When That Is
Gained They Smile And Bow Profoundly, And Hand The Sweeties To
Those Present Before Eating Any Themselves.
They are gentle
creatures, but too formal and precocious.
They have no special dress. This is so queer that I cannot repeat
it too often. At three they put on the kimono and girdle, which
are as inconvenient to them as to their parents, and childish play
in this garb is grotesque. I have, however, never seen what we
call child's play - that general abandonment to miscellaneous
impulses, which consists in struggling, slapping, rolling, jumping,
kicking, shouting, laughing, and quarrelling! Two fine boys are
very clever in harnessing paper carts to the backs of beetles with
gummed traces, so that eight of them draw a load of rice up an
inclined plane. You can imagine what the fate of such a load and
team would be at home among a number of snatching hands. Here a
number of infants watch the performance with motionless interest,
and never need the adjuration, "Don't touch." In most of the
houses there are bamboo cages for "the shrill-voiced Katydid," and
the children amuse themselves with feeding these vociferous
grasshoppers. The channels of swift water in the street turn a
number of toy water-wheels, which set in motion most ingenious
mechanical toys, of which a model of the automatic rice-husker is
the commonest, and the boys spend much time in devising and
watching these, which are really very fascinating. It is the
holidays, but "holiday tasks" are given, and in the evenings you
hear the hum of lessons all along the street for about an hour.
The school examination is at the re-opening of the school after the
holidays, instead of at the end of the session - an arrangement
which shows an honest desire to discern the permanent gain made by
the scholars.
This afternoon has been fine and windy, and the boys have been
flying kites, made of tough paper on a bamboo frame, all of a
rectangular shape, some of them five feet square, and nearly all
decorated with huge faces of historical heroes. Some of them have
a humming arrangement made of whale-bone. There was a very
interesting contest between two great kites, and it brought out the
whole population. The string of each kite, for 30 feet or more
below the frame, was covered with pounded glass, made to adhere
very closely by means of tenacious glue, and for two hours the
kite-fighters tried to get their kites into a proper position for
sawing the adversary's string in two. At last one was successful,
and the severed kite became his property, upon which victor and
vanquished exchanged three low bows. Silently as the people
watched and received the destruction of their bridge, so silently
they watched this exciting contest. The boys also flew their kites
while walking on stilts - a most dexterous performance, in which few
were able to take part - and then a larger number gave a stilt race.
The most striking out-of-door games are played at fixed seasons of
the year, and are not to be seen now.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 131 of 219
Words from 68470 to 68996
of 115002
