The ceremony of arranging flowers is also very hard to learn. People who have learned it thoroughly are said to have charming dispositions as a reward of merit. They are gentle, self-controlled, peaceful-hearted and always at ease in the presence of their superiors, besides having many other virtues.
Umé enjoyed it all. Everything she did was prettily and gracefully done. Whether she bent over a difficult, unruly spray of blossoms, or over her writing brush to make the difficult characters, her sweet oval face was never clouded.
After the writing lesson was over on this opening day, she took her copy book, which was soggy with much India ink and water, and beckoned Tei to take hers also into the yard. There they spread the books in the sun to dry.
Tei's family had been away for a month for the sake of Baby Onda's health, and the two little girls had not seen each other until now.
"What did you see at Nikko?" asked Umé.
"We saw the most beautiful building in Japan; the tomb of the great Iyeyasu," answered Tei.
"I also was at Nikko and played with Tei in the temple yard," said a third child who overheard their talk.
The three little girls walked back to the school-room together and Umé said, "I have asked my mother to take me to Nikko some time."
"There are beautiful temples there," said Tei. "The mad pony of the illustrious Iyeyasu is there in a stable which has wonderful carvings over the doorway. It was there we saw the three monkeys your honorable mother spoke about one day."
Umé drew her breath in a long sigh. "I have always wished to see those monkeys," she said.