stand. They only hold sufficient tobacco
for a few whiffs, and when staying in a Japanese house the constant
tap, tap, tap of the owner's pipe as he empties the ashes out prior to
refilling it reminds one of the woodpecker.

There are doubtless some persons, especially those persons who
consider that to enjoy life a superabundance or even a plethora of
material comforts are necessary, who, after reading a description of
the home and fare of the Japanese peasant, will assume that his life
is a burden and that he derives no enjoyment whatever from it. Nothing
could be more erroneous. There is probably not a more joyous being on
the face of the globe than the Japanese. His wants are few, and in
that fact probably lies his happiness. He does not find his enjoyment
in material things, but he has his enjoyment all the same, and I think
on the whole that he probably gets more out of life and has more
fitting ideas regarding it than the Englishman who considers an
abundance of beef and beer its objective point.

To me one of the most pleasing features of Japan is the fondness and
tenderness of the Japanese of all ranks and classes for children. The
Japanese infant is the tyrant of Japan, and nothing is good enough for
it. The women, as most people know, carry their babies on their backs
instead of in their arms. A baby is, however, not so for very long in
Japan. Very young Japanese girls may be seen carrying their little
baby brothers and sisters behind their backs, and thus learning their
maternal duties in advance. The position of women in Japan, married
women, is not so satisfactory as it ought to be. The laws in regard to
divorce are, I think, too easy, and a Japanese possesses facilities
for getting rid of his wife which does not tend to the conservation of
home-life. The custom, which was at one time universal, of women
blackening their teeth, has largely diminished, and will no doubt in
due course become obsolete. The idea which underlay it was that the
woman should render herself unattractive to other men. There was no
object in having such an adventitious attraction as pearly teeth for
her husband, who might be presumed to know what her attractions really
were. The Japanese woman in her education has inculcated three
obediences, viz., obedience to parents, obedience to husband, and
after the death of the latter obedience to son. Although the Japanese
girl comes of age at 14 she cannot marry without her father's consen