THE CHARM OF JAPAN 7 



of similarity in the life and associations of the two. 

 About the hearts of those who love either lingers 

 a charm which nothing can destroy. I thought 

 that the years might have wrought a change — nay, 

 I dreaded it — that the rosy mists of illusion swept 

 aside, would have shown me the God-of-things-as- 

 they-are staring me coldly and relentlessly between 

 the eyes. But the mists were still there and I was 

 happy. I like to think of it as a land of clear- 

 running, laughing streams, of happy polite people 

 who welcome the stranger within their gates. 

 After the free and easy democratic manners of 

 America, where everything has a monetary value — 

 nor is it otherwise exploited by its owner — the 

 extra civility with which one meets in the land of 

 the Rising Sun is doubly refreshing. The willing, 

 red-capped porters who actually take their hats off 

 on receiving a tip, the giggling little knock-kneed 

 lady in the ticket-office, the car-conductor, and 

 the hotel boys, all dwell in my memory very 

 gratefully. 



Our stay was short, but it sufficed to see Kyoto, 

 most delectable of cities. Tokyo, hideous and pro- 

 gressive, with its 200,000 inhabitants, yet even now 

 reverencing the graves of the famous Forty-Seven 

 before whose shrines are little twigs of fir and 

 incense, we willingly left in pouring rain. 



When I awoke it was to find the country along- 

 side the line divided up into little carefully parcelled 

 parallelograms in which the young rice shone with 

 a surprising greenness. Here and there clumps of 

 trees bespoke the site of a village ; a grey stone 

 torii and votive lanterns stood sentinel before a 

 temple ; whilst in the background a gloomy range 



