might have brought me to something extraordinary, I follow
him wearily in. A graduate in the Shinto religion would no doubt find
something different about these temples, but to the ordinary, every-day
human, to see one is to see them all. My man, however, seems determined
to give me a surfeit of temples, and hurries me off to yet another one,
ere awakening to the fact that I am trying to get him to return to Mr. B
's. The third one I positively refuse to have anything to do with.

At Mr. B 's I find awaiting my coming an interesting deputation,
consisting of the assistant superintendent of the young ladies' seminary,
together with three of his most interesting pupils. They have been
reading about my tour in the native papers, and, in the assistant
superintendent's own words, "are very curious at seeing so famous a
traveller." The three young ladies stand in a row, like the veritable
"three little maids from school" in "The Mikado," and giggle their
approval of the teacher's explanation. They are three very pretty girls,
and two of them have their hair banged after the most approved American
style.

Sweetcakes and tea are indulged in by the visitors, and before they leave
an agreement is entered into by which I am to visit their school in the
morning before leaving and hear them sing "Bonny Boon" and "The
fire-fly's light," in return for riding the bicycle in the school-house
grounds. "The fire-fly's light" is sung to the tune of "Auld lang syne,"
the Japanese words of which commemorate a legend of the tea-district of
Uji near Lake Biwa. The legend states that certain learned men repaired
to a secluded spot near Uji to pursue their studies. On one occasion,
being out of oil and unable to procure the means of lighting their
apartment, myriads of fire-flies came and illumined the place with their
tiny lamps sufficient for their purpose.

My compact with the "three little maids from school" takes me down into
the city on something of a detour from my nearest road out next morning.
The detour is well repaid, however; besides the singing and organ-playing
promised, the many departments of industrial study into which the school
is divided are very interesting. Laces and embroidery for the Tokio
market, dresses for themselves and to sell, are made by the girls, the
proceeds going toward the maintenance of the institution. One of the most
curious scholarships of the place is the teaching of what is known as the
"Japanese cerem