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Illustrated on this page are many ■triking details showing that while, In their every day affairs, the Jap anese people and their Government have struggled out of the character istic Oriental rut and become one of the half dozen great world powers tn science, In warfare and in the Industries, they are at heart and in spirit the same as Commodore Per ry found them when he broke down their closed door more than half a century ago. At the present moment one of their ablest scientists, the physician who attended the Mikado during his last Illness. Is the most despised man In Japan because he declines to commit suicide and "follow the Emperor." as General Count. Nogi and his wife did. Science seems to have removed more layers of bar barism in this doctor's case than is accomplished by other civilizing means in Japan. To his critics — practically the wlvle nation, who want him to nobly disembowel him self —he replies, to hia further oa tracism: “It was not my fault If the Em peror died. If the Emperor had fol lowed ray advice and abstained from alcoholic drinks he would still be alive,” Although the Japanese Govern ment officially, but mildly, decreed that. In this new era of the nation, it was not expected of the Samu rai—the noble warrior class —to ex terminate themselves by the hara kiri route, and most of them have refrained from doing so, neverthe less, the whole nation, high and low, applaud the act of Count Nogi and his wife, and the whole order of Samurai Is tn an apologetic atti tude because the majority of its other members still live Popular Japanese newspapers continue to exalt It he act of the Count and Countess, and recently have printed fresh details calculated to humili ate warrior knights and their ladles who have been less noble and ho role. • It appears that when the bell tolled announcing the Mikado's death. Count Nogi courteously gave precedence to his wife. They had made their preparations, according to ancient cufftom, and were alone in a room of their modest residence, though ’he door wes not locked. The Count stood by while his wife per formed the suicidal rite with a short dagger Before his eyes she accomplished the act with dignity, deliberately and thoroughly, as be came the wife of a noble warrior. Brit, being after all a woman—and • woman educated tn America —she Science Finds 1 hat Houses Are “Good" or “Bad” Like People I" I has long been known that very 1 sensitive persons especially ' women ot strong psychic quail- j ties —feel at once on entering a va cant house whether its "character" U good or bad; that is, whether the influences within its walls are Ueaitiilui or the reverse. Quite unexpectedly, the Sanitary Inspectors' Congress recently held in London accepted this apparent •'superstition” as based on actual physical phenomena, and that every one should, in selecting a dwelling place, be guided by such premoni tions. The Idea originates In a convic tion that tenants more often than . cried on’ under the intense pain as she was expiring. Her cries brought a. maid Into the room. Hearing the maid approach ing, the Count, concealed himself in another room; but as soon as she had gone out to bring help, he re turned and quickly joined his wife in the act which united them with »hefr beloved Emperor in death. No matter how civilized Japan becomes on the surface, the whole Japanese people will keep the memory of Count and Countess Nogi enthroned above all others, save that of the Emperor alone. But the celebrated physician who attended the dying Mikado and then declined to sacrifice his own useful life may be driven out of the coun try. As ■ you are reminded elsewhere on this pace by a favorite Japanese author and artist, the Mikado rules not only by divine right but 1s him self divine. Although that divinity does not prevent bls dying, as or dinary- mortals do when their time comes, the paradoxical event stops the clock of progressive Japan, in fact, sets it back fifty or sixty years. The elaborate funeral and burial ceremonies must conform in detail to a ritual established long before the birth of our Saviour. Reverence for ancient customs and a general relapse from potential enlighten ment Into superstition take place. Away back somewhere in the mists of antiquity It was decreed that the casket containing the dead Mikado mns»t weigh eight thousand pounds. This Is the heavy load that must be conveyed to the burial place from wherever the Emperor happens to be when death over takes him. The august corpse may not Ke moved until it 1s finally sealed up in thia four-ton coffin. The imperial coffin Is constructed of three boxes, one within another The innermost box, made of plain Japanese wood planks about two Inches thick, contains the Emperor’s body, ■which is thickly covered with vermilion pigment. The second box, within which this Is placed, is large enough to afford space for several inches of charcoal packing between »tho two on all sides The last box Is fully ten feet long and four feet square. When the eecora box, con taining the innermost one. is placed within it. there is a considerable space all around. This Is tamped solid w-lth a rubble of granite which brings »the weight of the whole up to the eight thousand pounds required. The burial place of the late Mika do was near Kioto, which is quite a distance from the Capital—Tokio —where the Emperor died From the Imperial Palace the heavy cas ket had bi be conveyed by ox-catH and railway-—and this Introduced quite a series of weird details. First, it would be a national calam ity, also affecting Innumerable dead ancestors, if a culvert should break down or a stretch of the road cave lanmorus are to blame fur uirty and unsanitary dwellings, and It is pro posed that records should be kept by the municipal authorities of the "health history" of houses in ail residential districts. At the rate many houses, espe cially those on monthly or weekly tenancies, change hands a single street would soon require a library to itself. In London the data, if properly kept, would provide an overwhelming mass of manuscript matter needing constant revision. Medical men who have had expe rience as family doctors or In the public health service agree that the problems of sanitation would be considerably simplified if such rec ords could be made. in while Hhe heavy casket contain ing the dead Emperor was passing over them. So there is first th® ceremony of piling rocks Into a huge box’until the whole weighs exactly the same as the funeral casket. This is placed on a two-wheeled cart, and is drawn by three oxen, harnessed tandem, over the chosen funeral route to the railway station. The same dummy casket is placed in a special funeral car, and the railroad line to Tokio is tested in the same way. If the street pavement and the railway car and track stand the strain, all Is well; otherwise repairs have to be made, and the test re peated. Meantime the Imperial funeral cart has been under construction by a family of artisans which alone possesses the secret, and in which that honor is hereditary. Its design has not changed during uncounted centuries. The body Is completely inclosed, with a high-curved roof with overhanging leaves. It is drawn by two shafts of bamboo, between which the nearest of a team of four oxen is harnessed. But It Is the two huge wheels of this vehicle which are most remark able. They have to support the whole weight of the body of the cart containing the eight thousand pound casket —but that feature is of the least consequence. These wheels are constructed in such a manner that, as they roll over the pavement. KMra* ? ;r ‘ WOtl ’ 'M. .*A Z** Fn ■ w *>,. r *( /5' I 51 jV ! I inF 1 1 ’ i* lal ■ The Tokio Family of Artisans Which Made the Mourning Cart, and HOU) JdpCLfI6SQ EXpldtn Their “Barbarism" in Which the Secret ot Its Construction is Hereditary. they furnish the key note for the audible mourning of the funeral pro cession. Aether family of artisans which, alone, holds the secret of making these mourning eart wheels and in which the honor is hereditary— has spent weeks in so fashioning them that each wheel as it rolls along gives forth seyen distinct i uu>v maue it a rule,' as.erieu one physician, "never to occupy a house in which a death from con sumption has been known to occur, and I advise all my patients and friends to be equally careful.. Not even for a fortnight's holiday at the sea would 1 break what 1 look upon as a salutary precaution. "But how difficult it is, when en gaging apartments away from home, to obtain any reliable particulars as to the health history of the house in which you propose to live for awhile. If you ask whether there have been any cases of infectious disease there you are. of course, answered with a negative with which you must be satisfied. “A doctor may push his inquiries >-- ■ """" *■ ! I ... NK_-‘ iwSSwHWt* >**> * One or the Two Wheels of the Funeral Cart Which Produced Seven Distinct Mourning Sounds It Rolled Along in the Procession r JWyWS ■ A i; ? • II II II mournful sounds. The wheels are made entirely of a certain kind of wood, peculiarly joined as to hubs, spokes and felloes. The outer cir cumference of v each wheel is com posed of seven thick segments, each attached at its centre to one spoke. Each alternating pair of spokes sup ports a shorter, thinner segment In set at the juncture of two outer seg- i .ariuui vurougn tue local Health i department, but how many of the general public ever take that amount of precaution? "Many illnesses which might be avoided are originated while fami -1 lies are holiday-making in unsani tary houses from home. “There are thousands ‘of people living in frequently high-rented houses who seem to have no idea of i the most elementary laws of sanita > tion. To follow such persons as tenants is to court disaster to the health of one’s family. "Houses, just as much as human beings, have characters, good and bad The question is what sort of a character does the house you live in possess.** ■ W^?WI:V a “ AY ' ■A * • I X* ->*f > W.'' ' YM•■ W —W - *■ ®r i PTx m H l a<- w% if i A If®*! I Aft® i(I BW A , >:.'■ S : 1A" •«s Ain- < ! ’ « ■ -<9? -wEp F%^ : AA'X'II > FUNERAL CAfc ?® 'Lz?y • i : W \ WAKAHA . Wx CT^^R!S&wW%3 ; ■ OBvxr 1 ' ; QjHOfftvr000 General Count Nogi, Who with His Wife, Committed Hara-Kiri at the Moment the Emperor Died. mets The seven mournful sounds reduced by each wheel appear to be due to the loose joining of spokes, felloes and hubs. The ancient ritual requires that the funeral ceremonies In honor of a dead Mikado occur at night. The cable dispatches have described, in a general way, those rites at the funeral of the late Mutsu-Hito. As the funeral cart rolled slowly, over the pavement, drawn by funerally decorated oxen, the effect upon the superstitious popuace of the mourn ful mechanical chant of the cart wheels is better imagined than de scribed. The people seemed to hear in those sounds warnings and ad monitions uttered by the soul of the divine corpse within the closed body of the cart. The cart and the oxen that hauled it over the funeral route in Tokio. more than any other details reflect ed the symbolism of the ceremonies Having served Its purpose, the cart was laid away as a precious relic. As for the four oxen, they will never have to do any kind of work again as long as they live. They have be come “honorable oxen,’’ and will live In luxurious idleness, pensioned By Yoshio Markino. The Celebrated Japanese Author and Artist. HAVE never forgotten, and I shall never forget, though I ■*' was only four or five years old, that one day when I rushed in to my father’s room he was sur rounded by the rest of my family, all looking serious and respectful. On the middle of my father’s desk 1 saw an old-style photo, printed on a glass plate, with black velvet un derneath, and set in a beautiful Paulow nai-wood case. "Whose photo is it?" All were silent. My mother took me to her lap atm whispered: “Someone who is too high for our mouths to utter his honorable name!” "The Emperor!" I exclaimed ■‘Hush, 1 ’ my father said. “Take the child away!" At that time it was forbidden by law to keep the Mlkado'b photo. I don't know how my father had pos sessed of it, but 1 imagine it was given to him by one of the Royal Princes, whom he had often met in Kyoto during the restoration war. During the Russo-Japanese war, whenever Japan was victorious, the ? r ■ .nW 4 t* * I C ’ ’ ■ ff ■ ■ . The Late Mikado's Funeral Procession, Snowing the Ox-Cart Containing tM Casket—as Depicted by a Japanese Artist, ** - j ■ v- * H ft: ■-■ :■ .... : H. (£\vWOtR.WOOO AwQ VMO£|LWO<3O An 8,000-Pound Box of Stone» B eing Drawn by Oxen Over Tokio Pavements to Make Sure They Would Bear the Similar Weight of the Emperor’# Casket These Oxen . Have Been Pensioned for Life. by the imperial Goverment. All of the physical features of the funeral procession were of very an cient origin. There were hundreds of warriors quaintly costumed and armed with bows and arrows. The funeral cart carried a box of featn ered arrows to be buried with the dead Emperor. A score of sacred drums from Kioto were carried by special officials; also dwarf "holy trees"—Cloy era Japonica—which are cultivated in conformity with both the Buddhist and Shinto ritu als for use cn such occasions. Smok ing torches, borne by officials in full regalia, flanked the whole length of the procession. It was only when the Imperia! coffin had been moved from the fußera! train at Kioto that anything generals and admirals always re ported to the Mikado: "The merit of this victory belongs to the serene dignity of your Majesty.” An English friend pointed this out to me and said: “I don’t under stand that. It seems so unnatural. It was the officers, soldiers and sailors who won the war. The Mika do had done nothing at all!” I said to him: “Ah, then, you don't know- our country yet.” Now let me write why. First of all, you must understand what the Mikado means to his nation. He is quite divine Now, then, during the late war this divine Mikado left his own palace and went to live in an uncomfortable temporary dwelling in Hiroshima, where all the fighting men embarked. This fact alone moved the whole nation’s hearts. Then, moreover, he listened person ally to all the news from the front, and very often he would not sleep at night. How did this encourage all the men in the front. Unless you are a Japanese you cannot imagine what that meant To speak in scientific terms, it was the concentration of all the warrior’s souls Who else could ever make such a strong and firm concentration in one single mass except the worshipped Mika do? AU soldiers and sailors were at all modern entered the pro gramme. This was the short wire cable railway which hauled the heavy casket up to the top of tbe wooded hill—“abode of the gods"— where the grave had been prepared. The grave was considerably larger than the casket This was to ac commodate an encircling guard of clay figures in ancient armor, called “god generals.” Thus the cold clay of Mutsu-Hito In its grave will ba symbolically guarded—and in the most ancient Japanese manner. It is now nearly a month since Mutsu-Hito was buried; but, un doubtedly, it will be a good many months more before the Japanese people are again able to conceal from the rest of the world that they are really barbarians, after all. ready to die for their Mikado, and the generals and the admirals, too, commanded those soldiers and sail ors with their own devotion towards the Mikado. Could it not be tlt« merit of the Mikado then? With this unbounded merit of the Serene Mikado be has succeeded in making the new Japan. With this merit he conquered China, with this merit our Anglo-Japanese alliance has been carried on successfully and with this Japan shall become quite prosperous. There is no doubt about that. If the Mohammedans concentrated their souls by their faith in Mahon med, and if the Christians concen trated their souls by their faith in Christ, the result would be the same. I often meet so-called philosopher# who laugh at the superstitions of re ligious people, or of the Mikado worshipping of Japanese. However right and accurate may -e their rea soning, 1 must say their p.tiloao phies are only too shallow. They ought to proceed one step further and think what influence nas the concentratio of the whole nation's souls! The concentration of our hearts ad souls Is itself our own God who “mans ove> us. Even au Evils, when concentrated into one big mass, can defeat many good individuals who have no affinity.