. The mikado's empire. steeth are set contrary to ours. Another man is planing. He pulls the plane toward him. I notice ablacksmith at work: he pulls thebellows with his foot, while he isholding and hammering with bothhands. He has several irons inthe fire, and keeps his dinner-potboiling with the waste flame. Hiswhole family, like the generationsbefore him, seem to all get theirliving in the hardware line. Thecooper holds his tub with his of them sit down while they work. How strange! Perhaps thatis an important difference between a European and an Asiatic. Onesits down to his work,
. The mikado's empire. steeth are set contrary to ours. Another man is planing. He pulls the plane toward him. I notice ablacksmith at work: he pulls thebellows with his foot, while he isholding and hammering with bothhands. He has several irons inthe fire, and keeps his dinner-potboiling with the waste flame. Hiswhole family, like the generationsbefore him, seem to all get theirliving in the hardware line. Thecooper holds his tub with his of them sit down while they work. How strange! Perhaps thatis an important difference between a European and an Asiatic. Onesits down to his work, the other stands up to it. Why is it that we do things contrariwise to the Japanese ? Are weupside down, or they ? The Japanese say that we are reversed. Theycall our penmanship crab-writing, because, say they, it goes back-ward. The lines in our books cross the page like a craw-fish, insteadof going downward properly. In a Japanese stable we find thehorses flank where we look for his head. Japanese screws screw the 24. Pattern Designer preparing a Roll of Silkfor the Dye-vat, 366 THE MIKADOS EMPIRE. other way. Their locks thrust to the left, ours to the right. Thebaby-toys of the Aryan race squeak when squeezed; the Turanian gim-cracks emit noise when pulled apart. A Caucasian, to injure his ene-my, kills him; a Japanese kills himself to spite his foe. Which raceis left-handed ? Which has the negative, which the positive of truth ?What is truth ? What is down, what is up ? I emerge from the bamboo street to the Tori, the main street, theBroadway of the Japanese capital. I recognize it. The shops aregayer and richer; the street is wider; it is crowded with , for the first time, comes the intense and vivid realization thatthis is Japan. Here is a kago, with a woman and baby inside. Twohalf-naked coolies bear the pole on their shoulders, and hurry along,grunting in Japanese. They bear sticks in their hands, and stop atevery few yards, rest the beam on their sticks, and
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Keywords: ., bookauthorgriffisw, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1894
