286 
JAPANESE FESTIVAL. 
Laughter-loving women and smiling graceful girls, 
clad in scanty narrow skirts, and with huge bows 
tied behind, were out enjoying themselves. Merry 
dark-eyed children were in an ecstasy of delight. 
Strutting, swaggering Yakomins, sword-bearing 
■gentlemen clad in quiet silks, tradesmen in 
checkered cotton gowns, and serfs bedizened 
with the badges of their masters, were trooping 
pleasantly along. Lounging in the doorways were 
idle matrons ; less attractive than the younger 
daughters of Japan, they were laughing behind 
their hands to conceal their blackened teeth. Groups 
of elderly men sat serenely smoking, or sipping saki 
in their houses. 'Itinerant vendors of cakes and 
sweetmeats went about proclaiming the merits of 
their wares ; and brawny coolies, nearly nude, and 
bending beneath the weight of bales and boxes, 
were pushing along in the crowd. In the middle of 
the road was a gentleman uncomfortably doulJcd 
up in a sedan or ‘'norimon,” carried by bearers. 
These are some of the sights and sounds we noticed 
in our stroll along the streets. A singular feature, 
O O' 
