Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools Part 38

=hakaba=:--Cemetery.

=lentor=:--Slowness.

="with woven paces,"= etc. See Tennyson's _Idylls of the King_: "With woven paces and with waving arms."

=tabi=:--White stockings with a division for the great toe.

=ryo=:--About fifty cents.

=Kishibojin=:--p.r.o.nounced _ki shi b[=o]' jin._ (See page 96 of _Glimpses of Unfamiliar j.a.pan_.)

=Sayonara=:--Good-bye.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

Read the selection through rather slowly. Do not be alarmed at the j.a.panese names: they are usually p.r.o.nounced as they are spelled. Perhaps your teacher will be able to show you a j.a.panese print; at least you can see on a j.a.panese fan quaint villages such as are here described. What sort of face has the host? How does this j.a.panese inn differ from the American hotel? Does there seem to be much furniture? If the Americans had the same sense of beauty that the j.a.panese have, what changes would be made in most houses? Why does the foreign influence make the j.a.panese manufactures "uninteresting" and "detestable"? If you have been in a shop where j.a.panese wares are sold, tell what seemed most striking about the objects and their decoration. What is meant by "the landscape of a tea-cup"? Why does the author say so much about the remoteness of the village? See how the author uses picture-words and sound-words to make his description vivid. Note his use of contrasts. Why does he preface his account of the dance by the remark that it cannot be described in words? Is this a good method? How does the author make you feel the swing and rhythm of the dance? Do not try to p.r.o.nounce the j.a.panese verses: Notice that they are translated. Why are the j.a.panese lines put in at all? Why does the author say that he is ungrateful at the last?

Try to tell in a few sentences what are the good qualities of this selection. Make a little list of the devices that the author has used in order to make his descriptions vivid and his narration lively. Can you apply some of his methods to a short description of your own?

THEME SUBJECTS

A Flower Festival A Pageant The May Fete Dancing out of Doors A Lawn Social The Old Settlers' Picnic The Russian Dancers A Moonlight Picnic Children's Games in the Yard Some j.a.panese People that I have Seen j.a.panese Students in our Schools j.a.panese Furniture An Oriental Store in our Town My Idea of j.a.pan j.a.panese Pictures A Street Carnival An Old-fashioned Square Dance The Revival of Folk-Dancing The Girls' Drill A Walk in the Village at Night Why We have Ugly Things in our Houses Do we have too much Furniture in our Houses?

What we can Learn from the j.a.panese

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING

=An Evening Walk in the Village=:--Imagine yourself taking a walk through the village at nightfall. Tell of the time of day, the season, and the weather. Make your reader feel the approach of darkness, and the heat, or the coolness, or the chill of the air. What signs do you see about you, of the close of day? Can you make the reader feel the contrast of the lights and the surrounding darkness? As you walk along, what sounds do you hear? What activities are going on? Can you catch any glimpses, through the windows, of the family life inside the houses? Do you see people eating or drinking? Do you see any children? Are the scenes about you quiet and restful, or are they confused and irritating?

Make use of any incidents that you can to complete your description of the village as you see it in your walk. Perhaps you will wish to close your theme with your entering a house, or your advance into the dark open country beyond the village.

=My Idea of j.a.pan=:--Suppose that you were suddenly transported to a small town in j.a.pan: What would be your first impression? Tell what you would expect to see. Speak of the houses, the gardens, and the temples.

Tell about the shops, and booths, and the wares that are for sale.

Describe the dress and appearance of the j.a.panese men; of the women; the children. Speak of the coolies, or working-people; the foreigners.

Perhaps you can imagine yourself taking a ride in a _jinrikisha_. Tell of the amusing or extraordinary things that you see, and make use of incidents and conversation. Bring out the contrasts between j.a.pan and your own country.

=A Dance or Drill=:--Think of some drill or dance or complicated game that you have seen, which lends itself to the kind of description in the selection. In your work, try to emphasize the contrast between the background and the moving figures; the effects of light and darkness; the sound of music and voices; the sway and rhythm of the action.

Re-read parts of _The Dance of the Bon-odori_, to see what devices the author has used in order to bring out effects of sound and rhythm.

COLLATERAL READINGS

Glimpses of Unfamiliar j.a.pan Lafcadio Hearn Out of the East " "

Kokoro " "

Kwaidan " "

A j.a.panese Miscellany " "

Two Years in the French West Indies " "

j.a.panese Life in Town and Country G.W. Knox Our Neighbors the j.a.panese J.K. Goodrich When I Was Young Yoshio Markino Miss John Bull " "

When I Was a Boy in j.a.pan Sakae Shioya j.a.panese Girls and Women Alice M. Bacon A j.a.panese Interior " "

j.a.ponica Sir Edwin Arnold j.a.pan W.E. Griffis Human Bullets Tadayoshy Sukurai The Story of j.a.pan R. Van Bergen A Boy in Old j.a.pan " "

Letters from j.a.pan Mrs. Hugh Frazer Unbeaten Tracks in j.a.pan Isabella Bird (Bishop) The Lady of the Decoration Frances Little Little Sister Snow " "

j.a.pan in Pictures Douglas Sladen Old and New j.a.pan (good ill.u.s.trations in color) Clive Holland Nogi Stanley Washburn j.a.pan, the Eastern Wonderland D.C. Angus Peeps at Many Lands: j.a.pan John Finnemore j.a.pan Described by Great Writers Esther Singleton The Flower of Old j.a.pan [verse] Alfred Noyes Dancing and Dancers of To-day Caroline and Chas. H.

Coffin The Healthful Art of Dancing L.H. Gulick The Festival Book J.E.C. Lincoln Folk Dances Caroline Crawford Lafcadio Hearn Nina H. Kennard Lafcadio Hearn (Portrait) Edward Thomas The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn Elizabeth Bisland The j.a.panese Letters of Lafcadio Hearn " "

Lafcadio Hearn in j.a.pan Yone Noguchi Lafcadio Hearn (Portraits) Current Literature 42:50

LETTERS

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH TO WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS

PONKAPOG, Ma.s.s., Dec. 13, 1875.

DEAR HOWELLS,--We had so charming a visit at your house that I have about made up my mind to reside with you permanently. I am tired of writing. I would like to settle down in just such a comfortable home as yours, with a man who can work regularly four or five hours a day, thereby relieving one of all painful apprehensions in respect to clothes and pocket-money. I am easy to get along with. I have few unreasonable wants and never complain when they are constantly supplied. I think I could depend on you.

Ever yours, T.B.A.

P.S.--I should want to bring my two mothers, my two boys (I seem to have everything in twos), my wife, and her sister.

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH TO E.S. MORSE

DEAR MR. MORSE:

It was very pleasant to me to get a letter from you the other day.

Perhaps I should have found it pleasanter if I had been able to decipher it. I don't think that I mastered anything beyond the date (which I knew) and the signature (at which I guessed).

There's a singular and perpetual charm in a letter of yours--it never grows old; it never loses its novelty. One can say to one's self every morning: "There's that letter of Morse's. I haven't read it yet. I think I'll take another shy at it to-day, and maybe I shall be able in the course of a few days to make out what he means by those _t_'s that look like _w_'s, and those _i_'s that haven't any eyebrows."

Other letters are read, and thrown away, and forgotten; but yours are kept forever--unread. One of them will last a reasonable man a lifetime.

Admiringly yours, T.B. ALDRICH.

WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY TO JOSEPHINE PRESTON PEABODY

THE QUADRANGLE CLUB, CHICAGO, September 30, '99.