoso very lengthy
names may be shortened to Izanagi
and Izanami), standing upon the
bridge of Heaven,1 cast grains of rice
abroad to dispel tho darkness. They
then pushed a spear down into the
green plain of tho sea, and stirred it
round. This spear became tho axis
of the earth, started it revolving, nnd
by a natural process of consolidation
brought about the dry land . . .
and nothing could very well bo sim
pler or more logical than that!
Anyone who has stayed In Yokohama
In the middle of October has perforce
taken part in tho festival of 0 Son
san. Tho streets aro hung with lan
terns, drums are beating everywhere,
paper flowers aro showered down
from tho balconies, and a laughing,
good-natured crowd thronging tho
town from end to end will allow no one
A JAPANESE STREET ON A HOLI
DAY. to hide himself away at a time of gen
eral rejoicing. And yet very fow peo
ple know what It is all about, and that
this excuse for general holiday-making
commemorates an act of self
sacrifice. Two hundred years ago (so
the story runs) tho spot where tho
important and populous settlement of
Yokohama stands to-day was occu
pied by a vast swamp. Immense ef
forts wore made to fill It in, but tho
work went on but slowly and with dis
aster. The quicksands swallowed up
the earth and stones as fast as they
were thrown In, and, worso still, it
swallowed tho workmen as well. Then
t it was that a humble young girl, 0
Sonsan (maid-servant), camo forward
and offered to be burled alive In tho
swamp to placato tho evil spirits of
tho quicksand. The sacrifice was ac
cepted, and from that moment the
work succeeded and no moro lives
wore lost. And that Is why to-dny, on
every fifteenth of October, tho Jap
aueso in Yokohama danco on tho site
of 0 Sonsan's grave.
Japan has never been priest-riddon,
hence tho nlmo3t marvelous enso with
which it has been ablo to adapt itself
to the changing necessities of the
times. There is no fanaticism in
I Japan. Its priests aro teachers, most
ly peripatetic: they expound tho prin
ciples of Shinto, or the sacred book
of Shaka, but they are not custo
dians of the Japanese conscience and
masters of his actions, as tho Guru is
of tho Hindoo. There aro thousands
of Shinto shrines and temples scat
tered all over tho country, by tho side
of almost every road. But thoy sym
bolize no tenet of fanatical sacrifice or
loss of mental liberty. The religion,
llko ovorythlng Japanese, is one of
marked simplicity.
b. kspinAsse.
Girls Sat AVand'il in Clilini.
Daughters are considered of very lit
tle Importance In China. A Chinaman
is compelled by law to leave his posses
sions to his male children.
L 1
Canning; ntnl fnvnitf Trlcka of the
Anliunl DCMCrlbctl by HI Snt
urallat Ttntacr.
Our red fox was tho very liveliest
young animal wo ever had In the house.
Thcro waBn't a mean hair In his dear
llttlo body but ho was so mischievous
that space would not permit of my enu
merating one-half tho things he broko
or destroyed in ono way or another,
writes Ernest Harold Baynes, In Wom
an's Homo Companion. For somo days
wo fed him exclusively on milk, but ono
evening I held out to him a Bmall pleco
of row beef. Af first ho did not realize
what I waB offering him, but after snif
fling It for a moment, he sprang forward
with a savage cry, and soized the 'meat
in his teeth. I wnB started at tho
change which had come over him. Tho
gentle, woolly, blue-eyed cub which but
a moment beforo would have gono quiet
ly to sleep In my hand had In one Instant
become a savage wild beast, snarling
Jercoly, with ears laid back, and snapping
with Its baby teeth at the hand which
sought to caress It. And though we
sought to divert him in every way we
could think of, It was two or three days
before he quite forgot that meat.
He soon became very playful, and ho
was never quiet, except when ho was
asleep. Ho searched the rooms for
scraps of paper, balls of twino nnd other
small nrticleo, and having found some
thing to Interest him he would run off
with it, shaking it as ho went. He was
very fond of us all, and when he re
turned, after an absence of an hour or
more, ho showed his delight by wagging
liis tail, putting out his tonguo and
panting open-mouthed, ns wo often see
little dogB pant under similar circum
stances. It soon became evident that a steady
diet of milk was becoming tiresome to
him, and I was obliged to give him meat
at least once n day. Each time he had
it ho showed the savage side of his na
ture, which was never to be seen at any
other time. Gradually I increased his
allowance of meat, until one day I gave
him more than he could eat at ono mcnl.
Tho bits of beef had been placed on a
newspnper, and when he found that
there was more than he could manage
at tho time, ho lifted up tho corners of
the paper with his mouth, and deliber
ately covered up what remained. Ap
parently he did this with the Intention
of hiding the food until he needed it;
and sure enough, as soon as ho was hun
gry, ho came back, uncovered the meat
and ate it. Thereafter, when ho was
given more meat than he could eat on
the spot, he hid it.
WALTZED FOR SEVEN HOURS
Tlifve Couple ICcnl II Vv "Wlillc the.
Orolit-Nirii lMnyoil 1(11 Dif
ferent Tiiii-n.
One of tho most startling novelties in
the dancing line has set all Paris talking
and there are couples that aro now being
treated as if they belonged to the nobil
ity, says a recent report from the French
capital. These couples dnnced for sev
en continuous hours in a contest, and
when they were through both the (lan
cers and tho orchestra were ready to
drop.
The proprietor of the Salle Wagraln
offered prizes for the couples who could
dance the longest. The contest began at
11 p. m. and 44 couples started.
They were all composed of young-men
and women, with the exception of ono
couple of two men. and the male part
ners Included a soldier and two negroes.
The only hard and fnst condition of the
contest was that couples should danco
without cessation and keep walzlng all
the time.
At the end of the first hour four
couples had stopped dancing; at the
end of tho Eocond hour 12 more had had
sufficient, and nt tho end or tho sixth
hour the competitors had (hvinlcd down
'.o five couples. It was now five a. m.,
and tho ten valiant dancers showed evi
dent signs of fatigue. Their faces were
pale and their eyes were cncirculcd by
amlnous black Hues.
But they could stand It as long as tho
band, they said, and to Jteop up their
courage their friends In the audienco
brought them from time to time oranges,
brandy, coffee, and other stimulants,
which they had to take while dancing.
One couple had very hard luck, for after
dancing with spirit for six hours the
gallant cavalier (a pork butcher) in
formed his willing parner that ho had
to bo nt work at five o'clock, and with a
regretful adieu ho left the hall.
Those who remained on the floor kept
It up for an hour longer, and when all
the other competitors had Fiircumbod.
the survivors performed a last round
or tho hnll at six o'clock. They had been
walzlng seven hour, and when they
had finished, 1 ,000 ppectators gave them a
tremendous ovation. Tho audience did
not know, which to applaud the most, the
dancers or tho orchestra, for during the
dancing tho latter played an ondlesn
chain of 101 waltzes.
KtirojK'iui Hoyalt-.
It Is a curious fact that there Is hardly
a reigning monarch in Europe whoso
family is of the panic nationality, abso
lutely, as tho people governed.
'I'liere Arc Ollicru,
"What kind of a chap is ho?"
"Oh, his conversation consists of $28
worth of talking to every nickel's worth
of horse sense." Judge.
A Picturesque Adirondack
Village in Winter
Life With the "Shut-Ins"
Northern
F IT wero not for our llttlo
railroad, If It wero not for
our private wlro, wo would
bo shut up Indeed hero in
this little Adirondack vil
lage. Big evprgrconB and
hardwoodB closo ub In foro nnd aft,
mountains uprcnr foro nnd aft, and
tho biiow 1b doing Its beat to bury ub.
I wonder if it ever stops. For days
It has been falling, through tho sunny
hourB nnd in tho darkness, and ovory
morning wo must tako tho broad,
long-handled snow shovels nnd re
movo tho fall of tho preceding hours.
Tho rlvor looks llko no river nt all,
but llko a long, winding snowy lnno;
tho boughB of tho treoB aro bowed
down with snow, tho roofs covered,
porches piled. But wo do not mind,
wo aro all cozlly sholtored, well pro
pared to laugh at winter's worst.
For bo it known, wo aro a prosper
ous village, everything about betokens
"ready money." And yet we grew up
in a night, as it wero, for a year and
a half ago wo wore not. Whero wo
now Btnnd, a protty energetic village,
18 months ago thcro was nothing but
tho forest primeval, tho mountains
on either side, tho rlvor Oswegatchio
in the cut betweon. No woodamnn's
ax was heard In tho forest, no steam
mill kept busy cutting up forest
giants, no visitor of any sort savo
hunter and fisherman. But ono day
n man got off tho train nt tho nearest
station and stepped Into tho woods
with an alort stop and Inquiring oyo.
Ho prospected about, sized up tho
THE JJEGINNINC. Oi-' AN
! land, selected a cut whore 1iq thought
tho railroad should bo constructed,
and, lo, here wns the beginning of tho
end for tho forest primeval. The lum
ber company had arrived.
Things hummed. Though It co3t
$50,000 moro to construct thnn wns
first estimated, the llttlo railroad was
put through. Hundreds of carloads
of material wero brought In heavy
machinery, an army of workmen. Tho
site for tho mill wns selected, tho
superabundant granite put to boiiio
use for foundation work, nnd when
tho lumber nnd mnchlnory arrived
mill-construction and equipping hus
tled along. Even hardy people aro
accustomed to roofs, and Immediately
labor on shelters was begun. But
difficulties Avere many; thcro was tho
deep forest to weed out, tho stubborn
granite rock to scatter. Cutting and
blasting went strenuously on and, be
fore you could believe It, a big board
ing hoi3o arose, more dwellings went,
up; careful, well-built ones mnny of
thorn; and presently along camo tho
women and cnildren and other house
hold luxuries.
Tho railroad was finished to tho
river bridge the middle of September;
tho middle of November some of us
had moved Into our houses not fin
ished, of course, but affording protec
tion. At first tho "store" sold Its
goods from a side-tracked car, but
very toon there wero real counters,
real shelves, and a big frame building,
tho conventional village emporium.
It gooa without saying that in this
new American center the school wn3
not long in coming; it wan held at
first in the lowor story of a prlvato
house, and horo on Sundays the church
folk, too, gatherer ; sometimes school
and church would exporlenco tho
trilling Interruption of tho baby's
cries above, but it did not seriously
disturb recitation or prayer.
Ours in many ways is a model vil
lage; wo havo no saloons nnd no pigs
within our borders and allow none.
A cow cannot bo kept whero it will
glvo offense, but has Its padlocked
placo in tho community barn. Every
doorynrd must bo kept orderly, and
in winter at least wo are spotlessly
clean as to exterior. Wo havo a neat
llttlo church with neat llttlo stalped
glass windows; a t'im school houso
with' two trim school mistresses. And.
wo have uo medical mau.
of the Forest Clad Ys of
New York.
Tho post ofilco was a contemporary
of tho Btatlon; tho school house, town
hnll nnd church lator public utilities.
Our town hnll Is prlmnrlly a social
center, its bllllard-room, bright lights,
wnrm corners a Bubstltuto for tho os
trnclsod saloon. Being a woman,
do not know whether or not patcrnnN
Ihiu Is carried to tho oxtent of concoct
ing for our plcaBuro-Bceklng youth a
harmless drink, but I do know wo
seem to bo a morry, Jovial Bort foe
somo reason or other.
Lusty men nnd maids constltuto our
resident villngo folk, and as wo plough
about in tho snow in our knickora
and Bhort skirts, tho American Joko
flies back and forth merrily. Vary
ing sorts nnd conditions of mankind
mnko tholr trades in our snowy
Btrcots. Yonder, climbing tho hill to
tho hotel, goes Mr. Rich Lumberman
from tho metropolis without. Hero,
along tho frozen rlvor, comes Dobson
on his snow-shoes, tho best guldo in
tho AdlrondnckB; Just starting for
tho train, a weak drummor, tho,hotol
boy carrying his samplo-cnBo; and
thcro, bless him, walks along creator
of Ebon Iloldcn, of Dnrroll, of tho
Blessed Isles, Irving Bachollor, big
and vigorous as tho othor woodsmen
horenbout. So you boo wo nro not
wholly cut off from tho Interests of
tho outsldo world.
And tho outsldo folk look upon us
kindly, say pleasant things of ub.
Away from sight, but conveniently
nonr for tho employes, our mills,
smoko and buzz away, but our village
ADIRONDACK VILUAGE.
docs not look manufactory, baldly utili
tarian, rathor; neat, protty, pic
turesque. Tho man that planned us
has kept careful oyo on tho saving of
tho village trees, and all along tho
stronm, in among tho cottages, stand
epruco nnd balsam, beech and lioin
lock. Tho villngo street in attractlvo
in the extreme thcBo' winter evenings;
homelike cottages nestled in among
tho evergreens and hardwoods, win
dows all ablazo from tho electric
lights which electric lights wo uho
witli a lavishncss unheard of in tho
crowded city. And so up horo In tho
Adlrondacks, tho thermometer down
ns low as tho mercury Is willing to
travel, wo aro cozlly, comfortably,
snugly wintering.
And what robust pleasures we en
Joy all of us, for wo havo no old folk
here. There's Thornton, 87, and al
most as good a hand at walking an
ever lie was. Thoro's Undo Fldo,
seventy-odd, and considering himself
ns valuablo to forest-wandering sports
men as evor. There's tho elderly man
who camo up horo with weak lungs
and has learned to forget disease and
advancing years. All of us are great
outdoor folk, not so fond of chimney
corners as of battling with snow and
storm. Tho thermometer 150 to 40 bo
low? .No matter. Thero'll bo coast
ing and snow-shooing and skating
nnd hardier will grow tho frames and
rounder and redder tho cheeks.
Thirty to 40 below? Again, what
matter? Thero is tho log-train to go
out, tho logs to bring back to tho mill,
and off wo start for our day's work at
the skldwoy. There is school to keep,
and off the sturdy kiddies hop to
schoo). Thero is a camp to visit in
tho woods, and off tho girls go with
tho forestor to sco tho Inner lifo of
tho woods in winter. We put on al
most all the clothes there aro in tho
house and set forth, running to keep
up with tho long-legged forester's
long strides. Wo look at tho trees
critically and note that tho contractor
should havo cut that ono down, It is
entirely too good to be omitted; wo
tako our scale-rulo nnd sco that the
other man's measurements do not lean
too much his way; wo watch tho
"hicks" (men that work in tho woods)
loading logs, and wo turn a deaf enr
to tho swear words; wo help tho for
ester n great deal, and then como bacfc
to tho village with him on tho log
train' KAT1IER1NE l'OPE.
