in.
No well-managed family would think of building a new house without
finding in what direction to face the front door. In an American city
this necessity would cause considerable inconvenience, as the position
of the front door is usually determined by the relation of the
building-lot to the street; but in a Japanese city, where, in all but
the business quarters, every house is concealed by a high board fence,
and where the gate that admits one within the fence is the only sign by
which any one in the street can judge of the worldly condition of the
dwellers within, the houses are faced about any and every way, and the
position of each is determined by the good luck that it will bring its
owner. After this matter has been settled and the house is fairly begun,
there are occasional crises in its construction upon which much depends.
Of these the most important is the day when the roof is raised. The roof
timbers, which are unsquared logs, often rather crooked, after being
carefully fitted and framed in some convenient vacant lot, are brought
on carts to the site of the new building, and when all is ready, the
head carpenter sends word to the house-owner that he is about to set the
roof in place. The house-owner then decides whether the day set by the
builder is a lucky one for himself and his family. If it is not, a delay
in the building is always preferable to any danger of incurring the
displeasure of the luck gods. This crisis safely passed, and the last of
the roof beams secured in its place, the men take a holiday, and are
feasted on _sake_ and spaghetti by the house-owner. A present of money
to each workman is also in order, and will conduce to the rapid and
faithful execution of the job in hand. When, at last, the house is
finished, and carpenters and plasterers are ready to leave it, the local
firemen, who have assisted all along in the building as unskilled
laborers, often ascend to the roof, and from the ridge-pole cast down
cakes, for which the children of the neighborhood scramble joyfully.

When the builders have left, and the house is ready for occupation, even
to the soft, thick mats on the floor and the white paper windows, the
family will move in on the first day thereafter that is both lucky and
pleasant. So far as possible, everything in the old house will be packed
and ready the day before, and very early in the morning the relatives
and friends of the mover will begin to rally around him. All come w