the whole atmosphere. This ceremony was supposed
to bring good luck during the coming year.

The next item was making cakes or pies for New Year's day. On the first
of the New Year, nobody is allowed to eat rice, these cakes taking its
place. They were made of flour paste, with minced meat inside. While
some of us were preparing these cakes, others were peeling lotus seeds
for Her Majesty's breakfast.

It was now well on into the morning hours and Her Majesty said that she
was tired and would go and rest a while. She was not going to sleep,
however, so we could carry on our noise as much as we liked. This we did
for some time, and on visiting Her Majesty's bedroom, we found that she
was fast asleep. We then all repaired to our various rooms and commenced
to make ourselves tidy for the day. As soon as Her Majesty was awake,
we all proceeded to her bedroom, taking with us plates of apples
(representing "Peace"), olives ("Long Life"), lotus seeds (Blessing).
She suitably acknowledged these gifts and wished us all good luck in
return. She inquired whether we had been to bed and, on learning that
we had been up all night, she said that was right. She herself had not
meant to sleep, only to rest a little, but somehow she had not been able
to keep awake, and gave as a reason that she was an old woman. We waited
on her until she had finished her toilet and then wished her a Happy New
Year. We then proceeded to pay our respects to the Emperor and to
the Young Empress. There was nothing further to be done in the way of
ceremonies, and we therefore all accompanied Her Majesty to the theatre.
The performance took place on a stage erected in the courtyard, and Her
Majesty closed in one part of her veranda for the use of the guests and
Court ladies. During the performance I began to feel very drowsy, and
eventually fell fast asleep leaning against one of the pillars. I awoke
rather suddenly to find that something had been dropped into my mouth,
but on investigation I found it was nothing worse than a piece of candy,
which I immediately proceeded to eat. On approaching Her Majesty, she
asked me how I had enjoyed the candy, and told me not to sleep, but to
have a good time like the rest. I never saw Her Majesty in better
humor. She played with us just like a young girl, and one could hardly
recognize in her the severe Empress Dowager we knew her to be.

The guests also all seemed to be enjoying themselves very much. In the
evening, a