The Toy Seller.
(From the water-colour painting by H.E. Tidmarsh.)
9. The boys love to play at war. You can always make Jap boys happy by giving them a toy army to play with.
10. The greatest day of the year for the girls is the Feast of Dolls. On this day the girls give doll parties to their little friends. All the dolls, however old, are brought out and dressed up in fine new clothes. The Feast of Dolls is a time of great fun and laughter.
11. Jap children now play many of our games. They are very fond of "prisoner's base," "fox and geese," and "tag." The boys love kite-flying.
12. Sometimes they put glass on the strings of their kites, and with it try to cut the strings of other boys' kites. They are very clever at this game, and there is great laughter when a string is cut.
13. In the house, during the day, girls like to blow soap bubbles. At dusk they are fond of hunting fire-flies, and driving them to and fro with fans.
14. In the summer they catch grasshoppers, and keep them in small bamboo cages. They say that the chirping of the grasshoppers brings them good luck.
15. All Japs are polite—even boys. When a boy goes to the house of a friend he squats on his heels. Then he places his hands on the floor, and bows until his forehead touches his toes. This he does again and again, and all the time he speaks very politely.