being
babies, about like our clams, but not so tough, to say nothing of as
tough as the big ones. I didn't try the fried devil fish and other
luxuries, but wandered pretty far afield. When you have leisure, try
eating lobster in the shell with chop sticks. You will resort to
something more ancient than chop sticks, as I did. This restaurant is
quite plebeian, though it has a great reputation for its secret recipe
for the sauce the fish is cooked in, but it was considerably more
expensive than the other--probably because we sampled so many side
dishes; the other one cost less than five dollars for eight people--good
food and all anybody could eat.

TOKYO, March 14th.

The ceremony of breakfast is over, and I am sorry again you cannot all
share in these daily festivals which add so much to the dignity of
living. We are now studying Japanese with the aid of the maids. I missed
going to the Dolls' Festival at a private kindergarten and the
result--this morning by mail a postcard from the children with numerous
presents made by them, all dolls, and those I will send home, as they
are interesting. With the presents they say: "We made cakes and prepared
for your coming and we were in the depths of despair when you did not
come. Please come another time." I am sure there is no other country in
the world like this. The language is an impossible one. The way given in
the phrases of the guide book is the way the man speaks. So when I
stammer off those phrases the girls are literally tickled to death. When
they tell me what I ought to say in the more elaborated polite way of
the women, then I am floored. It is all an amusing game and relieves the
watch they keep on each bite we take so as to be ready to supply more.
Everything they do is marked with the kindliest attitude and every act
or move is one of friendship.

This is the program for to-day: Go to lunch at the house of some
missionaries, then to father's lecture at 3:30, then to dinner for
University of Chicago students. To-morrow will be an open day for me and
the little secretary will take me shopping. The big department store is
the fashionable place where all the noble and rich buy their kimonos,
and I may supplement my secondhand attempts with a new one. When I get
to Kyoto I hope to find a real old one, as the new style of weave are
infected with foreign influence. The other evening with Y---- we found a
little shop for antiques which is a gem to look at. An