ttle man soon became my adviser in artistic as well
as in mundane matters. He took a keen interest in my work, and spent the
greater part of his spare time in hunting up subjects for me--monograms,
suggestions for picture-frames, and what not--he, like every Jap, was an
artist. He never said that he liked anything that I ever painted (he was
far too truthful for that); but it was quite obvious that he did not,
for he could draw infinitely better himself. But he helped me a great
deal.

[Illustration: A FAMILY GROUP]

So did the policemen--and the policeman in Japan is a perfect treasure.
They are all gentlemen of family and are very small men, much below the
average in height; but they have nearly all learned the art of
scientific wrestling, and exercise an absolute and tyrannical power over
the people. Luckily for me, I never made the hopeless blunder of
attempting to tip them. Altogether I found the policeman the most
delightful person in the world. When I was painting a shop, if a
passer-by chanced to look in at a window, he would see at a glance
exactly what I wanted; and I would find that that figure would remain
there, looking in at the shop, as still as a statue, until I had
finished my painting; the policeman meanwhile strutting up and down the
street, delighted to be of help to an artist, looking everywhere but
at my work, and directing the entire traffic down another street.

Suddenly there is a fire--there is invariably a fire when one arrives in
a foreign country, I notice. Immediately the policemen begin to plant
little bamboo sticks round the burning building with twine fixed from
one stick to another. This is to act as a barrier to keep the people
off. After a time a crowd gathers, and in the swaying of the people
their chests sometimes touch the string and bow it; but the thought of
breaking through that twine never occurs to them. The bold little
firemen inside the enclosure trying to scare away the god of fire by
bright clothing, and literally sitting on the flames in their
light-coloured coats, form a scene never to be forgotten. They seem to
bear charmed lives as they dash among the flames, putting the fire out
with their hands, and in a very short time too. It reminds one of the
performance of the fire-eating gentlemen at the Aquarium.

The power of the policemen over the people in Japan is extraordinary.
Even the Westerners obey them. At the treaty ports they often have to
deal with English sai