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Show 1 BREEDING SHETLAND PONY FOR CHILDRENS PLEASURE Lulu Animal la Moat Doclla of Equine Tribe, and Seemingly Most Sagacious Where They Origl nally Came From. ' EW YEARS day among the Japanese la not only the day that begins a year, hut It la. In the highest sense of the words, le Jour de ( Children's Pets. lan n 1 their day of the ....... year " Preparation for it begins early in De The Amerl cember. csin Christmas shopper if landed In Tokyo in ftouhi crowds of her toothers and sister in spirit throng lng in shops decorated with the most attractive symbolic ornamentations and displaying with greatskiil the things most requisite for the coming holiday time. At night, along the thoroughfares, the stranger would see multitudes crowded about street booths to purchase the wares exposed there, all which are significant of the New Year festival, and nothing else. Everywhere the avenue and would be illuminated with rows of shining lanterns, bearing trade devices and family crests, all suspended from the low eaves of stores and houses. Never 'gre the streets of Japanese cities and to wn 8 ttSitliened with gayly dressed crowds and busy traffickers as during the time of our own alien, yet kindred, Christmas excitement. The specific preparations for the New Year begin about the thirteenth of the last month. Then, within every house in the empire, a general cleaning up takes place. A fresh, green branch of the bamboo tree, with Its leaves and twigs to symbolize good fortune, is used as a duster in completing the thorough sweeping. At this time the soft rice mats of which the flooring In Japanese homes Is made are renewed In order that the callers at the New Year may be received where they can enjoy a spotless footing. At this time, too, ail matrons and maids are busy getting ready for wear on New Years day kimonos that shall have no trace In them of the vanished past To old and young the dally theme of thought and talk is the coming New Year," full as much as Christmas" la to us. Outside the houses symbolic decoration haav full sway,, an .transforms the thoroughfares In tof gayly colored and evergreen .avenues. The treeless streets are turned, for the time being. Into vistas of swaying bamboo and pine trees. Before each house entrance, according to the tenants purses and taste, stands a kind of archway. Its pine branches, supposedly male and female, on the right and left, and the tall triple bamboo shafts (both trees symbolic of longevity that Is of a hardiness that has borne the storms and struggles of long life Into a rugged old age) welcome the visitor. Over head, spanning the space between these uprights of the arch, Is a decorated rope always of rice straw, having on It various pendants arranged In series of seven, five and three (lucky numbers). The rope recalls one of the most revered and poetic traditions of the Japanese past The sun goddess, the ancestress of the imperial house of the empire, was angered with her brother In the ancient days, and In revenge hid herself in a cave. Darkness then prevailed in heaven and over the earth. The gods. In their, perplexity, tried to Induce her to come out of her hiding place. But In vain did they appear, until, In a dance they had arranged, she - waa Induced by a taunt that touched her vanity to open the door of her dungeon. One of the gods then drew her forth, and, to prevent her running back Into the cave, stretched a straw rope across the entrance The perpetual shining of the sun, secured thereby, remains memorialized in the garlanded barrier hanging above each Japanese portal at New Years time. find s nings," that Is, of "yeaiTbrmonth" and of day. When the household awakens on January 1 every member of the' family seeks the others to say Omede-t(Congratulation). And then an exchange of presents like our Christmas giving begins. The New Year breakfast Is a feast of symbotltra and of good wishes. The New Years wine, too, is passed around, with the wish that everyone may drink along with the cup a long, long life. A soup containing a peculiar rice paste, mochl, is eaten by all, each one wishing the others ten thousand years of pleasure and prosperity. Then the household prepare for a day of festivity. The busy broom and bamboo duster are left idle all the day, for fear that they might sweep out of the house the divine freshness that has come into It. AU the shops remain closed from dawn until the next day. It la the day of the home and of social happiness. There Is no Christmas tree" aa the center of the Japanese New Year celebration Inside the house, but there U the Kagaml mochl or mirror rice cakes that, are made as conspicuous as the tree." These cakes represent the round mirror, in which the sight of her face enticed the sun goddess out of her cave In tAe olden time. For eleven days these cakes remain decorated with fruits and flowers, elevated on whltewood tray a Then they form part of a family feasting. Throughout Japan the New Years day Is the one complete holiday of the year. Soon after breakfast all the members of the families, dressed In their newest clothes, take to the gardens, parks Uniand streets for characteristic pleasuring versal visiting Is a social law calling on friends and relatives In person or by card. Universal gift making la indulged ip,, messengers being sent bearing presents all around the household and friendly circles. Distinctive and exclusive games also belong to the New Year time. Battledore and shuttlecock Is probably chief among them. In certain part-o- f Tokyo, for example, streets are almost' Impassable because of - the- hosts oMhe players of this game.. As far as one can see" tbe scene Is one of bewildering color from the stir of the dresses of the girls, who are as active In their sport as so many of our tennis players. Gayly ornamented battledores flash everywhere, and the air is full of the bright, fluttering toys that are struck from one to another player. Penalty for defeat usually means grotesque markings of the face with strokes of charcoal Ink. One; may see thousands of children merry under the comical Imposed upon Among the most noticeable and significant obtheir foreheads and cheeks. Is scara arches these doorway jects ornamenting Kite flying is another peculiar New Year pas let lobster, embedded among some branches of a time. And kite flying In Japan Is a sight well bush whose old leaves remain unshed until after worth going far to see. The variety of shape, the the young leaves have budded. The lobsters of coloring, the extraordinary size gorgeousness crooked body tells of old age bent wltk years, of many of these toys, Is something peculiar to while the busb branches around It show bow the Japanese. Then the skill shown In maneu parents remain even while children and chivering the kites Is marvelous. They hum as they ldrens children may come into being, in the same decoration fronds of fern are placed, whose sway in the January breeze with a sort of organ-pip- e vo(ume of sound, and, af times, they swoop pairs of leaves symbolize wedded life. The ordown upon antagonist filers, like hawks, and, ange, whose color brightens the clustered sym-Jtolwith their coeds cut their enebears a name which, &st a pun, means mies frte.. thus making them -- the property of and tells of family perpetuity. Seas ee!U--t- ere, too, as a memorial of good fortune, their own roasters. There Is hardly a more fasone of these friendly batcommemorating also the prehistoric conquest of cinating spectacle than Korea bythe Empress Jingo. Her troops were in f tles in the air of Japanese kites, under the guld- jBiraruf tlieskillcd men whomanage them. danger of defeat because their horses on the KoAnother distinctive entertainment for the New were seashore from of food lack rean starving Year celebration Is furnished by groups of masked But, by Inspiration, she ordered seaweed to be performers who go about the streets led by a plucked from the waters of the beach and given creature, whose grotesque to the horses, who then were so Invigorated that curious animal-Ukexcites much mock terror among chilthey carried their .riders to glorious victory. dren. The antics of these motley crowds are GoheJ white bands of paper wave over the garsupposed to exorcise evil spirits from the Japanlands of the doorway arches symbolic of the ancient offerings that have wob the favor of the ese homes, gs well as to add gayety to the dov ings of the day. Many other unique ceremonies myriad gods. take place on tbe first day; too many for an attAfter busy weeks of preparation at last the empt to describe them here. Closing day of the year comes. On New years -- " But we may not pass by the old card parties eve the whole country Is astir and ,every place Year evenings; the matchings of the of New the la use or for brightened. beauty that needs a light and ends of the hundred songs of a beginnings All through that night the people stay out of bed hundred slngfers. From one January to another to see the old year pass and to welcome the new. this Is not Indulged In; but at the opening game tombed UBtllthe daws of Merchanlft do not go of the year it Is the1 chief siort kept forThe even New Years day. All the business accounts of families becoming absorbedln Jt 'It Ingawfinle and;r the closing year Is contest a of memory and of quickness at disIn every sense of the word .the year be begun in cards laid out before a group of play-- , covering who are those by guided Japanese afresh among , ers the end of a poem whose opening lines have e new. the old social order. All things been read by a leader. It s astonishing to see Bad luck, bad feelings, unsettled debts, are ail skill that many of the players have to be done away With and a new chapter of Hfe the mental acquired. , comThe opened, filled with happy prospects. One more exciting New Year game deserves plete renewal of old fashioned Japanese life gt the New" Year Is well shown In one of the naniea mention, the fortune lotteries, In these home lotteries one takes hold of tbe end of a rope and . that the day tears, San Gan "The Three Begin o casts the other end oer a screen Hidden plajers attach some gift to the free end of the rope, whereby often the beht of fun comes, because of the prires drawn But this great day of beginnings for Japan, with its idling and many pleasures, at last comes to a close. On tbe second day of the year the duty of work is celebrated. In the home the children strive to show to their parents the best they cm do in penmanship or in memory of things to be teamed. "Girls try their first ornamental neediest irk or piece of music; merchants open their shops with a show of receiving their first goods for tie year. On the street many processions of cooites are seen bearing beautifully ornamented specimens of the trades of their masters Heavily loaded (agons, brilliantly decorated with lanterns, flags aid advertisements, drawn by xen covered with mmy colored ciotha, pass from district to district, accompanied by Binging and dano-lnworkmen. Toward tbe ivenlng of the second day street peddlers, crying Treasure ship for sale!" go about among- thi crowds. They sell rough drawings of the "Seien Gods of Happiness," afloat In a boat. MuItUilea buy these caricatures of an ancient sacred poup, much as we might buy a pictured Santa Claus. That night the treasure ship must lie Wider ones pillow. The dreams that come then mean much for the rest of the opening year. On tbe third day of the New Year the nremen of the towns lure their annual parade and give public exhibition of acrobatic skllt In many places. These exhibition are no meany shows. Some of the performers Hsplay an agile ability in climbing, balancing and taping that Is of an extraordinarily high order. Indeed, all Ve days of tbe first fortnight of the letter days, until the., fifteenth year day comes, wheay seemingly a most comical end lng of the whole festal season takes place. The people after that settle down to the commonplace order of tgular dally labor. The Japanese people at the present time do not take this closing event more seriously to heart than we of this land now regard tie ride of Tam O'Shanter; but, theorett- 7. h Inhabitants of the Infernal regions dur- the first fortnight of the new year have aa merry a good time as the people of this world. On the fifteenth day, however, the Instruments of torture in hell begin to work again. On this day It la that the templet consecrated to Emma O, the king of Hades, are crammed with devotees and gather large sums of offerings from fearful sinners. It Is a wonderful sight, a temple of Emma O In la one of tbe great cities,-- A Roman carnival could not be more Jostling, jolly or absurdly funny, Japanese fun making is at Its freest there, and all that la done seems to be forgiven. the worshipers. If their contributions to the treasure boxes; of his majesty, tbe regent of the Inferno, are generous. With the festival of this god the new year on earth and under the earth has for the Japanese passed away as a feast, and lifes duties fairly begun again. Of course the Japanese New Year Is today fast losing some of Its old time characteristic fascinations, but enough of Ita unique quaintness and charm remain to give It distinctiveness among the festivals of the nations, and to keep It an object for foreign tourists to enjoy. - aim f .U self-chose- n nut-king- s, d b e lion-hea- l7 mustTie-sett7edlhatYIgh- are-unad- -- s id-January, George V, Goodacre, a prominent I figure on the lototnae Speedway, has Introduced Into the District of Colum but a new industry. Mr Goodacre proposes to devote much of hts time In the future to the breeding of Shetland ponies, and has recently (inputted 12 head of beautl ful animals which be hasotated on his estate in tbe vUlnity of llright-wooSince' their arrival these ponies have excited much admiration on at t omit of their gentleness and Intelligence With one or two exceptions, the ponies are of the tiny kind, as the illustration shows; in fact, they are so small that the major portion of them could pass between the legs of a man of average size without the ruffle of a hair', The lord of the harem is a perfeJy made tiny specimen of the Shetland tribe called Billie, black in color, and be can do almost anything be is called upon to do except talk and pay taxes. The cutest in tbe band la a tiny symposium of horseflesh called Dr. Chase Jr., so named because he resembles the Doctor in color, being a golden sorrel, and again because his markings are similar to those worn by the great 8peedway trotter. All of the ponies except two are of the popular color, being either white and black or bay and white. The fashion In ponies ruas strongly toward the extremely amall ones. They bring fabulous prices when of right size and color In all large cities In this country, not only on account of their oddity, but because the size desired is hard to produce. The primitive home of the Shetland Is In the Islands which lie off the extreme northern coast of Scotland. Bleak and desolate are these Islands, even In the midst of summer. The grass is It is sparse and not In winter, however, thatthe sagacity and endurance of the Shetland, la put to the test. He Is compelled to dig through the snow for the forage he gets, or, maybe, if tbe snow is too deepfor him to reach the ground, he lives on twigs and seaweed. In the case of the Shetland pony, It la truly a survival of the fittest Tbe ponies are kept by their breeders la droves, and, when In the spring they wander to the waters edge to get a UMe of seaweed to supplement their rations, scores of them perish as tha treacherous tides frequently catch them unawares and the weakest are carried out into the ocean. The oft asked From question: whence did the Sbetlands come? has been answered in different ways. Tha commonly accepted explanation la that they were taken to the islands from the mainland many centuries ago; that they were originally horse, instead of a pony, 'and that tha hardships they have been compelled to endure have' diminished tbelr size. This belief Is fortified by the fact that when the Shetland Is generously fed he Increases In size and bulk, and this fact also has brought dlsa ter to a number of breeders In this country. Whatever fashion demands, breeders must supply or go out of buslneaa A pony that Is net tnueb taller thaa a great Dane will bring 100 more ta the market than one that measures six Inches higher.. Rich fathers sad rich mothers seek the tiny ones for tbelr children, and they do not stand on the matter (of price when they find what they are seeking. Tbe Shetland is the most docile of the equine tribe, and, seemingly, the moet Doubtless, his environsagacloua ments have sharpened bis Instincts to a remarkable degree. In blood bn Is the plebeian of thnplebelanSraawn moderns count horseflesh, for his breeding Is only one degree higher than that of the ox or the ass; that is, the true Shetland. The most, remarkable breed of pony known Is the Canadian French pony, his ancestors having been brought over from France by tbe French colonists.- He evidently hae good blood In hie veins, and may have descended from the 6panlsh palfrey, as be pace and trots, Is a horse of high spirit, and of considerable speed. The noted Hal family. The Pilot Jr. family, that Copperbottome, and some of the other pacing families In the United 8tatea sprang from the loins ot French-Canadlaponies. HANDLE NERVOUS TEAM SAFELY alike, and If well managed, neltbe loaea Its luster by the change of the air, nor the age of the wood to which it Is applied. There Is snother tree from which a liquor la obtained that differs but little from the varnish. Another Is termed the tallow tree, Thls Is as large aa a high cherry tree; the leave are of a lively red. and the of a heart; fruit la contained Inshap the rind, which when ripe, opens Jn the middle- like a chestnut, It constate of white kernels of the else of haseL nut, whose pulp has the property of tallow and of which .candles ars made. The white wax tree la no leas exit Is not so tall as the traordinary. tallow tree; It has large leaves and a whiter bark. A small kind of worm fixes Itself to the leaves and forma a sort of comb much smaller than a honey comb, the wax of which Is very hard and eblnlng, and of far greater value than the common bee d s. Bring Animals Heads Within Twelve or Fifteen Inches -of 1 Each. Other,. Allowing Inaide Reina to Slacken. To Jiandle a spirited team with per JecLaafeUL brtntlbelr beads within 12 or 15 Inches of each other, writes J, This Q. Ball In Farm and 'Home. will slacken the Inside line. 1 drive a team of mules in this way that I could not control otherwise., I had snaps put on the endsbf a four-foo- t rope. I pass this rope through the inner rings of the bits and snap -- To the New Year moon wanes pale In the sky. And the stars all blink for morn; r The old year is to die, Mh the year to be bora. Wnhvepassed through the vale of tears, We have trod the Journey long. We have shared our hopes and fears. N We have shared our grief and song; And, we've shared them all with our old frienda Our true friends, our few friends. And well drain anew to our old friends, v.The friends that are always true. Henry Christopher Christie, In Smart Set. . - tse-tan- Ready for Safe Driving, 4 them Into tbe outer rings, as shown anranff B. Tbe blti t TJse arejotnt-e- d wire ones, A friend of mine was recently killed by a fiery team running away. With such a rope as I use the accident would mave been averted. CHINESE GROW MANY TREES and the Old Friends The , They have Ip chlna most kind of weeds that are to be found lif Europe, and several others, among , which Is or rosewood, which. If of a reddish black, and full of fine vejns that seem painted.-Th- is wood la fit for the finest sort of joiners work. Oh child New Year, on whom the mantle falls Of the departing year, who leaves-t-o thee, The labors, tasks, tbe duties and the calls Which are the heirlooms of the past, to be A precious trust tbe heritage of time. How will thou face tbe future all alone? How front the foes of sin, and vice, and crimes Which muster round with force and might un-- known? Take courage, child of time, be not dismayed. Equip thjself with faith and, hopiand love. And seek for strength and wisdom from above; With these to help thee, hever be afraid Go forth with, gladness on thine untrod way. And strength will come to thee from day to day. E. D. N ADDER. -- n wai To the New Year 4. Varnish Secured From One Smell Tree That Takes All Color Well Managed Does Not Lose Luster. Attke-- If GRAHAME-WHITE- .) many trees which arouse the wonder . of trax-elerThe varnish tree is of small size and has a leaf resembling that of the wild cherry; a gum oozes from It tdrop by droj, like the tears of the If - an - Incision Is turpentine tree. made in R, a greater quantity of liquor comes forth, but It' soon destroys the tree. Tbe varnish takes all colois in 'China there-a- re ..Seed for Pastures. Best seed mixtures for permanent pastures are determined by the nature of the soil and climate more probably brioiTOiafi by clinialdJh some localities It Is not easy to secure any other permanent .pasture than that Indigenous to the country or than some Introduced grass which comes to be the prevailing grass. Of the former class Is .buffalo grass. In localities where It Is quite at home on tbe range. Of the latter class is Kentucky blue, which has come to be tbe prevailing grass over all the forest area In the northern and northwester states. r Cleart Dairy Cows. Before- milking the cows should b gone over with a brush and all particles of dirt removed. This need not" take more than 30- - secouds-p- er eow, -The cows udder comes In contact with the floor and cannot be cleaned simply brushing. It Is very important that tbe uddcr'should be washed with a damp sponge or cloth, and this may take 30 seconds more. The sponging wilt be doubly effective If the long hairs around tbe teats and lower part of the udder are cut short |