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Show Freeing of Insects Festival in Japan From time Immemorial the people of Japan, especially the children, have kept singing Insects in little wooden cages, as the people of the West keep birds. But once a year, in the early autumn, comes a day for all people to free their Insects, so that they may join wholeheartedly in the lyric outburst out-burst to the Seven Flowers of autumn. The famous old garden in Mokujima, not damaged by the quake, was the center of that observance this year as in years gone by. The autumn flowers flow-ers were in bloom, Japanese lanterns threw a mellow glow on the thick, carefully tended foliage and upon the old pond with its fantastic bridge and lotus flowers, lighting the paths for the gayly clad throng clattering here and there on their wooden geta. leuny ail Ul Liieiu mmcu niLit: cages with several insects In each one. Those who did not have pets to free bought songsters from stalls set up at the entrance to the garden. The visitors gathered in groups near grass ' plots, formed circles and opened the doors of their cages, gently pushing out the Insects. Then they listened eagerly for them to join In the joyous joy-ous cry of freedom. Writers on Japan from the time of Pierre Loti have described graphically graphical-ly the almost deafening sound of the cicadas In the late summer and early, fall. The insects fill the air throughout through-out Japan with their song. New York Evening Post |