e hotter in the summer in their country than
it is here, the winter is as cold as you feel it. Like our own boys,
these lads enjoy a fall of snow, and still better than snowballing they
like making a snowman with a charcoal ball for each eye and a streak of
charcoal for his mouth. The shoes which they usually wear out of doors
are better for a snowy day than your boots, for their feet do not sink
into the snow, unless it is deep. These shoes are of wood, and make a
boy seem to be about three inches taller than he really is. The shoe,
you see, has not laces or buttons, but is kept on the foot by that thong
which passes between the first and second toe. The thong is made of
grass, and covered with strong paper, or with white or colored calico.
The boy in the check dress wears his shoes without socks, but you see
the other boy has socks on. His socks are made of dark blue calico, with
a thickly woven sole, and a place, like one finger of a glove, for his
big toe. If you were to wear Japanese shoes, you would think the thong
between your toes very uncomfortable. Yet from their habit of wearing
this sort of shoe, the big toe grows more separate from the other toes,
and the skin between this and the next toe becomes as hard as the skin
of a dog's or a cat's paw.

[Illustration: A Game of Snowball.]

The boys are not cold, for their cotton clothes, being wadded, are warm
and snug. One boy has a rounded pouch fastened to his sash. It is red
and prettily embroidered with flowers or birds, and is his purse, in
which he keeps some little toys and some money. The other boy very
likely has not a pouch, but he has two famous big pockets. Like all
Japanese, he uses the part of his large sleeve which hangs down as his
pocket. Thus when a group of little children are disturbed at play you
see each little hand seize a treasured toy and disappear into its
sleeve, like mice running into their holes with bits of cheese.

In the next large picture are two boys who are fond of music. One has a
flute, which is made of bamboo wood. These flutes are easy to make, as
bamboo wood grows hollow, with cross divisions at intervals. If you cut
a piece with a division forming one end you need only make the outside
holes in order to finish your flute.

[Illustration]

The child sitting down has a drum. His drum and the paper lanterns
hanging up have painted on them an ornament which is also the crest of
the house of "Arima."[2] If these boys belong