shoulder bar, mingle with the crowds in the parks and on the streets or station themselves at points 

 of vantage and display their living toys to the passing throngs. 



It is stated that in feudal times in Japan, even in years when famine prevailed and hundreds 

 were dying of starvation, the demand for and the trade in goldfish continued with hut little 

 abatement, because the children craved the fish and their demands could not be resisted. 



The vogue that the goldfish acquired in Japan many years ago and has retained with increasing 

 popularity is an index of a significant feature of the Japanese character. The love of the purely 

 beautiful pervades all classes of people, and is evidenced in many ways that are either unknown or 

 but little developed in many other nations. It is very natural that the esthetic temperament of 

 the Japanese should find much to gratify it in the beautiful colors and the graceful forms and 

 movements of the goldfish ; and it is noteworthy that of the two oriental peoples among which 

 the cultivation of the goldfish reached an advanced stage at an early date, the Chinese should have 

 directed their efforts mainly to the production of the grotesque, bizarre, or horrifying, while the 

 Japanese strove for the graceful, harmonious, and pleasing. 



In the Japanese homes, goldfish are usually kept in small globes suspended in rooms or in 

 balconies, or in ponds or fountains in the miniature landscape gardens with which a large propor- 

 tion of the houses are provided. 



In the thousands of landscape gardens, parks, and temple grounds all over Japan, there are 

 ponds and lakes stocked with turtles, carp, and goldfish ; and one of the favorite amusements of 

 the crowds that constantly resort to such places is to feed the turtles and fish. Just as in Venice 

 there is always a vendor ready to supply one with corn for the doves of Saint Mark, so at the 

 public resorts in Japan there is always a person to provide hollow balls of colored rice flour to be 



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