are ten years old. Some of their lessons are very
hard. They have forty-seven letters in their alphabet, instead of only
twenty-six, as we have. Don't you think it must be hard for the boys
and girls to learn to read?

They go to school very early in the morning. Before they enter the
school they take off their shoes. When the teacher comes, they bow
down their heads nearly to the ground and draw in their breath. This
is their "good morning." The teacher also bows to the boys and girls.

Then the children sit on the floor. They put their books on their
knees and begin their lessons. They have no pens or pencils. They use
little brushes instead. They write in lines from the top to the bottom
of the sheet of paper, instead of across from side to side as we do.
This is the way, you remember, they write in China. The books in Japan
are also like the books in China. The last page in our books would be
the first page in books in China and Japan. So their books begin at
what we would think the end. How queer this seems to us!

There are newspapers in Japan, but they are not much like ours. The
lines run up and down just as Japanese writing does. They read back
from what we would call the last page.

[Illustration: Japanese Carpenters at Work.]

A great many things that we use in America come from Japan. We get
silk from Japan, and beautiful vases and mats and screens and basket
work. The boys and girls in Japan help to make these things. For they
are bright and learn quickly how to do very nice work.

ARABIA.

Have you ever heard of the Arabs? They are people with brown skin and
dark eyes. They live in a country called Arabia. It is a very warm
country. There is never any snow in Arabia. A great part of it is
covered with sand. For miles and miles you would see nothing but sand.
Often the sand is so hot that you could not walk on it in your bare
feet. Those great tracts of sand are called deserts.

[Illustration: Arabs.]

In many parts of Arabia water is very scarce. It rains very seldom,
and in some places there are no rivers. The people get water out of
wells. They carry the water, in bottles made of leather. Glass
bottles would not do. The heat is so great that it would go through
the glass. Tins would make the water warm. But the leather bottles
keep the water cool.

[Illustration: Arab Water Carrier.]

Some of the Arabs live in towns. They have walls around their t