LITTLE JAPAN 



VII 



tliat philanthropists and the local public 

 in general will respond to this api:)eal to 

 put a gTove so centrally located in first- 

 class condition for the pleasure of such 

 companies, schools, churches, farmers' 

 clubs and others. The development will 

 hereafter be known as "Little Japan," in 

 view of the fact that the Japanese people, 

 perhaps more than those of any other na- 

 tion, so thoroughly enjoy nature in her 

 simplicity. They require no form of sen- 

 sational entertainment to induce them to 

 value the grand out of doors. In recog- 

 nition of this spirit Little Japan will be 

 developed within The Agassiz Grove. 

 Perhaps no notion of the spirit of Little 

 Japan can be better expressed than in 

 these quotations from Lafcadio Hearn. 

 *Tn a Japanese Garden" in his "Glimpses 

 of Unfamiliar Japan", he says : 



"It is inborn in the Japanese; the soul 

 of the race comprehends Nature infinitely 

 better than we do, at least in her visible 

 forms." 



"Now a Japanese garden is not a flower 

 garden ; neither is it made for the purpose 

 of cultivating plants. In nine cases out 

 of ten there is nothing in it resembling a 



flower bed As a rule, a 



Japanese garden is a landscape garden ; 

 yet its existence does not depend upon 

 any fixed allowance of space. It may 

 cover one acre or many acres. It may 

 also be only ten feet square. It may, in 

 extreme cases, be much less." 



"No effort to create an impossible or 

 purely ideal landscape is made in the 

 Japanese garden. Its artistic purpose 

 is to copy faithfully the attractions of a 

 veritable landscipe. and to convey the 

 real impression that a real landscape com- 

 municates. It is therefore at once a 

 picture and a poem ; perhaps even more a 

 poem than a picture. For as nature's 

 scenery, in its varvino- aspects, affects us 

 with sensations of jov or of solemnity, 

 of grimness or of sweetness, of force or 

 of peace, so must the true reflection of it 

 in the labor of the landscape gardener 

 create not merely an impression of beauty, 

 but a mood of the soul 



Therefore were gardens contrived ac- 

 cording to the character of the owner, 



whether jioet, warrior, philosopher or 

 priest. In those ancient gardens (the art, 

 alas, is passing away under the wither- 

 ing influence of the utterly commonplace 

 Western taste) there were expressed both 

 a mood of nature and some rare Oriental 

 conception of a mood of man." 

 He =1= * * * 



"The object of the gardener has been 

 to develop to the utmost possible degree 

 their natural tendency to rugged line and 

 massings of foliage, — that spiny sombre- 

 green foliage which Japanese art is never 



weary of imitating The 



pine is a symbolic tree in this land of 

 svmbolism. Ever green, it is at once the 

 emblem of unflinching purpose and of 

 vigorous old age ; and its needle-shaped 

 leaves are credited with the power of 

 driving demons away." 



Gift of Japanese Decorating and Goods 

 to The Agassiz Association. 



Mr. Irving E. Raymond of Stamford, 

 through his w^ell-know^n house, A. A. 

 Vantine & Company of New York 

 City, will supply the decorators and 

 one hundred and fifty dollars' worth 

 of goods for the development of Little 

 Japan in the Agassiz Grove at Ar- 

 cAdiA, Sovuid Beach. Mr. Raymond 

 has for a long time taken an active in- 

 terest in this development. Nearly a 

 year ago through his managing deco- 

 rator he made many valuable sugges- 

 tions in the matter and the plans have 

 been maturing in accord with this ad- 

 vice. An eighteen by thirty foot build- 

 ing of Little Japan, known as the Rest 

 Cottage, will be strictly Japanese in 

 both exterior and interior equipment 

 and decorations. The following letter 

 was recently^ received by the manage- 

 ment : 



Mr. Edward F. B\gelow, President, 

 The Agassiz Association, 



ArcAdiA, Sound Beach. Conn. 

 Dear Sir : 



I am glad to send our decorator to 

 your place at Sound Beach any time 

 that you say, and give you his services 

 free of charge, and will also donate 

 Japanese goods and decorations to the 

 amount of $150.00. I remain. 

 Very truly yours, 

 (Signed) Irving E. Raymond. 



