| Show A DANCE GHOSTLY CEREMONY WITNESSED IN A JAPANESE CEMETERY A roar days spirits babying and bously decorated with garlands and tempting viands dr G H colton salter who for many years was united states consul in japan and afterward entered the chinese government service gazed thoughtfully into the glov cing embers in th erate and after a short pause told the following tale the many stories published about indian ghost dances and the messiah craze remind me of one of the most remarkable incidents I 1 have ever witnessed buring my long career in the orient and I 1 am sure there are but few amer cans or europeans who bave had the opportunity to see the sights of which I 1 am going to tell the native religion of the japanese is as you lenow buddhism and there is no creed winch is as full of superstition some of the ancient beliefs of the buddhists are calculated to frighten the faithful and vividly portray the horrible punishment that awaits the sinful man after he clones his earthly career while others with charming simplicity show that the greatest aim of alie hindmo religion is the release from existence the doctrine of the transmigration of souk and a hope for a better fate in a future life are the principal foundations upon which buddhism rests nagasaki where I 1 resided for many years was famed for the splendid festivals in honor of budday or gautama the founder of the religion owing to the work of missionaries and the consequent spread of christianity in japan many of the religious fetes are no longer publicly observed and the one of which I 1 am about to speak had its last grand celebration in 1886 just before I 1 left nagasaki graveyards jt is called the Matsi dri and was held during the last week in august or the first week in september continuing four days these days were set aside for the reception of the spirits of the dead who according to a legendary belief return once a year to their old homes for many weeks previous to the festival preparations had been in progress the houses of the believers had all been carefully swept cleaned and polished and the home altars which are to be found in every native house had been redecorated and re furnished the interior of all the buildings had been profusely adorned with flowers the streets had been repaired and the whole city was clothed in holiday attire on the morning of the first day the dead were received with much ceremony in the graveyard which is in a beautiful grove each mound was profusely decorated with lighted lanterns and garlands of many colored paper globes hung from tree to tree on the top of every grave food of the daintiest daintie st iland was spread in a tempting manner and in quantities sufficient to appease the appetites of an army of the hungriest kind of ghosts on mats spread about tho graves sat all the living descendants of the person who had been buried in that particular spot not a single tomb was neglected if in the course of years the family of any one of the silent sleepers had completely died out his grave had been embellished and supplied by atran gers the spirits were supposed to arrive and depart by water from the sea and for four flays and nights the living commune with their dead and were with them in spirit the souls of the departed were supposed to hover around the tombs like substantial visible beings and they were treated with every attention duo to sacred and distinguished visitors from the other world the night of the second day was devoted to a grand terpsichorean entertainment or spirit dance and the graveyard was transformed for once into a hall room where ghostly dancers were supposed to hold revelry JL SPLENDID SIGHT the scenes made a strong nd ever impression on me the night was perfect the moon was at its full and the air was fragrant with the perfumes of thousands of flowers myriads of lights were flickering on the hillsides hill sides which surround the city and the colored lanterns swayed gently to and fro keeping time to the chimes of the silvery bells in the temple tower which furnished the music for the mystic entertainment tain ment around an artificial lake in the center of the graveyard the people knelt in devotion worshiping on the shrine of buddha whose emblem the lotus flower rose from the middle of the lake every one of the four days and nights brought new surprises and ceremonies many of tho latter baing held in the temple the doors of which were closed and guarded against the entrance of infidels on the last night or the night of nights as it was called a grand pro finished the festival the people marched in parade to escort their spirit visitors to the water front where they were to depart boatmen carried on their Bh a gigantic craf inbuilt of wood and straw in which the dead were supposed to be seated and which was to convey them bacar to spirit land and to the great father beyond the sea this boat which is called antny was a masterpiece of japanese carpentry it was ninety feet long and had a stately mast with a huge sail which bore in native characters the inscription a word which is symbolic of Ganta mag greatness richly decorated was launched with much cere after the laffi jbf susi been em dracca ana taken his seat on board it was then gushed out into the sea and drifting anway was finally carried ont of right by the tida and so ended the last festival of Matsi dri ever held publicly in na masiki and the most splendid religious celt I 1 ever witnessed sao francisco chronicle at an A lady wo shall not tell her name had a most amusing experience with benjamin P hutchinson the other day this lady is deeply interested in charitable work and ever and anon she lends herself to the disagreeable task of soliciting li money contributions to such worthy causes as she may happen to have in hand this is rather ungrateful employment but this lady applies herself cheerfully to it for she recognizes it as a part of her christian duty it be fell that this worthy woman had OCCA sion to approach mr hutchinson th other afternoon and she did so in the spirit of charming good nature which is perhaps her most conspicuous char act now mr hutchinson id a wary baia and seldom it is that he is caught in a comer by anybody but this particular lady was so exceptionally bright and exuberant that the crafty millionaire gave up a crisp 20 bill almost be fre he was aware of it and then aa TO can easily suppose he began to regret it on her part the fair solicitor was considerably surprised she had bieard that he was a hard unfeeling man yet hadt he not responded promptly ana generously to her appeal she was so grateful that she insisted on shaking hands with the old man and aa she did BO she remarked feelingly we do not always get our reward here mr hutchinson but we should remember that th lord loveth a cheerful giver yes ave often heerd tell answered mr hutchinson dryly but im more interested in findan out the lorda opinion of a cheerful beggar chicago bews Co faces the chemist who has studied ruedi cine further than many doctors had something to say the other day about co faces it seems he has more inquiries for remedies for this disfigurement than any other and they are mainly from women who have swallowed quarts of medicine in hopes to cure it tell them he said his mind running on the subject to quit taking such loads of blood purifiers the blood may not be out of order but only needing a chance to work off its daily impurities puri ties the natural way and blood purifiers make the matter worse their diet ought to be right and tend to free elimination plenty of not to cause perspiration coarse bread eoula rich with vegetable juices but no pie crust cake or pudding nor sauces with starch or flour in them till the state of things which causes a rough face is broken up it wont be easily done doctors say few disorders are BO slow to anre as this sluggish state of the skin mainly because people cannot be persuaded to give proper pains and attention to themselves they wont baths or if they do the water hot and alkaline and the rubbing afterward is not enough to stir up the whole system as it ought to be of the least use do yon notice that excitable people never have pimply faces or blackheads in the akin it is your dull depressed sluggish natures who suffer with them A quick set of nerves is good as an electric battery to keep the body in working order if only it overcharged over charged and torn to wreck that is why people with spinal diseases suffer with other ailments for the acute nerves throw everything off what force there ia in the system is at the fingers ends and on the surface of the skin not congest ecTor half dead at the roots guiley dares letter the two women of this generation who have earned the largest incomes are ouida and patti mrs bumerts Bu metts literary income is said to be greater just now than that of any other author her american revenue from the play of lord fauntleroy is to which may be added her english profits and her proceeds from the sale es tha book mrs rebecca beah 0 petersburg col is a granddaughter of john dumcy adams her mother was elizabeth adams the presidents youngest and prettiest daughter whose elopement with her poor but worthy lover alfred shinn was the occasion of a national sensation v |
