e
stockings. When a Chinaman is in full dress he wears a long gown. The
Chinese boy wears the same kind of clothes as his father. Every man,
woman, and child carries a fan.

12. Chinese boots are made of cloth or satin, never of leather. The
soles are made of rags or paper. We blacken the uppers of our boots.
Chinamen whiten the soles of theirs.

[Illustration: {Chinese boots}]

13. Now I must end this letter. When I come home you must ask me to tell
you about the rice fields and the silk farms and the Great Wall. I have
a hundred more things to tell you about this wonderful land.--Your
loving FATHER.

[Illustration: A Rich Chinaman's House.

(From the photograph by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S.)]

* * * * *

22. A LETTER FROM JAPAN.

1. MY DEAR CHILDREN,--Once more I have made a long sea voyage, and once
more I am safely on shore. I am now in Japan.

2. The Japs live on islands, just as we do. They are brave and clever
and busy, and they have many fine warships. Because of all these things
they are sometimes called the Britons of the Far East.

3. Most of the people in the East are very backward. They have stood
still while the people of the West have gone forward. Not so the Japs.
They have learnt everything that the West can teach them. You will see
in Japan all the things on which we pride ourselves.

4. The Japs are first-rate sailors. Some of their captains learnt to be
sailors on board our warships. They are also fine soldiers. You know
that not many years ago they beat the Russians both by land and by sea.

5. I like the Japs better than any other people that I have met in the
East. Many of them still wear the dress of olden days, and keep to their
simple and pretty ways. Their country is beautiful, and they love
beautiful things.

6. They are very fond indeed of flowers, which they grow very well.
Their gardens are lovely. When the flowers are in bloom the Japs troop
in thousands to see them. It is pretty to watch the delight of fathers
and mothers and children at the form, colour, and scent of the flowers.

7. The Japs are very clever workmen. I have often stood and watched them
at work. They always try to beat their own best. Good work of any kind
gives them joy; bad work gives them pain.

8. I have bought Jap fans for Kate and May. On these fans there are
pictures of a snow-clad mountain shaped like a sugar loaf. There is no
more beautiful mountain in all the world.