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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1909)
1 Babies of I' . . ;. i ' . - "J :. in I -l-i fi,r nil i - - " PVPPT OAT BUPPUANT8 fCAprrlfrht, by Frank O. Carpenter.) OTO (Ipaolal Corrpl't' yrjT I uf Th Be.) I hav been asked Jfj I !o writ a letter for th children r America aoout tne cnuaren f Japan. I want the boyi and Ulrla whrt take this newapaper vr.fnaelva upon the magic carpet of fairyland, which will take on around tho world In Uie twlnklln of an eye. AU you have tc do Is to shut your eyrs and wish you were there, and when you open them, Jo! your wish has come true. Our magio carpet haa carried us across the Pacific and has dropped us down in the heart of Japan. We am In the heart of the big city of Kyoto, In the central part of the country. There are mountains In sight everywhere, and behind ns Is a beautiful lako which fills the river running through ihedly The houses are c many that they eover as much spkee as Philadelphia, which has three times as many people. Their walls are such that they can be slid back during the daytime and we can see all that ga on withla. Most of the streets are lined with stores filled with all kinds of curious goods, and the streets, stores and houses are swarming with children. Here they are working, helping their parents: there they are playing, and fur ther on Is a crowd going to school. What Jolly youngsters they are! W hear their laughter sounding out on the air, and as they see us some bend half double, in Japanese fashion, and yell out, "O-hl-O," their word for good day. Others, who are ruder, ' cry out Japanese syllables which, oar Interpreter says, mean: "Teu furry beaded foreigners; you have eyes Uk a cat I" Our Japanese Brothers. We find that we are as great curiosities to tho Japanese children as they are to us. Their skins are yellow, and their eyes are a trifle aslant, and so fastened at tho corners that they do not come as wide open as ours do. They think that their eyes are tho mora beautiful, and that cream colored skins are quit as fin as whit ones. Outsid of this, Japanese boy and girls aro Just ilk Americans. Their Uttl black ya can se as far as ours can, and If you scratch their yellow skins they will bleed la the same way. Tou had better be careful not to do so. however. They ar Gossip About Jafforoa susd Clovolsusd. T THE time of his last nomina tion, relates Eugene Jefferson In Outing, ex-President Cleve land had Invited Mr. Joseph Joftarsoa and his sons, and ex Ooveroor Russell of Massachu setts, with others, to his house. Gray Ga bles, to bear th returns read over a private wtro from the convention In Chicago. Just aftor midnight, whu the excitement was at Its height, tbe ex-presldent suddenly aross from his chair, exclaiming. "I do be beusv I forgot to dry my fishing line," and left th roem. Toward morning, when thr was no lo(er any doubt as to tho re-election of Orcver Cleveland for tb next four years, and after he had reoaived tb congratukv Mors of all present excepting one, Mr. Cleveland turned to look for his friend. He saw Mr. Jefferson standing before th gloat landscape window which was a fea ture of th new dining room at Gray Oa bls, his hands foldtd behind his back, looking out Intently upon tho reflection of the rising sun. mirrored in th sparkling waters of Buzzards bay. Mr. Cleveland approached hint and touched hi arm. ''Jo, aren't you going to congratulate me?" Mr. Jefferson turned Immediately to bit frtead and grasped his hand. "Ah, I do Believe me, I do nnngratu let yon, but" turning again to the beau tiful pletur. his face reflecting Its glow "Oood God. If I could paint like that," his outstretched arm sweeping water and sky "you could be president of a dossa United States and I wouldn't exchange piaors with your A rotator's Regrets. John s La Farge, th famous mural patnUr, received last week In New Yerk from tho Architectural league a gold medaJ. Ia his speech of acknowledgement Mr. La Farge said dryly that he was thankful to get la bis old ag a modal for mural paint ing from a society of men who. his whole Ufa loag. had refused to give him any sural painting to do. "I dined with Mr. La Farge th ether day." said a mural painter to ft reporter. Vf i i il I Japan a Seriously Happy Lot of Active ., .- :viV " - S-.Amwr nA i.ffi THBTEDDT BEAR. as proud as you, and they will fight at the drop of a hat. They are not as tall as we children of the same age, but they are full as strong. Get one of the little fellows to double up his arm, and put your hand on -his biceps. Every muscle stands up like a base ball and every ounce of his flesh Is hard with the athletics which every schoolboy has to take dally. As to his fighting, you have heard how the Japanese whipped the Rus sians, who are almost twice as heavy ss they are and three times as many In num ber, and how, about fifteen years ago, they conquered the Chinese, who have ten times s many people In their great nation over the way. Children Soldiers. Just now the children of Japan ar all playing soldiers. The nation Is still excited over Its victory, and the boys go about with guns and flogs, marching In step while their trumpeters blow. Their guns are sticks of babboo and their swords ar of wood. They march right well, however, and they have sham fights between the different companies of boys in a town. Even babies are now dres?d-ln military costumes by some of the mothers and many a 4-year-old Japanese baby goes about in the dress of an officer of the navy. Some chil dren who wear kimonos have soldier hats, and rot a few ar dressed In khaki. The toy shops are full of lead soldiers and miniature guns and drums. The older boys are real soldiers, for every school has Its military drill under officers of the army. Boys of 12 and 14 have to march with guns, and as they grow older they go out In the field to camp and tak part In sham battles. In every Japanese school there Is a drill hall where the guns are stacked up ajainst the walls when not In use. Every school has a gymnasium and the boys and girls go through all sorts of exercises to make them strong and enable them to fight and work for their emperor when a war oonyts. Just now the boys think the Jap anese people could whip any other nation, and that the United States would have a poor show in a fight with their country. W ar friendly to them, but w must keep our eyes open, for no on can tall but that we may have to fight them by and by. They have far mora soldiers in their army than w have and their navy Is on of the best in the world. Noted People "and bo talked again about his medal. He said he would have been better with work In the obscure days when ho needed It. "Then he smiled grimly and said ho was a little like a famous actress. A manager offered this actress 11,000 a week to make a tour of th world. She insisted on 11, SCO. But the manager said $1,000 was all h could give, and he reminded her of the fabulous jewels that South American mil lionaires, Russian grand duke and Indian rajahs are wont to lavish on the ladles of the stag when they go touring. " 'Go home,' said th manager; think th matter over and let me know your decision In th morning.' "In the morning the actress sent th manager this wire: " Glv me my terms and you can have th jewels.'" Brighter thaa He Looked. An erratic Memphis editor was a' great admirer of John Sharp Williams, though he had never seen him. This editor In blind faith printed column after column In praise of the "gentleman from Yaaoo." There was not an edition that didn't hav something exalting Williams, and on day "John Sharp," on hi way horn from Washington, dropped off at Memphis to get something to eat in the railroad restaurant. It was early in th morning, and the editor was eating at the same place, after a night of work. The proprietor called the con gressman's attention to th editor. "John," said th restaurant manager., "that fellow over there has been saying soma pretty nice things about you." "I'd like to meet him," said Williams. So the editor was brought over and intro duced. He rubbed his hands across his face wearily several times and said: "Williams? Williams? What? Th con gressman?" "Yes," modestly assented that gentleman, "the same." "You r not John Sharp Williams?" "There's no question about my Identity," broke in th somewhat exasperated Wil liams, rather testily. "Well, all X can say to." mattered tho ditor as h shook hands with th ststes maa. "y u re a damslght brighter thaa you look." THE OMAHA BOT8 OO ABOUT WITH DRUMS On the third day of March every year oc curs great girl's holiday, known as the feast of the dolls. On this day the boys have to stand In the background. Their parents pay little attention to them and they make the girls, for the time, the chief members of the family. It Is the one day in the year when they are more Important than the bnys. At this time every girl gets a new doll, and all the doll of the family, Including those of mother, grand mother and great-grandmother, are brought out to be admired and played with. The dolls used at this time are not like ordinary dolls and they are played with only one a year, and then laid, away for twelve months, when the next doll festival comes. These dolls represent some favorite prince or princess, some hero or heroine, and sometimes the emperor or empress. There Is a Uttl throne of steps made for them In the back of the parlor In the house, and they are placed upon this In rows. Tlia children then sit down In front of them and talk to them. They put food and drink before them In tiny dishes, and listen to stories about them. They give them doll toys, which are as tine as they can afford. In rich families the toy dishes are sometimes pf silver with little silver chop sticks for the toy emperor and em press to eat with. They serve toy wine, made especially for this feast, in toy cups. Bom families have collection of dolls, which have bem saved by the children for generations and which go back for a hun dred years or more. Than the stores ar filled with dollies for this feast, and the little yellow skinned girls trot around In bright klmcnos on their wooden clogs, , admiring them and picking out the ones which ar to bo bought for this festival. Teddy Bears of Japan. The ordinary Japanese doll used by the girls is not like the American article. It Is a miniature Japanese child or woman, with the blackest of black eys, with queerly -pressed Japanese hair, wearing a kimono and wooden shces. Buch dolls are of all si ifs, from as big as your finger to your little baby sister, and the children in playing with them often carry them about on their backs, tying them on with strings, just as the real Japanese babies are tied. In the stores there ar all sorts of doll furntturo, and on can get a full house keeping outfit for a very few cents. Among tho queerest playthings In the way of pets are what might be called the Teddy Bears of Japan." I call them puppy eats. They ar In reality a sort of a crooa between a dog and cat, mad of papier mache and painted :n gorgeous col ors. The Japanese call them "lno hau rlco," and It Is not beneath the dignity of th boys to play with them. They aro as popular hero as the "Teddy Bears" with us, and they would, I doubt not, be great favorites with our children if Introduced at boms. Day for Boys. Tho boys of Japan have their special day also. This Is May I, and it Is known as the feast of flags, or a the festival of tho god of war. On that day every house has a pole of bamboo from which to flcat gaudy fish made of tough paper. The wind blows into th mouths of the fish and In flates them, and they swim about through Fifty Years HEN they were 21. Jamie Nich olson and Miss Jessie Mall were united In marriage at the village of Kirk In Newton Stew art. Wlgtonshlre, Scotland. Both were born and raised In the parish. Fifty years later, on Satur day, February !7, 1909, Mr. and Mrs. James Nicholson were again tbe main participants In a marriage celebration this time at Grand Island, Neb. The difference In time and location Is strikingly Illustrated by the two photographs herewith printed, the one taken in bonnle Scotland when all the earth, like life Itself, was young; the other In bright Nebraska, when ths principals ta Seetlaad U UE. SUNDAY BEE: MARCH AND FLAGS. WHILE THEIR TRUMPETERS BLOW By a Japanese Artist. the air. Bomotlmeo there will be a half dosen of thee fish on on pole. There will be a big on at the top and smaller ones below, until th on at the bottom may be the alia of a minnow. Each fish represents a son of th family and not a few have six or more. Some of these fish may be fifty feet long, and they look like great whales as they swim In the air. They rep resent the carp, which Is noted for Its strength and daring. Every on wants his son to become a strong man, and this fish means strength. The Japanese boys are great kite flyers. I have counted 100 kites In the air at one time over a Japanese village. The kites are of all stses, but they are usually square or oblong Instead of the shapes known In America. They are often made like birds, with wings, and sometimes like fish. A favorite amusement Is fighting kites. In this sport the strings sre first soaked in glue and then dusted with powdered glass. This Is done for a long distance from the klto and It makes that part of the string a sort fit flexible file! When two boys fight their kites they try to mak thu strings cross as the kites are flying and by sawing cut one string in two. The kite which breaks awny first then becomes the property of the owner of the one which Is still flying. The favorite time for kite fly ing is in the winter, and It Is at its hlght about New Tear. There are kit stores In the Japanese cities, whose sign Is a cuttlefish perched on the top of a high pole. Th word kit and cuttlefish sound the same In Japanese and for this reason the signs. In th Toy Stores. Tho toys of Japan are an evidence of tho love wnlch these people have for their children. Every family spends money In amusing Its Uttl ones and a great Industry Is carried on In toy making. There are toy stores everywhere. Every village that is largo enough to hold a shop has one or more. They are to be found In the poorest parts of the cities, especially near the temples, where the streets are lined with them. Some of the favorite toys ar made of dough, and there are peddling cooks who go around selling them. There are men who carry toy stoves through the streets and rent them out to the children at so much per hour. They furnish cakes and other things for the little' ones to cook, so that for two or three cents a party of girls can have a stove for an hour and cook a whole meal for themselves. Some of the toys are made of lacquer and many of paper. One can buy a very nloe gun for U and a tin sword for 10 cents. Many of the toys and games aro used In teaching the children. There are playing cards with classical poetry on them, used much like our game of authors. Another pack of cards teaches th old Japanese proverbs and another th names and forms of animals. The Japanese are experts In top spinning. They have whistling tops and can keep a half dozen of them going at one time. ''They play battledore and shuttlecock, especially at New Tear, and at that time the stores are filled with bats and balls. Many toys are used In th kindergartens and there are games which teach history and geography and also cleanliness, unselfishness and morality. The Japanese have fairy tales of all of Wedded Happiness is Theirs are enjoying a hale and happy old age, and with an unshakable faith are awaiting the end of the partnership began so very long ago. As both are In good health, it appears as If they would yet enjoy many years of life. They sre only 71, not very old for folks raised among the heather. 'After the marriage In Scotland, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson went to Manchester, Eng land; and in 1887 they sailed for America, going direct to Grand Island after landing. Members of their family had located at the Hall county metropolis some years be fore. Happiness and prosperity haa At tended their lives In this state, and today Jamie Nicholson and his gude wife are en MR. AND MRS. JAsWS NICHQIJIOV. 28, 1009. kinds. They have stories like Goody-Two-Shoes and Hop-o-my-Thump. The Hop-b-my-Thump of Japan Is a priest one inch long, who does all sorts of curious thing. Another popular fairy tale is known as the Lucky Teakettle, another the Battle of the Monkey and the Crab and a third the Old Man Who Made the Dead Trees to Blossom. The Story of Vrlshlma. a sort Of a Japanese Rip Van Winkle, Is exceedingly popular, as are also many fables about the badger, which might be called tho Bre'r Rabbit of Japanese childhood. In a Japanese Home. But suppose we call upon some of our little Japanese friends. Their house Is sit uated In a beautiful garden. Its roof is covered with black tiles and It has double .walls of wood. The outer walls of each side are shoved back during th daytime Into little cupboard at the corners, and the fine Inner walls of sash filled with space between the two walls, and In this we sit while awaiting our friends. They soon appear. They get down on their knees and bump their heads on the floor in bowing to us, and then ask us In. We tak off our shoes and leave them outside. This Is the custom of all Japanese. The house are exceedingly clean, and the floors are covered with thick mats of woven whit straw which would be hurt by the nails In our shoes. Th mats are so soft that our feet sink Into them, and we feel like lying down and rolling over and over. In th meantime our little Japanese friends have laid cushions on the mats aud beg us to sit. These people do not us chairs or sofas. They have tables for eating which ar not more than a foot high and they sit and sleep on the floor. The mats are soft and when thy have taken them out and spread on them some well padded comfortors they have a very soft bed. In the daytime these comforter are rolled up. in a bundle and put away In a cupboard or hole in the wall, which by a sliding door Is so covered that you would not suppose it was there. By this means the bed room Is turned Into a parlor and when a table is brought In It is a dining room as well. As we sit on the mats our little friends tell us about their homes, explaining some customs which are different from ours. They say that the mats are cleaner than our carpets and that they are very con venient In describing a house, as they are always of the same slie. They show us that each mat Is three feet wide and six feet long and say that the size of a house or 1 room Is known by the number of mats It takes to cover the floor. The room w are In has eight mats. Large rooms have twenty or thirty mats, and when a carpenter starts to build a house he asks the owner how many mats he wants, and thus fixes the size and price. All land In Japan is measured by the unit of the mats, a tsubo being six feet square or two mats In sis. Land here is measured by stubos, not acres. It takes mors than l.OvO tsuboa to mak one acre of land. How theThfldrea Bath. By and by we go out to look at tho bath room. The Japanese children are very cleanly and they take a redhot bath every day. The bath tub Is about as high as our shoulders. It has a stovepipe running through it with a board resting against the pip to protect one's body from it when joying such good health their activity Is remarkable. As evidence of his renewed youth and exuberant vitality, on the day his golden wedding was celebrated, Mr. Nicholson danced a Highland fling In a way to make many of the youngsters ashamed. In his younger days he was for many years an active man among the Royal Caledonian curlers. That he could "lay a stane" with the best of them Is evidenced by a gold medal he still has which was won when he was a member of a team that took the championship of tbe British isles at the roarln' game. The contest was held at Southport, England, in U76, and extended over several days. In Nebraska la UOt. Healthy Youngsters w u.: . .... 10 " :y . 1 CHILDREN WHO CALL he gets in. The pipe Is filled with charcoal and lighted. It soon heats the water to boiling, and when it begins to steam, tho Japanese jump in. Even little babies are put In this hot water. It turns their skin red, and when they ccme out they are the color of beets. We try such bathing our selves. It is so hot that we jump quickly out and cannot bo Induced to attempt it again. The Japanese have many public bath houses. There are hundreds in Kyoto, where one ran get a good hot plunge for I or 4 cents. Houses Withoat Chimneys. Tou would think that houses so thin and open as this one, where we are visiting, would need steam or hot water, or at any rate great coal or wcod fires to make them comfortable during the winter. Noth ing of the kind Is known to the children of Japan. If we should go up In a flying machine and look down upon the roofs of Kyoto we could not count a hundred chim neys on Its tens of thousands of house. These people have no fireplaces, no grates and no means of heating like ours. The cooking is done with charcoal In little clay ovens, and if one would give a big dinner he must have many such stoves. For warmth a small, brass-lined box filled with ashes with a little burning charcoal within It is most common. This warms only one's hands, and he keeps his feet from freezing by sitting upon them. Sometimes a wood fire Is made In a box of this kind. This, however, is only In the poorer houses, and the smoke goes out where It can. We take a meal with cur friends. Etoch. of us has his own little table. The meal Is served In Individual dishes and the girls bend low and bow before they offer them to us. The meal begins with sweet cake and candy. Then there Is a bowl of soup in a dish of wood covered with lacquer, a varnish so bright that one can see his face In It. There Is fish, raw and cooked, and fried eels, which taste delicious. The raw fish is not bad. It Is served upen ice, cut into little slices so we can eat it with ohop sticks. After all, why should not one at raw fish as well as raw oysters? And then there are salads and pickles, apples and pears and great red persim mons as big as tomatoes. The rice Is brought in at the close of the meal In a wooden bucket bound with brass rims. Quaint Features of Life Sorgeons Have Another Guess. IGHT-YEAR-OLD Rosle Cohen and her brother, Joseph, aged 11 years, were sent to the Har rlsburg (Pa.) hospital, suffering from enlarged tonsils. The girl was given ether and by mistake was sent to the operating room with several other patients and operated on for appendi citis. The surgeons say they found her appen dix somewhat inflamed and, therefore, were not aware that a mistake had been made until the parents called and found that the operation had been performed. The oper ation was "successful" and the child re covered. Strangely enough, the doctors say, she would have developed appendlclts before long and the operation would have been .necessary, anyway Twenty-Year Game Ended. A card-playing contest which has raged continuously for twenty-six years came to an end at Mancelona, Mich., March 15, when John W. Wallace scooped In D. W. Lazelle's pedio and remarked: "That puts me out." Twenty years ago, while at a social af fair, Lazelle and Wallace each claimed the village pedro championship. The conten tion resulted In a challenge, the champion ship to go to the one who first won ten straight games. Every day cr evening, Bundaye excepted, the men have met at either home. In those twenty years of continuous play, through spare time study, they have aoqulred an Inner knowledge of the game that has frightened off all ethtr players from engaging with them. Several times one man got six or seven straight games, but not until the finish night did one succeed In getting ten. I nraly til r Is Whipped la fo.rt. Hattle Hood, aged 11 years, and Bailie Ogles, aged 17, were whipped in police court of Atlanta, Oa, by order cf Recorder Brolles, who had been appeUed to by the parents of the girls to punish them for their unruly conduct. After hearing the evidence In th case the recorder said: "A good whipping la what these girls need. That will do them more good thaa I ' s . i'. r. :,;(. OUT TO STRANGERS, W aro told again and again to help our selves to the rice, for one Is supposed to complete his dinner with It, as, with rice in plenty, no pne can go hungry. Wo find some difficulty In conveying tho rice to our mouths with the chopsticks and finally raise the bowl to our Hps and shovel it In. As It grows cold we pour a little hot tea . over It, laughing with tho Japanese chil dren as they do the same. Hovr the Children Dress. But there are so many strange things among the little ones we see all about us that It would take a long time to mention them all. The children wear shoes of wood or of straw, and their stockings are foot mittens, with a finger for the big toe, Tho mittens stop above the ankle and the rest of the leg goes bare except for the gown or kimono, which falls from tho shoulders. The kimono has very long sleeves. These, In the case of tho women, bang down, forming quite largo bags at the wrist, which serve as pockets. The boys have smaller sleeves. The girls have great belts called obis, which are tied at tho back and which hold their kimonos togthr. For the samo purpose the boys have sssbea which are scarcely larger than ropes. Tho girls wear bright red underclothing, al though their kimonos aro usually of mora modest hues. All the school children of Japan hav their own dress. The boys wear a divided skirt, which reaches from the waist al most to the ankles, and the girls hav fuller skirts not divided. Both boys and girls wear kimonos, which are tucked in side their skirts and which cover the up per parts of their bodies. t From this one would think it almost im possible to tell the boys from the girls. It is not so. The skirts of the girls aro either dark red or of the color of a blue damson plum, while those of the boy ar steel gray. The girls go bareheaded and their hair Is twisted up on the top of their heads. The boys wear caps or bat and their hair Is cut short and It stands out like a shoe brush in bristles over th scalp. In the schools of Japan the boys and girls do not sit together, although they have the same studies. They now us desks and chairs, but they used to study sitting on the floor. In other respects their schools are not very unlike our schools at home. FRANK O. CARPENTER. a fine. A great many girls ' might profit these days If they were given a tas's of the switch." Tre recorder ordered straps to be fur nished and while the girls were held by policemen tho parents laid on with a good will. Land a Big Fish. Four sturgeon, the largest being ten feet two Inches In length and weighing 4(0 pounds, were caught by Gustavo Patten, Frank Vincent and 8. C. Wamsley of Ilo, Idaho, In Snake river, near the mouth ot Red I3lrd creek, southeast of Spokane. A two-horse team was required to haul th 1,110-pound catch Up town. The men used 600 feet of heavy rope a a line, the rod being a tree. A steel hook was baited with a large eel and weighted with twenty pounds of lead. To permit the fish to play on the line the shore end was fastened ' to a tree, which swayed with every movement of the sturgeon In their endeavor to get away. The fisherman say they had the most dif ficulty In landing the smallest fish, which was six feet In length and weighed 00 pounds. It fought and lashed the water for almost an hour before It was brought to the river bank. These are the largest fish caught In th Snake river this season, where students of Izaak Walton have been busy for months. "Wet" neclpelDry Paper. Charles M. Stuart, recently appointed ed itor of the Northwestern Christian Advo cate, has his own troubles. In last week's Issu of his publication appeared tho fol lowing recipe for poundcake: "Cream together one cup of butter and three cups of sugar. All the yolks of flv egg and beat th whole until It is vry light. Then stir In one wlncglea of whisky, one nutmeg, grated, and then on cup of milk, and when lliese Ingredients ar well mixed beat In four cups of flour," tc. Mr. Stuart prepared a correction which appears In this wek's Issue. Meanwhile he had explained verbally that the recipe crept Into the columns without the knowl edge of himself or his associates. About as nearly as he eould flv th responsibility he declared U reeled vpea tb) evUUet'f "dvU.'