But
At 7 A.M. A Drum Beats To Summon The Children To A School Whose
Buildings Would Not Discredit Any School-Board At Home.
Too much
Europeanised I thought it, and the children looked very
uncomfortable sitting on high benches in front of desks, instead of
squatting, native fashion.
The school apparatus is very good, and
there are fine maps on the walls. The teacher, a man about twenty-
five, made very free use of the black-board, and questioned his
pupils with much rapidity. The best answer moved its giver to the
head of the class, as with us. Obedience is the foundation of the
Japanese social order, and with children accustomed to
unquestioning obedience at home the teacher has no trouble in
securing quietness, attention, and docility. There was almost a
painful earnestness in the old-fashioned faces which pored over the
school-books; even such a rare event as the entrance of a foreigner
failed to distract these childish students. The younger pupils
were taught chiefly by object lessons, and the older were exercised
in reading geographical and historical books aloud, a very high key
being adopted, and a most disagreeable tone, both with the Chinese
and Japanese pronunciation. Arithmetic and the elements of some of
the branches of natural philosophy are also taught. The children
recited a verse of poetry which I understood contained the whole of
the simple syllabary. It has been translated thus:-
"Colour and perfume vanish away.
What can be lasting in this world?
To-day disappears in the abyss of nothingness;
It is but the passing image of a dream, and causes only a slight
trouble."
It is the echo of the wearied sensualist's cry, "Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity," and indicates the singular Oriental
distaste for life, but is a dismal ditty for young children to
learn.
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