MORAL LIFE OF THE JAPANESE. 



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the figures, and butterflies, flowers, gourds, or what not are shaped 

 from the sweet paste. The children, after having satisfied their 

 tastes for artistic design, eat the finished work, the reed handle 

 preventing their fingers from becoming sticky. There is another 

 of the child amusers that can be seen in the streets of Tokyo or 

 any other Japanese city. This artisan molds fruits, flowers, and 



S**k 



A BUDDHIST PRIEST IN FULL CANONICALS. 



vegetables from colored rice-flour dough, and does his work so 

 deftly that it is really difficult to distinguish the artificial from 

 the real fruit. 



This universal love and regard for children is also displayed at 

 every temple festival, where numerous booths, gay with toys, flags, 

 and games, form always a prominent feature. 



And what of the life of and influences surrounding these little 

 folks ? Well, the first event of importance after they have been 

 ushered into this world occurs when they are one hundred days 

 old. This is a feast day for the family, in which the baby plays 

 the chief role. Toys, money, gowns, and sweets are lavished upon 

 him by admiring friends and relatives. Among the poorer classes 

 the baby is then considered old enough to be strapped on the back 



