e, and where the gay silks
and crepes are woven. There are no large establishments where such
things are turned out by wholesale. The delicate vases, the bronzes,
and the silks are often made in humblest homes, the work of one or two
laborers with rudest tools. There are no great manufactories to be seen,
and the bane of so many cities, the polluting factory smoke, never rises
over the cities of Japan. The hard, confining factory life, with its
never-ceasing roar of machinery, bewildering the minds and intellects of
the men who come under its deadening influences, until they become
scarcely more than machines themselves, is a thing as yet almost unknown
in Japan. The life of the _jinrikisha_ man even, hard and comfortless as
it may seem to run all day like a horse through the crowded city
streets, is one that keeps him in the fresh air, under the open sky, and
quickens his powers both of body and mind. To the poor in Japanese
cities is never denied the fresh air and sunshine, green trees and
grass; and the beautiful parks and gardens are found everywhere, for the
enjoyment of even the meanest and lowest.

On certain days in the month, in different sections of the city, are
held night festivals near temples, and many shopkeepers take the
opportunity to erect temporary booths, in which they so arrange their
wares as to tempt the passers-by as they go to and fro. Very often there
is a magnificent display of young trees, potted plants, and flowers,
brought in from the country and ranged on both sides of the street. Here
the gardeners make lively sales, as the displays are often fine in
themselves, and show to a special advantage in the flaring torchlight.
The eager venders, who do all they can to call the attention of the
crowd to their wares, make many good bargains. The purchase requires
skill on both sides, for flower men are proverbial in their high
charges, asking often five and ten times the real value of a plant, but
coming down in price almost immediately on remonstrance. You ask the
price of a dwarf wistaria growing in a pot. The man answers at once,
"Two dollars." "Two dollars!" you answer in surprise, "it is not worth
more than thirty or forty cents." "Seventy-five, then," he will respond;
and thus the buyer and seller approach nearer in price, until the
bargain is struck somewhere near the first price offered. Price another
plant and there would be the same process to go over again; but as the
evening passes, pr