The keenest discomfort of a Japanese hostelry is the absence of seats; of such Seats og you can be at ease upon, I mean, for the ironical semblance and mockery of a chair is forthcoming at most large inns. When very tired the best thing is to have 8 futon spread on the floor, and stretch yourself full length upon it. When you ask for such a thing, however, it is very hard to make the servant understand that you do not want to go to bed. The Japanese seems to have a back of adamant. With his legs crossed, or his heels under im, he can rest for ever. The utmost negligence of pose he ever allows himeelf is to lean a little way back, with his hands planted on the mats behind him.
With whatever drawbacks, the yadoya is to me a great relief and welcome chanze from the foreign hotel. There is an end, at Inst, to pomp and fuss and jarring noises. You could scarcely find) more quiet in the heart of w forest. Tu the next room, on the other side of paper screens, whole family may be lodged for days without your knowing it. Sometimes the Japanese sociability. which makos them as fond as the French of cultivating another guest to pay you a felendly visit. pleasant surface relations, may impel But on the whole it may be: fairly said that the lack of privacy in Japan is in great measure made up for by lack of intrusiveness.
Nésan, that is to say "Miss Elder-sister", is the style of the Japanese hand-maiden whom you call with a clap of bands. It must be owned that she is slow, fickle of memory, prone to quaint mistakes, auch a one as the stern British housekeeper cannot bide with. The Umachidé sama! ("I'm atmid I've kept you waiting Sir,") with which she brings your meals, is apt to be more than a formula. But if you are not a stern British housekeeper, you will perhaps pardon all her delinquencies for the sake of her bright smiles and low musical voice. She is so anxious to serve and to please! But the foreigner has so many incalculable requirements, and is in such a frantic. hurry for everything, that her poor little brain is ina whirl. In all the empire there is no more tireless, ill-re-, sunny-tempered little "drudge.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.