After An Hour Of This
Two Superb Logs, Fully Thirty Feet Long, Came Down Close Together,
And, Striking The Central
Pier nearly simultaneously, it shuddered
horribly, the great bridge parted in the middle, gave an awful
groan like a living
Thing, plunged into the torrent, and re-
appeared in the foam below only as disjointed timbers hurrying to
the sea. Not a vestige remained. The bridge below was carried
away in the morning, so, till the river becomes fordable, this
little place is completely isolated. On thirty miles of road, out
of nineteen bridges only two remain, and the road itself is almost
wholly carried away!
LETTER XXVIII - (Continued)
Scanty Resources - Japanese Children - Children's Games - A Sagacious
Example - A Kite Competition - Personal Privations.
IKARIGASEKI.
I have well-nigh exhausted the resources of this place. They are
to go out three times a day to see how much the river has fallen;
to talk with the house-master and Kocho; to watch the children's
games and the making of shingles; to buy toys and sweetmeats and
give them away; to apply zinc lotion to a number of sore eyes three
times daily, under which treatment, during three days, there has
been a wonderful amendment; to watch the cooking, spinning, and
other domestic processes in the daidokoro; to see the horses, which
are also actually in it, making meals of green leaves of trees
instead of hay; to see the lepers, who are here for some waters
which are supposed to arrest, if not to cure, their terrible
malady; to lie on my stretcher and sew, and read the papers of the
Asiatic Society, and to go over all possible routes to Aomori. The
people have become very friendly in consequence of the eye lotion,
and bring many diseases for my inspection, most of which would
never have arisen had cleanliness of clothing and person been
attended to. The absence of soap, the infrequency with which
clothing is washed, and the absence of linen next the skin, cause
various cutaneous diseases, which are aggravated by the bites and
stings of insects. Scald-head affects nearly half the children
here.
I am very fond of Japanese children. I have never yet heard a baby
cry, and I have never seen a child troublesome or disobedient.
Filial piety is the leading virtue in Japan, and unquestioning
obedience is the habit of centuries. The arts and threats by which
English mothers cajole or frighten children into unwilling
obedience appear unknown. I admire the way in which children are
taught to be independent in their amusements. Part of the home
education is the learning of the rules of the different games,
which are absolute, and when there is a doubt, instead of a
quarrelsome suspension of the game, the fiat of a senior child
decides the matter. They play by themselves, and don't bother
adults at every turn. I usually carry sweeties with me, and give
them to the children, but not one has ever received them without
first obtaining permission from the father or mother.
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