| Show GOIiVG TO SCHOOL IN JAPAN I A Glimpse at the Lie of a Pupil in tIle Lund of Tea DrinlcinR I As marked as is the dissimilarity of the Japanese child to our own wee one perhaps there are no lights in which the former is shown that sets off this dissimilitude like the quaint rays of the educational sun which illuminates his path Behold him then approaching the frail one story half paper and half wood school house he attends repairing thereto as one of a picturesque group of three four or five happy youngsters armed with copy book seroban of which more anon huge paper umbrella and rice jar the last swinging from a round swingng little arm in a gayly brocaded bathe ba-the avenue he is on and the schoolhouse school-house and surroundings all enveloped in an atmosphere and hue of naive and antique quaintness In due time he is inside the tidy little school room with its snowy matting its bright futons a square of wadded sU or crepe upon which to rest the knees chairs being unknown luxuries to the uneuropeanized Japanese cast upon the floor at regular Intervals one for each abecedarian and one for the teacher and with its many oda little chests of drawers miniature chiffoniers chif-foniers in which are kept the books serobans India ink and brushes not in use The prevailing politeness in this proverbially well mannered archipelago archi-pelago goes methodically along hand in hand with all concerns in fact the very gates of the day swing asunder upon hinges of etiquette the first school room rule demanding that the scholars should all be assembled when their teacher arrives in order to bid him good morning in a body Familiar with the peculiar clash of his wooden clog the scholars range themselves in a straight line at the first announcement announce-ment of his approach and at the first glimpse caught of him draw in their breath with the long hissing sound that has been described in a previous chapter as expressing awed regard This formality over the dwarfish tutor is saluted with absurdly low bows and a general cheery clatter of words in which will nearly always be distinguished distin-guished the exclamations of Ohyo Good day Irrashal Please deign to enter and Oode nasa Be pleased to make your honorable entrance Every act and word of the above greeting the recepient considers as an evidence of respectful affection and he never fails to say so nor to express ex-press the sincere hope that all his little pupils are well This pretty prelude over the schoolmaster school-master squatting upon his futon all the students immediately obeying his example by dropping noiselessly upon theirsbegins the long days work by calling aloud the number of its lesson in reading The art of serving tea at that most ceremonious of all social usages the tea ceremony is among the upper classes throughout the country considered con-sidered to be an indispensable frill on the educational garments of a young gIrl This stilted affair simply bristles with exacting codes There are despotic des-potic rules as to tea bowls which upon this occasion only must be used instead of teapots rules as to the tea itself which must be powdered and of I one certain excellent quality rules as to bamboo whisks which are brought I forward at a fixed moment and with which the fragrant beverage is beaten until it foam il rules 1fverage particular variety and amount of the charcoal over which the water for the making of the teas boiled rules as to all the utensils used which must not only be I antique but rigidly chaste and plain in style and rules as to the ceremonious cere-monious solemn performance of ser ing the tea after its elaborately formal for-mal making all of which regulations are taught by professed instructresses most of whom are gentlewomen in destitute des-titute circumstances Harpers Bazar |
