Playthings of the Children in Japan.
JAPAN has been called the "Paradise of Babies," for not only do the children have a great number of toys, but many persons get their living by amusing them. Men go about the streets blowing soap-bubbles for them, with pipes that have no bowls as ours have. These young Japs have tops, pop-guns, blow-guns, magic lanterns, kaleidoscopes, wax figures, terra cotta animals, flying-fish and dragons, masks, puzzles, and games; butterflies and beetles that flutter about; turtles that move their legs and pop out their heads; birds that fly about, and peck the fingers, and whistle; pasteboard targets that, when hit, burst open and let a winged figure fly out; and—most wonderful of all, perhaps—little balls looking like elder pith, which, thrown into bowls of warm water, slowly expand into the shape of a boat, or a fisherman, a tree, flower, crab, or bird. The girls of Japan have dolls' furniture and dishes, and, of course, dolls. They have dolls that walk and dance; dolls that put on a mask when a string is pulled; dolls dressed to represent nobles, ladies, minstrels, mythological and historical personages. Dolls are handed down for generations, and in some families there are hundreds of them. They never seem to get broken or worn out, as yours do; and, in fact, they can hardly be the dear playmates that yours are. They are kept as a sort of show, and, though the little owners play with them, they do not dress and undress them and take them to bed, as you do. A good deal of the time they are rolled up in silk paper and packed away in a trunk. On the great festival day of the Japanese girls—the Feast of Dolls—there is a great show of dolls and toys, and it is the event of the year for the queer little black-eyed maidens. The Feast of Flags is the boy's great day, and they have banners, flags, figures of warriors and great men, swords and other toys for boys. But the finest toy of Japan, as no doubt all will agree, is carried about the streets by a man, for any child to play with who is the owner of a hundredth part of a cent, or one "each." This toy is a small stove, a copper griddle, spoons, and cups; and, above all, ready-made batter and sauce. The child can sit down, and cook and eat "griddle cakes" to its heart's content.—The Gospel in All Lands.