Show IN A JAPANESE THEATER from an artists letters from japan written and pictured by john la farge in the century we quote as follows the doctor took us on suo dav afternoon to his club whose name I 1 think means the perfume of the maple to see and to listen to some japanese plays which are given in the club theater built for the purpose we went there in the afternoon passing by the baiba temples and our kurupas were drawn up at one end of the buildings there everything was japanese though I 1 hear stories of the other club and its ultra european ways brandies and bodas eyeglasses etc however that may ba on this side we were in japan mistake we sat on the steps and had our sheea taken off according to the japanese fashion so as not to injure mats and we could bear during the operation long wail ings highnote sand the piercing sound at flutes and stringed instruments the curiously sad rhythm mingled with a background of high distinct declamation we walked in with careful attention to make no noisa forgetting that in our stocking feet we could have made none had we wished and we found the doctors reserved for him and us and marked with his came writ langs largs other low boxes with sides no higher than our elboca a we sat on the mats divided the sloping floor down to the stage the was pretty little building pre electing into the great hall from its long side it had its own roof and connected with a large gallery or bridge along which the actori moved as they came on or disappeared in a manner new to us but which gave a certain natural sequence and made a beginning and an end a dramatic introduction tro and conclusion and added greatly to the picture when the magnificent dresses of stiff brocade dragged slowly along to tha cadence of the mu alc A quiet sleepy appreciation hovered over the scene even the devotee flear us many of them older leopla and belonging to the old regime showing their approval or disapproval with restrained criticism I 1 could gee with out turning my head the expression ol 01 the face of my neighbor a former a man of position a face a japanese translation of the universal well known aristocratic type immovable fatigued with the drooping under lip behind him sat former retainers I 1 suppose deferential insinuating remarks and judgments to which ho as with inimitable brevity still 1 thought that I 1 could distinguish when he showed that tha youthful amateurs for most of the actors wera professional nonprofessional non did not come up to a proper standard that his memory went back to a long experience of good acting and so catching are tha impressions of a crowd that I 1 myself after a time believed that I 1 recognized more or less distinctly the tyro and th maste reven though I 1 only vaguely understood der stood what it was all about aoi I 1 need not tell you that the libretto would have been still more difficult fo mo than the pime before me and very of ten it was but pantomime pan tomima the actor gestures to accompaniment pani ment of music or the declamation 1 of the chora egus who told the poetic story occasionally cheso movement amounted to a dance that is to say to rhythmic movements hence called the ko dance to which emphasis wai given by rising or falling on either foot and bringing down the sole with abud den blow we had tobacco to chebi ns on our arrival the noiseless servants had brought to us the inevitably little tray containing the firebox fire box with hot charcoal and the little cylinder fox ashes and tea and little sugary balla nd then besides notwithstanding the toned repola of the qa enough to watch |