in the coffin as a sign of her
perpetual faithfulness.

When the body has been washed, it is dressed in white, in silk _habutai_
whenever the family can afford it. The dress, which must be appropriate
to the season, in the making of which all the women of the family must
assist, is the plain, straight kimono, but must be folded from right to
left, instead of from left to right as in life. The body, to be placed
in the coffin, must be folded into a sitting posture, the chin resting
upon the knees,--the position of the mummies found in many aboriginal
American tombs. This difficult, to us apparently impossible feat, safely
accomplished, there are placed in the coffin a number of small things
that the dead takes with him to the next world. Some of these have been
already mentioned, the others are little keepsakes, or perhaps tokens of
the tastes and employments of the dead,--dice, cards, _sake_ bottles,
the image of a horse, toy weapons,--anything, provided only that it be
not of metal, may be used for this purpose. The single exception to this
rule about metal is that small copper coins may be put in, to fee the
old hag who guards the bank of the river of death. Last of all, the
vacant spaces in the coffin are filled in with bags of tea. Then the
coffin is closed and nailed up, wrapped with a white silk cloth fastened
with a white silk or cotton cord, and placed on a high stand, and food
and incense are placed before it.

So long as the coffin is in the house, it must be watched over
continually. To aid in this protracted vigil, which must be kept up day
and night until the burial, the relatives, friends, and retainers of the
dead assemble at the house in large numbers. In the case of a person of
wealth and influence, there will often be a hundred or more of these
watchers, who must be fed and cared for; and who take turns in watching,
eating, and sleeping. It is their duty to see that the incense burning
before the coffin is never allowed to go out, while the food for the
dead is renewed at regular intervals by the mourners themselves.

This somewhat detailed description of the duties to be performed by the
members of a bereaved family in the house of mourning is sufficient to
show that the presence of death in the home is made as terrible as
possible by the painful ceremonies, the continual bustle and excitement,
and the strain upon the resources and executive ability of the
housekeeper and her assistants. There are f