nd
teeth begin to show themselves. With the exception of these two
troubles, Japanese babies seem healthy, hearty, and happy to an
extraordinary degree, and show that most of the conditions of their
lives are wholesome. The constant out-of-door life and the healthful
dress serve to make up in considerable measure for the poor food, and
the Japanese baby, though small after the manner of the race, is usually
plump, and of firm, hard flesh. One striking characteristic of the
Japanese baby is, that at a very early age it learns to cling like a
kitten to the back of whoever carries it, so that it is really difficult
to drop it through carelessness, for the baby looks out for its own
safety like a young monkey. The straps that tie it to the back are
sufficient for safety; but the baby, from the age of one month, is
dependent upon its own exertions to secure a comfortable position, and
it soon learns to ride its bearer with considerable skill, instead of
being merely a bundle tied to the shoulders. Any one who has ever
handled a Japanese baby can testify to the amount of intelligence shown
in this direction at a very early age; and this clinging with arms and
legs is, perhaps, a valuable part of the training which gives to the
whole nation the peculiar quickness of motion and hardness of muscle
that characterize them from childhood. It is the agility and muscular
quality that belong to wild animals, that we see something of in the
Indian, but to a more marked degree in the Japanese, especially of the
lower classes.

The Japanese baby's first lessons in walking are taken under favorable
circumstances. With feet comfortably shod in the soft _tabi_, or
mitten-like sock, babies can tumble about as they like, with no bump nor
bruise, upon the soft matted floors of the dwelling houses. There is no
furniture to fall against, and nothing about the room to render falling
a thing to be feared. After learning the art of walking in the house,
the baby's first attempts out of doors are hampered by the _zori_ or
_geta_,--a light straw sandal or small wooden clog attached to the foot
by a strap passing between the toes. At the very beginning the sandal
or clog is tied to the baby's foot by bits of string fastened around the
ankle, but this provision for security is soon discarded, and the baby
patters along like the grown people, holding on the _geta_ by the strap
passing between the toes. This somewhat cumbersome and inconvenient foot
gea