OCR Text |
Show 'clothes appear ; IN COLD SNAPS j Times and People Change in 1 Japan TOKIO; June I (By l. P i floros or I thn hardy old greybeards of Japan ara I deploring- the degeneracy of the new generation all because, more cloihlng than uauul waa worn during the "dalk-on" "dalk-on" this year. "Alas!" say the old timers, warglng their heada aadly. "Mow tlmea have changed : When we were hoys we roamed around In ths 'dalkon' stark l.aked. Hut just look at theaa poft. namby-pamby y out ha of today thay won't venture In ths cold unlsa they have on st least an undershirt and cotton knes pants'" "I'alkun" means the "great cold " It Is to Japan what s prolonged lilizzarri Is In the states. This year Japan hud a whin of a dalkon. There won more Ice and snow and lower temperatures fnr a longer period than the oldest In-habitant In-habitant could remember. In former years It waa customary for boys and young men of Japan to trot s round jaunt illy during the "dalkon" (I reaaed In nothing at all. or there shouts. The Idea was that this mads 'em "hard.'' After running around dreised like Oungha Din, the slmpllc'ty of whosa costume Kipling has sung, they would repair to temples of the Htrength nod. sous themselves with buckets of water and. sometimes festooned fes-tooned with Icicles If nothing elas, trot through miles of frigid streets to a heatleas home and call It a pleasant day. ' A few years ago the authorities decided de-cided that this waa too primitive; that a man could teat hla rslsfanc In a pair of gymnasium trunka Just as effectively ef-fectively ss In his birthday ault. Ho an order waa Issued that, "dalkon" or no 'dalkon." you couldn't prance through the atreeta of Toklo any mors unless you wore aome sort of raiment. The pld timers scoffed st that. How rould ins Spartan qualities of ths past be preserved with any such concessions to comfort? Hut now their bemoanlngs ara redoubled. re-doubled. They art sore distressed For , this year's record breaking "dalkon" put a crimp In ths determination of even the most resolute celebrants and they wore Jsrseya and omitted the shnwnr baths. "The water was all frozen," the you 11 antc-rs explained. "When we were hove, we broke the Ice." snorted the old men. In reply. I One Indignant old gentleman was ao I wrought up over the situation that he J wrote a letter to a Japanne news-J news-J paper, snylng the Washington confer- I enre was to blnme for it. And for pood n e' aake. let's get awsy from these entangling foreign alliances and run our own "dstkons' In our own I fashion, as we ussd to In ths good old I daya. |