YOUNG JAPAN 



37 



year, or made pilgrimage to far temples 

 or famous landscapes, little Japan trudges 

 sturdily about the environs of his city in 

 military formation, or makes railway and 

 walking trips farther afield every Satur- 

 day in spring and autumn. 



One hears the chirp of their voices or 

 some chanted poem as they march through 

 the streets, even before daylight, on these 

 red-letter days. This year all central 

 Japan made pilgrimage to Momoyama, to 

 the tomb of the Meiji Superior, and every 

 day in the week an average of 30,000 

 school children came by train and joined 

 the decorous crowds that filled the road- 

 ways from side to side as they walked 

 up through the bamboo forest to the 

 great, green grave mound on the summit 

 of the hill. On many days 150,000 peo- 

 ple visited Momoyama, but the spirit of 

 reverence was so great that there was no 

 noise, no frolicking and shouting, or run- 

 ning at play of all these youngsters. 



Most touching of all demonstrations of 

 affection made by his people while the 

 Meiji Emperor lay dying was that pres- 

 ence of legions of school children, who, 

 singly or in groups, bowed low toward 

 the palace walls or prostrated themselves 

 on the gravel to pray that the august life 

 might be spared. 



Wherever the great Emperor had trav- 

 eled in the land, the school children were 

 always lined up at railway stations to do 

 him honor. The Spartan training and the 

 iron etiquette of Japanese children en- 

 able them to stand like statues — or sol- 

 diers — -in storm or rain, a summer shower 

 affecting these people in their humid cli- 

 mate no more than it does the birds. 



Once the Meiji Emperor saw ranks of 

 children standing in the open in swirling 

 snow, and court and local officials never 

 forgot his wrath. "Let this never happen 

 to my children again," said the compas- 

 sionate ruler ; hence every school boy and 

 girl who goes on such errand now, and 

 all who went to Momoyama, had an um- 

 brella strapped to the back with the lunch 

 basket. 



While Japanese children may be marti- 

 nets in good manners when parents and 

 teachers are around, they have as much 

 fun as any other children by themselves. 

 The impishness of street children is even 

 gentle compared to our street arabs, but 



baseball and football may teach, new 

 standards even to the highest classes. 

 They have their games of tag and follow- 

 my-leader, of blindman's buff, games of 

 cards and checkers, hide and seek, and 

 many mystic rhymes for "counting out." 

 In their indoor games a common forfeit 

 is a dab on the face with the ink brush, 

 and a company of noble youngsters are 

 as so many minstrels or coal heavers 

 when they have played long at "twenty- 

 questions" and its kind. 



In winter they build snow men as they 

 build sand forts on the seashore, and at 

 the regular spring and fall house-cleaning 

 they wreak their will with the white pa- 

 per of the sJiojis, or sliding screens, that 

 wall a room from the outer veranda of 

 the house. They love to tear and daub 

 and prod the papers they at all other 

 times treat so respectfully. There are 

 street jugglers and acrobats, dancers and 

 singers, that would set our small folk 

 wild were they called in to help enliven a 

 children's party — little gnomes who dance 

 in masks as tall as themselves, old men 

 with india-rubber faces, who twist mouths 

 and noses and make faces that small boys 

 only too rapturously copy. 



Little Japan drinks tea with as much 

 gusto and as naturally as his elders, and 

 the smallest children manage their chop- 

 sticks with a deftness that amazes the 

 blundering stranger, who can make no 

 headway with the magic wands. Chil- 

 dren learn to use the chop-sticks and ac- 

 quire their table manners more easily 

 than western children learn the compli- 

 cated drill with knife and fork and spoon. 

 The implements are simpler and lighter, 

 and all Japanese food is more completely 

 prepared before being sent to the table. 

 All bones and waste are eliminated in the 

 kitchen, and meat and such solid ma- 

 terials are cut into manageable shreds 

 and morsels before cooking. 



Young girls have a rigorous training in 

 household arts and such accomplishments 

 as flower arrangement, ceremonial tea- 

 making, the construction of miniature 

 landscapes in shallow trays or boxes, and 

 playing the koto and the foreign piano. 

 Yet it was the mistress of the most im- 

 portant girls' school who put all the for- 

 eign pianos out and dismissed the teacher 



