oral BulWt tm3 SHeiarioi Home ftompmioii 
etc. — supposed to be messengers to the kite. 
Later on my friends visited another part of Tokio 
where these shows were held. They describe it as one 
of the busiest, noisiest places in Japan. 
You go through an immense gateway, with lan¬ 
terns hung in it as tall as a man. On each side are 
gigantic statues of gods and dragons, with men’s 
laces; and fastened to the gateway enclosing these are 
quantities of straw sandals and wooden clogs, and an 
immense foreign shoe—a sarcasm undoubtedly. 
There was a temple here, and the grounds around 
it were full of everything you can imagine. Archery 
But the Chrysanthemums are cultivated to the 
most wonderful perfection and exhibited in the most 
remarkable arrangements. They are often larger 
than dahlias and endless in variety and color. It is 
a favorite flower with the Japanese and the Mikado’s 
crest is one of these. 
In the gardens where they are cultivated they have 
a series of little booths, where are figures that have 
mask faces; but the bodies and every detail of cos¬ 
tume are made of the flowers and leaves. There were 
court ladies, and warriors in fierce attitudes; little 
children and animals. 
THE JAPANESE FLOWERS 
The Jipmese cultivate cherry, plum, and peach 
trees chiefly for their blossoms, and force them to 
make them double. The flowers of the plum are 
often as large and double as a cabbage-rose. They 
also have cherry trees dwarfed and twisted, and the 
flowers a double pink. There is an avenue out of 
Tokio lined with these blossoming cherry trees, and 
in the season of bloom every one goes out there to see 
them, and take refreshments in the tea houses; and it 
is a curious and fascinating sight, as Japs and for¬ 
eigners are there in crowds. The Hydrangea grows 
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Handsome Dining Room Decorations. 
Some of these have arrangements in the rear to 
move them in different ways. 
In one place they had a young lady, with a corre¬ 
sponding mask, and peeping from her dress behind 
was a fox’s tail. By a sudden movement the mask 
would be changed and a fox appear. The transfor¬ 
mation a fox can make to deceive the unwary is a fa¬ 
vorite subject with the Japanese. In another place a 
giant was flying a monster kite, and on the string 
were all sorts of paper figures—dragons, men, birds, 
wild in the mountains of Japan, and the commonest 
variety is a beautiful blue. They have in June a large 
yellow flower called “Evening Glories,” that literally 
burst into bloom, as flower after flower springs sud¬ 
denly open, till the whole bush is a mass of yellow 
and the air perfumed with them. The variegated 
maples come out in the spring almost as gorgeous as 
ours in October. My friend saw one where each leaf 
was in two shades of red. Their poets speak of the 
time “when the maple grows red iu the spring.” 
and photograph galleries, tea-houses and wax shows. 
All had runners out to attract you to their establish¬ 
ments, and a Japanese orchestra of flutes and drums; 
the former piercing and shrill, the latter deep and 
loud. 
They had here scenes from the late war, and the 
principal rebels figured in them all dressed in chry¬ 
santhemum flowers. Their swords, shoes, and caps 
were as usual; but everything else of the flowers. 
They had horses with men on them almost life size. , 
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