Lady of the Decoration | Page 5

out of her nice shining eyes
with such gratitude and enthusiasm that I was ashamed of what I had

felt.
After that Miss Dixon came up and they sat and watched me unpack
my trunk. It took me about two minutes to find out that they were just
like other women, fond of finery and pretty things and eager for news
of the outside world. They examined all the dainty under clothes that
sister had made for me, they marvelled over the high heeled slippers,
and laughed at the big sleeves.
"Where are you going to wear all these lovely things?" asked Miss
Dixon. And again my heart sank, for even my simple wardrobe,
planned for the exigencies of school life, seemed strangely extravagant
and out of place.
But I want to say right now, Mate, that if I stay here a thousand years
I'll never come to jerseys and eight-year-old hats! I am going to
subscribe to a good fashion paper, and at least keep within hailing
distance of the styles.
It is too warm to go down to the school yet so we are to spend a week
in the mountains before we start in for the fall term.
Dear Pa and Little Germany have been here twice in three hours but I
saw them first.
Home letters will not arrive until next week, and I can scarcely wait for
the time to come. I keep thinking that I am away on a visit and that I
will be going back soon. I find myself saving things to show you, and
even starting to buy things to bring home. I have a good deal to learn,
haven't I?

HIEISAN. August 28th, 1901
Fairy-land, real true fairy-land that we used to talk about up in the old
cherry-tree at grandmother's! It's all so, Mate, only more bewitching
than we ever dreamed.
I have been in little villages that dropped right out of a picture book.
The streets are full of queer, small people who run about smiling, and
bowing and saying pretty things to each other. It is a land where
everybody seems to be happy, and where politeness is the first
commandment.
Yesterday we came up the mountains in jinrikishas. The road was
narrow, but smooth, and for over three hours the men trotted along,
never halting or changing their gait until we stopped for lunch.

There is not much to a Japanese house but a roof and a lot of bamboo
poles, but everything is beautifully clean. Before we had gotten down,
several men and women came running out and bowing and calling
"Ohayo, Ohayo" which means "good-morning." They ran for cushions
and we were glad enough to sit on the low benches and stretch
ourselves. Then they brought us delicious tea, and gathered around to
see us drink it. It seems that light hair is a great curiosity over here, and
mine proved so interesting that they motioned for me to take off my hat,
and then they stood around chattering and laughing at a great rate. Miss
Lessing said they wanted me to take my hair down, but would not ask it
because of the beautiful arrangement. Shades of Blondes! I wish you
could have seen it! But you have seen it after a hard set of tennis.
When we had rested an hour, and drunk tea, and bowed and smiled, we
started out again, this time in a kind of Sedan chair, made of bamboo
and carried on a long pole on the shoulders of two men. Now I have
been up steep places but that trip beat anything I ever saw! I felt like a
fly on a bald man's head! We climbed up, up, up, sometimes through
woods that were so dense you could scarcely know it was day-time, and
again through stretches of dazzling sunshine.
Just as I was beginning to wonder what had become of our luggage, we
passed four women laughing and singing. Two of them had steamer
trunks on their heads, and two carried huge kori. They did not seem to
mind it in the least, and bowed and smiled us out of sight.
Another two hours' climb brought us to this village of camps called
Hieisan. There are about forty Americans here, who are camping out
for the summer, and I am the guest of a Dr. Waring and his wife from
Alabama.
My tent is high above everything, on a great overhanging rock, and
before me is a view that would be a fit setting for Paradise. This
mountain is sacred to Buddha, and the whole of it is thick with temples
and shrines, some of them nobody knows how old.
I have been trying to muster courage to get up at three o'clock in the
morning